![RAF Wrexham Aerial Image](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/RAF_Wrexham_Aerial_Image.jpg)
Royal Air Force Wrexham or more simply RAF Wrexham 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) an ...
station at
Borras
Borras ( cy, Borras / Bwras) is a hamlet in Wrexham County Borough, Wales to the north-east of the city of Wrexham. It is part of the community of Holt.
The nearby residential area of Borras Park is named after Borras; and is colloquially sho ...
, on the outskirts of
Wrexham
Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...
,
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
and north-east of the
city centre.
Initially opened as a municipal aerodrome the airfield was used by the Royal Flying Corps during the First World War and the Royal Air Force in the Second World War. The airfield became the site of a Royal Observer Corps nuclear bunker during the
Cold War.
History
Early days
The first noted involvement of aviation with Wrexham was in 1912 when
Gustav Hamel
Gustav Wilhelm Hamel (25 June 1889 – missing 23 May 1914) was a pioneer British aviator. He was prominent in the early history of aviation in Britain, and in particular that of Hendon airfield, where Claude Graham-White was energetica ...
visited the
Racecourse Ground
The Racecourse Ground ( cy, Y Cae Ras) is a football stadium in Wrexham, Wales. It is the home of Wrexham A.F.C.
It is the world's oldest international football stadium that still hosts international matches, having hosted Wales' first home ...
to entertain the public with air displays. The local council discussed transforming the racecourse into a municipal airport.
During the period 1917–1920 fields at Borras Lodge were used by Nos. 4 and 51 Training Squadrons/Schools of the
Royal Flying Corps and after 1918 by
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) an ...
training squadrons based at
RAF Shotwick (later
RAF Sealand
MoD Sealand (formerly RAF Sealand), is a Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), Ministry of Defence installation in Flintshire, in the northeast corner of Wales, close to the border with England. It is a former Royal Air Force station, active be ...
) and
Hooton Park
Royal Air Force Hooton Park or more simply RAF Hooton Park, on the Wirral Peninsula, Cheshire, is a former Royal Air Force station originally built for the Royal Flying Corps in 1917 as a training aerodrome for pilots in the First World War. ...
. The same location was also used by the
Lancashire Aero Club
The Lancashire Aero Club is the oldest established flying club in the United Kingdom, it was founded in 1909 to organise the Blackpool Aviation Week, Britain's first officially recognised air show.
Early history
* October 1909: The original c ...
and the Liverpool and District Aero Club for air displays during the 1930s, and two visits from Sir
Alan Cobham
Sir Alan John Cobham, KBE, AFC (6 May 1894 – 21 October 1973) was an English aviation pioneer.
Early life and family
As a child he attended Wilson's School, then in Camberwell, London. The school relocated to the former site of Croydo ...
's National Aviation day Circus.
Second World War
As the entire area was on a plateau, the field was largely dry, unlike
RAF Sealand
MoD Sealand (formerly RAF Sealand), is a Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), Ministry of Defence installation in Flintshire, in the northeast corner of Wales, close to the border with England. It is a former Royal Air Force station, active be ...
and
RAF Hawarden
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) an ...
, both reclaimed from the River Dee. This dryness encouraged visits from several training squadrons, such as
Supermarine Spitfires from
RAF Ternhill
Royal Air Force Tern Hill or RAF Tern Hill was a Royal Air Force station at Ternhill in Shropshire, England, near the towns of Newport and Market Drayton.
The station closed in 1976, with the technical and administrative site transferring t ...
. After the initial breakout of the War,
No. 5 Service Flying Training School RAF
5 is a number, numeral, and glyph.
5, five or number 5 may also refer to:
* AD 5, the fifth year of the AD era
* 5 BC, the fifth year before the AD era
Literature
* 5 (visual novel), ''5'' (visual novel), a 2008 visual novel by Ram
* 5 (comic ...
used the ground as a relief strip, and in 1940, three grass runways of approximately 550-660 yards existed. The wet conditions of surrounding airfields usually caused training groups to send planes to Wrexham, which had no air traffic control, which caused several incidents.
The main period of construction at the site took place between December 1940 and June 1941, which often saw floodlit operations during the dark winter. The airfield was upgraded with hardened concrete runways and appropriate lighting for them, with defence against any possible ground invasion provided by the ring of defences surrounding the nearby Royal Ordnance Factory. The Airfield was primarily built to house a
night fighter
A night fighter (also known as all-weather fighter or all-weather interceptor for a period of time after the Second World War) is a fighter aircraft adapted for use at night or in other times of bad visibility. Night fighters began to be used i ...
squadron for the air defence of
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...
and
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
, and in 1941,
No. 96 Squadron RAF, a night fighter squadron, was moved to Wrexham from
RAF Cranage. In 1944 it was occupied by RAF. 21 Grp. AFU.
It was also home to No. 285 Squadron, which provided
Target tug
A target tug is an aircraft which tows an unmanned drone, a fabric drogue or other kind of target, for the purposes of gun or missile target practice. Target tugs are often conversions of transport and utility aircraft, as well as obsolescent com ...
aircraft for training exercises, starting with
Bristol Blenheim
The Bristol Blenheim is a British light bomber aircraft designed and built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company (Bristol) which was used extensively in the first two years of the Second World War, with examples still being used as trainers until ...
s,
Lockheed Hudson
The Lockheed Hudson is a light bomber and coastal reconnaissance aircraft built by the American Lockheed Aircraft Corporation. It was initially put into service by the Royal Air Force shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War and p ...
s and
Westland Lysander
The Westland Lysander is a British army co-operation and liaison aircraft produced by Westland Aircraft that was used immediately before and during the Second World War.
After becoming obsolete in the army co-operation role, the aircraft's ...
s, later replaced with
Boulton Paul Defiant
The Boulton Paul Defiant is a British interceptor aircraft that served with the Royal Air Force (RAF) during World War II. The Defiant was designed and built by Boulton Paul Aircraft as a "turret fighter", without any fixed forward-firing guns ...
s and
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 o ...
s. After moving through a number of Headquarters, this squadron was disbanded 26 June 1945.
![RAF Wrexham Minera Q site - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fc/RAF_Wrexham_Minera_Q_site_-_geograph.org.uk_-_587436.jpg)
To the West, on
Esclusham Mountain
Esclusham Mountain ( Welsh: ''Mynydd Esclus'' or ''Mynydd Esclys'') is an area in Wrexham County Borough, Wales, United Kingdom, and is part of the Ruabon Moors. It rises to a height of 460 m (1509 feet), with the nearby spur of Cyrn-y-Brain, to ...
, a decoy airfield existed. This was only in operation from 1941 to 1943, however the mountain was bombed several times by incendiary bombers during the war, causing
mountain fires. The waves of bombing were caused by a single bomber jettisoning its bombs after missing the
Monsanto Chemical Works in nearby
Cefn Mawr, followed by several targeted raids against the ensuing fire, with
Luftwaffe
The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...
crew believing the fires to be from a burning Liverpool.
US Army Airstrips
There was a US Army ''cubstrip'' on the Aerodrome itself. This was a small designated area where US Army
Piper Cubs could land, in support of the 400th Armored Field Artillery battalion and No. 33 Signals Construction Battalion, who were billeted in local houses, most notably Acton Hall. There were no surface treatment or buildings at any of these sites. As well as the one on the airfield, there were four others; two in Acton, one just outside the Airfield, and one in
Gresford, opposite the entrance gates of
Gresford Colliery
Gresford Colliery was a coal mine located a mile from the North Wales village of Gresford, near Wrexham.
History
Sinking
The North Wales Coalfield, of which Gresford was part, runs from Point of Ayr, on the Flintshire coast to the Shropshire b ...
. These were used by the 322nd Field Artillery Battalion of the
83rd Infantry Division. None of these sites lasted more than a year.
After the RAF
The airfield was closed and placed on care and maintenance in 1945. On 22 October 1959, it was sold to United Gravel Company a subsidiary of
Alfred McAlpine
Alfred McAlpine plc was a British construction firm headquartered in Hooton, Cheshire. It was a major road builder, and constructed over 10% of Britain's motorways, including the M6 Toll (as part of the CAMBBA consortium). It was listed on the ...
. In the 1970s quarrying operations commenced in the area and have almost obliterated the site. As recently as 2004, the original runway surface and paint still existed in places.
The site is also referred to as ''Borras Airfield'', ICAO reference EGCE. In 1977 the
National Eisteddfod of Wales was held on the airfield.
In 2005, the Tarmac quarry posted an application to increase quarrying activities. As a result of the archaeological report of this application, several of the original structures have been deemed intact, including a
Bellman hangar, several gunnery butts, which were brick buildings used for target practice and alignment of fighter weapons. There are also several air crash sites in the area, including a
Bristol Beaufighter that crashed into a pond.
Cold War
![Cold War Memories - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/Cold_War_Memories_-_geograph.org.uk_-_653389.jpg)
Between 1962 and 1992 there was a hardened
nuclear bunker, built for
No 17 Group Royal Observer Corps North Wales, who provided the field force of the
United Kingdom Warning and Monitoring Organisation
The United Kingdom Warning and Monitoring Organisation (UKWMO) was a British civilian organisation operating to provide UK military and civilian authorities with data on nuclear explosions and forecasts of fallout across the country in the event ...
and would have sounded the
four-minute warning
The four-minute warning was a public alert system conceived by the British Government during the Cold War and operated between 1953 and 1992. The name derived from the approximate length of time from the point at which a Soviet nuclear missile ...
alarm in the event of war and warned the population of Wrexham in the event of approaching radioactive fallout.
The building was manned by up to 80 volunteers who trained on a weekly basis and wore a
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) an ...
style uniform. After the break up of the communist bloc in 1989, the Royal Observer Corps was disbanded between September 1991 and December 1995. However, the nuclear bunker still stands on the site of RAF Wrexham as a lasting reminder of the cold war, but is now converted and used as a recording studio.
See also
*
List of former Royal Air Force stations
This list of former RAF stations includes most of the stations, airfields and administrative headquarters previously used by the Royal Air Force.
The stations are listed under any former county or country name which was appropriate for the du ...
References
External links
Archaeological assessment regarding quarry extension
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wrexham
Royal Flying Corps airfields
Military installations established in 1917
Military installations closed in 1959
Royal Air Force stations in Wales
Royal Air Force stations of World War II in the United Kingdom
Royal Observer Corps
Former buildings and structures in Wrexham County Borough
Defunct airports in Wales
1917 establishments in Wales
1959 disestablishments in Wales