Royal Air Force Ossington or more simply RAF Ossington is a former

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

station Station may refer to: Agriculture * Station (Australian agriculture), a large Australian landholding used for livestock production * Station (New Zealand agriculture), a large New Zealand farm used for grazing by sheep and cattle ** Cattle statio ...

located near the village of

Ossington Ossington is a village in the county of Nottinghamshire, England 7 miles north of Newark-on-Trent. It is in the civil parish of Ossington, but for census purposes its population count is included with the civil parishes of Ompton and Laxton a ...

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

History

Construction of the airfield began in 1941, with the aim of completion by 1942. It was constructed as standard A-shaped bomber airfield with 3 hard runways, the longest of the 3 being just over 1.5 km long. After completion, the airfield was put under Number 5 Group,

RAF Bomber Command RAF Bomber Command controlled the Royal Air Force's bomber forces from 1936 to 1968. Along with the United States Army Air Forces, it played the central role in the strategic bombing of Germany in World War II. From 1942 onward, the British bo ...

. In January 1942, the airfield became an

RAF Flying Training Command Flying Training Command was an organization of the Royal Air Force; it controlled flight training units. The command's headquarters were at Shinfield Park, Reading in Berkshire. History Flying Training Command was formed from the elements of ...

station flying

Airspeed Oxford The Airspeed AS.10 Oxford is a twin-engine monoplane aircraft developed and manufactured by Airspeed. It saw widespread use for training British Commonwealth aircrews in navigation, radio-operating, bombing and gunnery roles throughout the Seco ...

s. May 1942 saw the Number 14 AFU move to

Banff, Scotland Banff ( gd, Banbh) is a town in the Banff and Buchan area of Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is situated on Banff Bay and faces the town of Macduff, Aberdeenshire, Macduff across the estuary of the River Deveron. It is a former royal burgh, and is ...

. After this period, the airfield returned to the control of

Bomber Command Bomber Command is an organisational military unit, generally subordinate to the air force of a country. The best known were in Britain and the United States. A Bomber Command is generally used for strategic bombing (although at times, e.g. during t ...

, Number 93 Group and became a satellite station of

RAF Gamston Retford Gamston Airport is a small England, English airport, located south of Retford and close to Gamston, Bassetlaw, Gamston, Bassetlaw District, Bassetlaw in Nottinghamshire. It is used mainly for small private aircraft as well as a base fo ...

. On 1 June 1943 No. 82 OTU formed using

Vickers Wellington The Vickers Wellington was a British twin-engined, long-range medium bomber. It was designed during the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey. Led by Vickers-Armstrongs' chief designer Rex Pierson; a key feature of the aircraft is its g ...

s as was standard at the time, along with 5

Miles Martinet The Miles M.25 Martinet was a target tug aircraft of the Royal Air Force (RAF) and Fleet Air Arm (FAA) that was in service during the Second World War. It was the first British aircraft to be designed specifically for target towing. Work on t ...

s as target tugs for gunner training. On 9 August 1943, a crew from RAF Ossington was lost after the starboard engine of their

Mk.X (MS471) during a cross-country training exercise. On 21 August 1943,

Mk.X (HE332) collided with trees on its landing approach after another cross-country training exercise. Again, later in the year, the crew of

Mk.III (BK387) encountered low fog and hit high ground at Tewitt Hall Wood. On 22 May 1944 a midair collision occurred between

Mk.III (BJ819) and

Supermarine Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Grif ...

Mk.I (P7820). The pilot of the Spitfire, Flying Officer John Smith, aged 21, from Embasy, North Yorkshire, was killed when his aircraft crashed in Lea Road, Gainsborough. Witnesses quoted in the Lincolnshire Echo said he stayed with the aircraft to avoid nearby houses. A married man, he was attached to 53 OTU, RAF Kirton-in-Lindsey, Lincolnshire. The Wellington pilot, Flying Officer JP Lee, received a commendation for bravery for saving his crew. The collision happened during a cine-gun training exercise involving the Spitfire intercepting the Wellington. In June 1944, the OTU was joined at RAF Ossington by Number 1685 Training Flight with

Curtiss Tomahawk The Curtiss P-40 Warhawk is an American single-engined, single-seat, all-metal fighter and ground-attack aircraft that first flew in 1938. The P-40 design was a modification of the previous Curtiss P-36 Hawk which reduced development time an ...

s where they stayed briefly. No. 82 OTU stayed until January 1945, when they were disbanded. Like many stations, RAF Ossington was transferred to

RAF Transport Command RAF Transport Command was a Royal Air Force command that controlled all transport aircraft of the RAF. It was established on 25 March 1943 by the renaming of the RAF Ferry Command, and was subsequently renamed RAF Air Support Command in 1967. ...

where pilots were trained to fly

Avro Lancaster The Avro Lancaster is a British Second World War heavy bomber. It was designed and manufactured by Avro as a contemporary of the Handley Page Halifax, both bombers having been developed to the same specification, as well as the Short Stirlin ...

s and

Avro Lancastrian The Avro 691 Lancastrian was a Canadian and British passenger and mail transport aircraft of the 1940s and 1950s developed from the Avro Lancaster heavy bomber. The Lancaster was named after Lancaster, Lancashire; a Lancastrian is an inhabit ...

s on the

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

route. Eventually, the runways were broken up for the construction of the A1 (though some taxiways and buildings have survived). The following units were here at some point: * No. 6 Lancaster Finishing School RAF *

No. 14 (Pilots) Advanced Flying Unit RAF No. 14 (Advanced) Flying Training School (14 (A)FTS) is a former Royal Air Force flying training school that operated between 1939 and 1953. References Citations Bibliography * External links {{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 Mili ...

* No. 14 Service Flying Training School RAF *

No. 28 Operational Training Unit RAF The numero sign or numero symbol, №, (also represented as Nº, No, No. or no.), is a typographic abbreviation of the word ''number''(''s'') indicating ordinal numeration, especially in names and titles. For example, using the numero sign, t ...

* No. 82 OTU *

No. 1384 (Heavy Transport) Conversion Unit RAF Conversion units and operational conversion units (OCUs) were training units of the Royal Air Force (RAF). History With the introduction of new heavy bombers, the four-engined Short Stirling, Avro Lancaster, and Handley Page Halifax, the Roya ...

* No. 1685 (Bomber) Defence Training Flight RAF * No. 2840 Squadron RAF Regiment *

Squadron & Flight Commanders School RAF Squadron may refer to: * Squadron (army), a military unit of cavalry, tanks, or equivalent subdivided into troops or tank companies * Squadron (aviation), a military unit that consists of three or four flights with a total of 12 to 24 aircraft, de ...

Transport Command Night Vision Instructors Training School RAF Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land (rail and road), water, cable, pipeline, and ...

Gallery

File:RAF Ossington Taxiway 8.jpg File:RAF Ossington AAA.jpg File:RAF Ossington Building.jpg File:RAF Ossington Taxiway.jpg File:RAF Ossington Taxiway 2.jpg File:RAF Ossington Building 2.jpg File:RAF Ossington Taxiway 5.jpg File:RAF Ossington Taxiway 6.jpg File:RAF Ossington Taxiway 9.jpg File:RAF Ossington Taxiway 4.jpg File:RAF Ossington Building 3.jpg File:RAF Ossington Taxiway 7.jpg File:RAF Ossington Hard Standing.jpg File:RAF Ossington Taxiway 3.jpg File:RAF Ossington Taxiway 10.jpg

References

External links

* http://www.airfieldarchaeology.co.uk/raf-ossington.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Ossington Royal Air Force stations in Nottinghamshire 1942 establishments in England 1946 disestablishments in England