RAF Watnall was the operational headquarters of No. 12 Group,

RAF Fighter Command RAF Fighter Command was one of the commands of the Royal Air Force. It was formed in 1936 to allow more specialised control of fighter aircraft. It served throughout the Second World War. It earned near-immortal fame during the Battle of Brita ...

Watnall Watnall is an area in the Borough of Broxtowe in Nottinghamshire, England. It is part of Greasley civil parish, and is located one mile north of Kimberley. It is in the Nuthall West and Greasley (Watnall) ward of Broxtowe Council. The village ...

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 trad ...

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 ...

History

The station was established during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

in Spring 1940 to act as headquarters for No. 12 Group whose area encompassed

the Midlands The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the In ...

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the Nor ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-we ...

and

North Wales North Wales ( cy, Gogledd Cymru) is a regions of Wales, region of Wales, encompassing its northernmost areas. It borders Mid Wales to the south, England to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north and west. The area is highly mountainous and rural, ...

. The Operations Centre of No. 12 Group was housed there in three buildings (Operations Room, Filter Room and Communications Centre), which were partially buried for protection, in a similar way to buildings for

No. 9 Group RAF No. 9 Group RAF was a group of the Royal Air Force. History The group was first formed on 1 April 1918 in No. 2 Area. The next month it was transferred to South-Western Area and then disbanded on 15 May 1919. Its next incarnation was as par ...

RAF Barton Hall Royal Air Force Barton Hall or more simply RAF Barton Hall is a former Royal Air Force station situated between the villages of Barton and Broughton, near Preston, Lancashire, England. History Barton Hall, which replaced an old manor house ...

, No. 10 Group at RAF Box, No. 11 Group at

RAF Uxbridge RAF Uxbridge was a Royal Air Force (RAF) station in Uxbridge, within the London Borough of Hillingdon, occupying a site that originally belonged to the Hillingdon House estate. The British Government purchased the estate in 1915, three years ...

, No. 13 Group RAF at RAF Newcastle and No. 14 Group RAF at

Raigmore House Raigmore House was a country house in Raigmore, Inverness. History The house was designed by Archibald Simpson and constructed for Lachlan Mackintosh of Raigmore, a merchant who had returned from Calcutta, in about 1810. On Lachlan Mackintosh's ...

. Operations room ()
The operations room, responsible for directing RAF aircraft in the No. 12 Group area, was located in a bunker on the east side of the main road in Watnall. It was fully operational by 1940 and closed in 1946. It is now flooded and the site above is now occupied by a vehicle testing centre. Filter room ()
The Filter room, responsible for filtering large quantities of intelligence on enemy activity before it was passed to the operations room, was located in a bunker further south on a sunken road off the main road in Watnall. It did not open until 1943. After the war it continued to be used as an early warning centre until it closed in 1961. The filter block was sold by auction in 2008 and is now being redeveloped as a hotel. An episode of ''

The Restoration Man ''The Restoration Man'' is a British home improvement television series presented by George Clarke. It first aired on Channel 4 on 14 March 2010. Synopsis Architect George Clarke travels around Great Britain profiling people restoring historica ...

'' presented by

George Clarke George Clarke (7 May 1661 – 22 October 1736), of All Souls, Oxford, was an English architect, print collector and Tory politician who sat in the English and British House of Commons between 1702 and 1736. Life The son of Sir William Clark ...

, which was aired on Channel 4 on 12 February 2014, described the progress of the development. The Communications centre has not been found.

RAF units and aircraft

References

External links

{{Commonscat, RAF Watnall

History

RAF units and aircraft

See also

References

External links