Hullavington Airfield

Hullavington Airfield
IATA: none – ICAO: EGDV
Summary
Airport type		Miltary
Owner		Ministry of Defence
Operator		Royal Air Force
Location		Hullavington, Wiltshire
Built		1937
In use		1937 - 1993
Elevation AMSL		201 ft / 104 m
Coordinates		51°31′30″N 002°08′00″W
Map
EGDV Location in Wiltshire
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
	ft	m
06/14	3,460	1,070
06/15	3,490	1,250	Asphalt

Hullavington Airfield (IATA: —, ICAO: EGDV) is an airfield in Hullavington, near Chippenham, Wiltshire, England. The site is the former RAF Hullavington a Royal Air Force station.

History

The site was opened on 9 July 1937 as a Flying Training School. With the beginning of the Second World War top officers from allied nations came to Hullavington to share ideas and ways of using aircraft. An effective Met. Office was also stationed at Hullavington. An aircraft which left every day at dawn flew at various heights in order to send data back for the Met. Office to assess the weather.

In 1970 RAF Hullavington hosted the World Aerobatic Championships.

Units posted to the station

The station has performed many different roles; these are summarised with dates below:

Royal Air Force

• No. 9 (Pilot) Advanced Flying Unit RAF between June 1937 and July 1942.
• No. 9 Maintenance Unit RAF between 8 July 1938 and 31 December 1959 (renamed No. 10 MU during February 1939) as a Aircraft Storage Unit with Airspeed Oxfords and Avro Ansons.
• No. 10 Group Communications Flight was formed here on 1 June 1940 and used multiple aircraft types.
• No. 88 Gliding School disbanded here during May 1948.
• No. 114 Squadron RAF was reformed here on 20 November 1958 with the de Havilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunk T.10 and stayed until 15 December 1958 when the squadron moved to RAF Nicosia.
• No. 622 Volunteer Gliding School (VGS).
• No. 625 Volunteer Gliding School (VGS) between 1992 and 2013.^{[citation needed]}
• No. 1532 BAT Flight.
• Balloon Operations Squadron.
• Bristol University Air Squadron.
• Empire Central Flying School between 1 April 1942 and 7 May 1946.
• Empire Flying School between 7 May 1946 and 31 July 1949.
• Parachute Support Unit.
• Primary Flying Squadron.
• No. 1 Air Navigation School was disbanded here on 1 May 1954.
• No. 2 Flying Training School RAF with the Hunting Percival Provost T.1 between May 1954 and 1957.
• Air Electronics School between 1957 and 1962.^{[citation needed]}
• Basic Air Navigation Training School between 1962 and unknown.^{[citation needed]}
• No. 16 Parachute Heavy Drop Company Royal Army Ordnance Corps from 1971 until it disbanded 1 September 1976.^{[citation needed]}
• Parachute Packing Unit/Parachute Servicing Flight between 1967 and 1992.^{[citation needed]}
• No. 4626 (Aeromedical Evacuation) Squadron RAuxAF between 1986-1995.

Royal Air Force Regiment

• No. 5 Wing RAF Regiment between 1982 and 1990.^{[citation needed]}
• No. 2 Squadron RAF Regiment between 1983 and 1988.^{[citation needed]}
• 2 & 15 Sqn RAF Regiment from 1986 until RAF Hullavington was closed.^{[citation needed]}

Air Transport Auxiliary

• No. 8 Ferry Pilot Pool between November 1940 and March 1941.^{[citation needed]}
• No. 1427 (Ferry Training) Flight between 18 May and 5 September 1942.^{[citation needed]}

Defence Codification Data Centre

The Defence Codification Data Centre (DCDC) lodged in a purpose-built computer suite at RAF Hullavington from its establishment in 1966 until its dispersal to Glasgow in 1986, where it merged with its parent body, the Defence Codification Authority.^{[citation needed]}

Current usage

Today the barracks of the site (east of the airfield) is used as the home of 9 Theatre Logistic Regiment Royal Logistic Corps (RLC) and it was renamed in 2003 Buckley Barracks after the VC winner John Buckley.

The airfield, West of the main barracks, is still referred to as "Hullavington Airfield" after its RAF origins. In 1992 and 1993, two Volunteer Gliding Schools moved in operating using the 'Viking' - a modified version of the civilian Grob 103. During 2013 621 VGS and 625 VGS merged together to from 621 VGS.

Throughout the week, Hullavington Airfield is used by mainly the Army Air Corps and the Royal Air Force for parachute drop training, and by 9 Theatre Logistic Regiment RLC of the Royal Logistic Corps as storage space using the airfield's hangars.^{[citation needed]}

Hangar 88 is currently used by M4 Karting.

References

Bibliography

• Jefford MBE, Wg Cdr C G (1988). RAF Squadrons. A comprehensive record of the movement and equipment of all RAF squadrons and their antecedents since 1912. Shrewsbury: Airlife. ISBN 1-85310-053-6. 
• Lake, A (1999). Flying units of the RAF. Shrewsbury: Airlife. ISBN 1-84037-086-6. 

External links

• BBC History