Royal Air Force Tilshead or more simply RAF Tilshead is a former
Royal Air Force 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 ...
west of
Tilshead
Tilshead () is a village and civil parish in the county of Wiltshire in Southern England, about northwest of the town of Amesbury. It is close to the geographical centre of Salisbury Plain, on the A360 road approximately midway between the vil ...
, Wiltshire, England and east of
Warminster.
The unpaved airfield was open from 1925 until 1941.
Nearby at
Shrewton
Shrewton is a village and civil parish on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, around west of Amesbury and north of Salisbury. It lies on the A360 road between Stonehenge and Tilshead. It is close to the source of the River Till, which flows ...
, a relief landing ground controlled by
No. 38 Wing RAF
No. 38 Group RAF was a group of the Royal Air Force which disbanded on 31 December 2020. It was formed on 6 November 1943 from the former 38 Wing with nine squadrons as part of Transport Command. It was disbanded on 31 January 1951, but re-forme ...
was open from 1940 to 1946.
Based units
No. 16 Squadron RAF
Number 16 Squadron, nicknamed ''the Saints'', is a flying squadron of the Royal Air Force providing Elementary Flying Training (EFT) with the Grob Tutor T.1 from RAF Wittering.
It formed in 1915 at Saint-Omer to carry out a mixture of offensi ...
flew the
Westland Lysander as a detachment for
RAF Weston Zoyland between 15 August 1940 and 8 September 1941, conducting reconnaissance protecting the country from the
planned invasion and looking for enemy movements.
also flew the Lysander
before moving to
RAF Thruxton.
The airfield also provided initial training period for the
Glider Pilot Regiment
The Glider Pilot Regiment was a British airborne forces unit of the Second World War, which was responsible for crewing the British Army's military gliders and saw action in the European theatre in support of Allied airborne operations. Establish ...
providing basic flying training.
Current use
The site is currently used by the
British Army as part of the
Salisbury Plain training area
Salisbury Plain is a chalk plateau in the south western part of central southern England covering . It is part of a system of chalk downlands throughout eastern and southern England formed by the rocks of the Chalk Group and largely lies wit ...
and there is nothing left of the airfield.
References
External links
BBC History - Staff Sergeant Billy Marfleet GPR
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tilshead
Royal Air Force stations in Wiltshire
Military units and formations established in 1925
Royal Air Force stations of World War II in the United Kingdom