Royal Air Force Moreton Valence or more simply RAF Moreton Valence 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 ...

installation located southwest of

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east o ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of ...

and northwest of

Cirencester Cirencester (, ; see below for more variations) is a market town in Gloucestershire, England, west of London. Cirencester lies on the River Churn, a tributary of the River Thames, and is the largest town in the Cotswolds. It is the home of ...

, Gloucestershire,

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History

RAF Moreton Valence opened in 1939 and was closed in 1962. The airfield was situated between the A38 and B4008 roads east of the village of Moreton Valence, and was also known as Haresfield airfield. During World War Two, it had three concrete runways and associated aircraft hangars including A1, blister, B1 and B2 types. It was a satellite of RAF Staverton and was used by an Advanced Flying Unit of Royal Air Force Flying Training Command. During World War Two, it also hosted secret tests of the

Armstrong Whitworth Albemarle The Armstrong Whitworth A.W.41 Albemarle was a twin-engine transport aircraft developed by the British aircraft manufacturer Armstrong Whitworth and primarily produced by A.W. Hawksley Ltd, a subsidiary of the Gloster Aircraft Company. It was ...

bomber. Beginning in October 1943, it was also used by Gloster aircraft for testing

Meteor A meteoroid () is a small rocky or metallic body in outer space. Meteoroids are defined as objects significantly smaller than asteroids, ranging in size from grains to objects up to a meter wide. Objects smaller than this are classified as mi ...

jet aircraft. Moreton Valence's runway had been extended to 6,000 feet to allow testing of the Meteor.

Peter Cadbury Peter Egbert Cadbury (6 February 1918 – 17 April 2006) was a British entrepreneur. Early life and education Cadbury was born at Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, the son of Sir Egbert Cadbury and his wife, Mary Forbes, the daughter of Rev. Forbes Ph ...

flew as a test pilot for Glosters during World War II, and fondly remembered his first flight in a jet, at Moreton Valence. There were no two-seat versions, so his first solo in a Meteor would also be his first flight in one:

"When heck pilotMichael Daunt was satisfied that I knew enough about the Meteor to be trusted to fly it, I was put in the cockpit . . .'Line up, set the rpm at 14,000, watch the jet pipe temperature and good luck,' he said, slapped the side of the aeroplane and walked away. I did as I was told and released the brakes . . . It was a thrill I shall never forget, as the aircraft accelerated down the runway . . . My immediate reaction was the lack of noise or vibration . . . The Meteor project was Top Secret and we were told not to fly out of the Moreton Valence area and avoid having to force-land anywhere else."Peter Cadbury, "Test Pilot," in High Flyers: 30 Reminiscences to Celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the Royal Air Force, Michael Fopp (ed.), Greenhill Books in Association with the Royal Air Force Museum. London, 1993. p. 66

In the post-war period, it was used by Glosters for further testing of the Meteor, and was also used for final completion of

Javelin A javelin is a light spear designed primarily to be thrown, historically as a ranged weapon, but today predominantly for sport. The javelin is almost always thrown by hand, unlike the sling, bow, and crossbow, which launch projectiles with the ...

fighters which were built in Brockworth and flown the short distance to Moreton Valence, the runway at Brockworth being too short to safely allow a completed Javelin to take off. The airfield site has been subsequently bisected by the M5 and some areas are used for industrial parks. The following units were posted here: * No. 3 (Pilots) Advanced Flying Unit RAF * No. 6 Air Observers Navigation School RAF * No. 6 Air Observers School RAF *

No. 6 (Observers) Advanced Flying Unit RAF ''No. 6'' is a Japanese novel series written by Atsuko Asano (writer), Atsuko Asano and published by Kodansha in nine volumes between October 2003 and June 2011. A manga adaptation drawn by Hinoki Kino was serialized in Kodansha's ''Aria (ma ...

* No. 6 (Pilots) Advanced Flying Unit RAF * No. 12 (RNZAF) Personnel Reception Centre * No. 83 Gliding School RAF * Pilot Refresher Training Unit

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moreton Valence, RAF Royal Air Force stations in Gloucestershire