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Lyneham changed in the mid 1930s
when the Air Ministry decided to acclaim the land at Lyneham
Court for a future storage unit. It was originally intended
for use as an Aircraft Storage Unit but changes in World
War II requirements, meant part of the unit was converted
in an aerodrome. The aerodrome had a grass landing area and
mainly 'J' Type Hangers. The landing strips were aligned
NW/SE and NE/SW and were extremely unsatisfactory in wet
weather. By the end of 1944 there were 30 'Blister' and 10
'Robin' type hangers, a control tower, a guard room and barracks.
In 1941 the accommodation for pupils under training was in
wooden huts. The tarmac runways were also constructed then
and were completed by February 1942. On the 1st May 1949,
additional barrack blocks with single rooms were provided.
The majority block accommodation included shared ablutions,
dark corridors and Nissan hut type decoration. At this time
new married accommodation was built. A new Air Traffic Control
Tower was built in 1956 with a new fire section. The Hercules
fleet arrived in 1967, when new aprons were built to accommodate
them.
The Station
opened as Number 33 Maintenance Unit on 18 May 1940,with
no ceremony, and indeed very few people. The Record Book
states that the strength on the first day, was 4 officers,
1 other rank and 15 civilians. There were 9 vehicles - 1
staff car, 2 tenders, 1 van, 2 tractors, a mobile crane and
an ambulance, and 1 Crossley fire engine. To refuel aircraft
there was a 450 gallon tanker with 2 petrol trailers, and
there were also 2 bicycles. There were, however, no aircraft,
but by the end of the month the first 2 had arrived, being
a Tiger Moth and an Albacore.
Over
the next few months the strength of the unit built up rapidly,
and by the end of the year there were 422 civilians, 18 officers
(including the first 2 WAAFs), and 181 other ranks. Construction
was still going on, and had been disrupted on September 19
when an enemy aircraft came in low from the south west, dropped
one incendiary and 2 high explosive bombs, and made a strafing
run. 5 civilian workmen were killed, and the east end of
the hangar that they were building was destroyed.
The Maintenance Unit was now holding more
operational aircraft, the list including Blenheims, Lysanders,
Wellingtons and Spitfires. They were received for storage,
modified and tested as necessary, and issued as required
for front-line units.
The Station was a part of Number 41 group,
Maintenance Command, but this affiliation was to change in
August 1941 with the arrival from Cranfield of Number 14
Service Flying Training School with its Airspeed Oxfords.
Their function was the advanced training on twin-engined
aircraft of pilots who had been selected to fly multi-engined
aeroplanes. Many of the students were Belgians and Poles,
and concentrated flying training took place, with 4 ten-and-a-half
week courses running simultaneously.
The Station was now in Number 23 Group,
Flying Training Command. On 23 October 1941 King George VI
spent 50 minutes visiting the Service Flying Training School,
which now used Relief Landing Grounds at Wanborough and Long
Newnton. The school had a high accident rate, with at least
12 aircraft, 6 instructors and 8 pupils being lost.
33 Maintenance Unit now had nearly 300
aircraft in storage, and was running out of space for them.
Accordingly it was allocated Number 45 Satellite Landing
ground at Townsend, near Calne, for storage purposes.
In February 1942 the SFTS completed a move
from Lyneham to Ossington. The first Station Commander took
post on 14 February, and the Station was transferred to Number
44 Group Ferry Command. This was in readiness for the arrival
in March 1941 of Number 301 Ferry training Unit from Pershore.
The purpose of this unit was to train crews for the delivery
of aircraft from storage to flying units, many of them in
North Africa and the Middle East. The aircraft included Wellingtons,
Hudsons, Beauforts and Marylands. 301 FTU also trained test
pilots for Number 42 Group, Maintenance Command. Over the
next 3 months Numbers 1442, 1444 and 1445 Flights joined
the FTU in ferrying aircraft out. So similar was the task
of these four units that, in November 1942, they amalgamated
to form Number 301 Ferry Training Unit.
Meanwhile Number 1425 Communications Flight
had arrived from Honeybourne in April, flying in with its
Consolidated Liberators. 1425 operated these conversions
of the B-24 bomber on shuttle services to the Mediterranean
area, carrying passengers and freight outbound, and returning
ferry crews inbound. In August, one of their passengers was
the Prime Minister, Mr Churchill, on his way to and from
Cairo and Moscow. In October the Flight was redesignated
Number 511 Squadron, and this Squadron was to become one
of Lyneham's longer-term residents. During 1942 it added
Armstrong-Whitworth Albemarles to its equipment.
In March 1943 British Overseas Airways Corporation
took over a hangar at Lyneham for its Liberators. Normally
based at Bristol Whitchurch airfield, there was insufficient
hangarage for them there, and the runway was also rather
short for their operations. They remained at Lyneham until
1945, flying scheduled and special routes to non-occupied
areas of Europe and to the Mediterranean area.
By now Lyneham had been provided with hard-surfaced
runways. Two were built during 1940 and 1941, the longest
being 4,375 feet, the other 3,542 feet. During the following
years these were both extended, and in 1943 the 6,000 feet
long North-South runway was opened as well.
33 MU was now increasingly holding Spitfires
and Seafires, with stocks of other types reducing. In a straight
exchange with 15MU at Wroughton, Townsend SLG was relinquished
in September 1942 and Number 31 Satellite Landing Ground
at Everleigh was taken on in its place.
With the increase in pure transport operations
in the RAF, as opposed to ferrying, Transport Command was
formed in March 1943. Lyneham, in Number 46 Group, was its
main base in the south, and as well as sending its own aircraft
overseas, acted as the clearance airfield for planning, diplomatic
clearance, customs and briefing purposes for transport aeroplanes
from other Stations flying abroad. It also provided facilities
for aircraft being ferried overseas.
In 1943 and 1944, 33 MU was responsible
for the completion of General Aviation Hamilcar gliders.
These were the only Allied glider capable of carrying a light
tank and were used on 'D' Day and for the Rhine crossing.
The sections were made separately, largely by furniture companies,
and the parts were brought together at Maintenance Units
for erection. Most of those built at Lyneham were towed out
by Halifax tugs to North Luffenham. 33MU was also one of
only two units to build the unsuccessful powered version
of the Hamilcar, the Mk X.
301 FTU left Lyneham for Pershore in March
1944, its move being accelerated by Number 525 Squadron's
arrival from Weston Zoyland the previous month. A transport
squadron, they brought with them their Vickers Warwicks,
an aircraft already being used here by BOAC. 525 flew them
on routes via Gibraltar to Tunisia and other destinations
in North Africa, but after two of them were lost in April
they were restricted to freight only, and the unit started
receiving the Douglas Dakota to replace them.
At the end of 1944 the 2 resident squadrons
were briefly supplemented by Number 242 Squadron, which reformed
here from the Liberator Flight of 511 Squadron. They flew
long-range trips to India and the Far East, but stayed for
only 8 weeks before moving out to Holmsley South. BOAC also
departed in April 1945, leaving for their new operating base
at Hurn.
Number 511 Squadron was gradually changing
its Liberators and Albemarles for Avro Yorks and Douglas
Dakotas. They were operating, amongst other destinations,
to the Azores and the Far East.
The war ended with Lyneham home to the Maintenance
Unit and 2 Transport squadrons. With British forces deployed
around the World, the requirement for transport aircraft
to move and resupply them seemed to assure the future of
the Station for the foreseeable future. |
