No. 228 Operational Conversion Unit was 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 ...

Operational conversion unit. It was formed in No. 12 Group at

RAF Leeming Royal Air Force Leeming or RAF Leeming is a Royal Air Force (RAF) station located near Leeming, North Yorkshire, England. It was opened in 1940 and was jointly used by the RAF and the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). Between 1950 and 1991, it ...

from Nos. 13 and 54 OTUs in 1947. The tasking of the OCU was the training of

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 ...

crews and its aircraft were the de Havilland Mosquito,

Gloster Meteor The Gloster Meteor was the first British jet fighter and the Allies of World War II, Allies' only jet aircraft to engage in combat operations during the Second World War. The Meteor's development was heavily reliant on its ground-breaking turb ...

and

Gloster Javelin The Gloster Javelin is a twin-engined T-tailed delta-wing subsonic night and all-weather interceptor aircraft that served with Britain's Royal Air Force from the mid-1950s until the late 1960s. The last aircraft design to bear the Gloster name ...

over the years. The OCU lasted until 1961 at Leeming when it was disbanded. The unit's next incarnation saw it again training night fighter crews, this time at RAF Leuchars. The aircraft was again the Javelin and the training particularly emphasised preparing crews for overseas service. The unit was taken with this role for 18 months in 1965 and 1966 before disbanding again. Its final incarnation was as a training unit for the

McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II is an American tandem two-seat, twin-engine, all-weather, long-range supersonic jet interceptor and fighter-bomber originally developed by McDonnell Aircraft for the United States Navy.Swanborough and B ...

RAF Coningsby Royal Air Force Coningsby or RAF Coningsby , is a Royal Air Force (RAF) station located south-west of Horncastle, and north-west of Boston, in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It is a Main Operating Base of the RAF and ho ...

. The unit was activated there in 1968 and eventually found its way to Leuchars again where it fell victim to post-Cold War cutbacks and was permanently disbanded in January 1991.

References

External links

RAF Web
{{RAF Conversion units Military units and formations established in 1947 Conversion units of the Royal Air Force

See also

References

External links