413:. During 1942 the station's name was changed from RAF Atherstone to RAF Stratford. This is nothing to do with airfields with the same name. The airfield is at Atherstone on Stour, a sparsely populated rural parish, too small to appear on many maps and which never had a railway station. The nearest station is Stratford-on-Avon on the GWR Birmingham to Bristol line. The RAF dropped the "on-Stour" from the name and don't seem to have realised there is a large town, 40 miles away in North Warwickshire (near to Tamworth in Staffordshire) called Atherstone. It is on the maps and does have a station and not surprisingly many servicemen posted to Atherstone, Warwickshire ended up at the wrong place. This Atherstone is on the LMSR west coast main line, and to get to Stratford involves a circuitous journey of three separate trains and a walk across Birmingham between the LMS & GWR stations, probably a half days travel. When it is borne in mind that nearly 90% of routine service personnel movements were by rail and OTUs had substantial intakes of trainees once a fortnight this presented a problem. The RAF eventually realised their mistake and the airfield was renamed after the local railway station.
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386:. Through its life the airfield was home to a number of units before closing in 1945. However local sources state that the airfield was wrongly sited because it was directly on the flightpath from Wellesbourne and also the whole airfield was on hill, the main runway having quite a steep slope.
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However, on 7 March 1944 the airfield was transferred back to No. 22 OTU because the unit now had 81 Wellington III/X's with 33 of these coming from No. 23 OTU which had disbanded on 7 March 1944. Although before long No. 22 OTU had left and the station came under control from the
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Today the airfield is home to a small number of warehouses however the original basic layout can still be made out, including the runways and a large amount of the perimeter track which used to connect the runways with the dispersal hard standings and the technical site.
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No. 312 Ferry
Training Unit (FTU) flying Wellingtons used the airfield for just under eight months between 24 April 1943 and 17 December 1943 with the unit located at Wellesbourne Mountford with
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overshot a forced landing and ran onto the railway at the end of the runway. The aircraft was only lightly damaged until it was hit by a train.
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At its peak there were over 1650 service men and women stationed here as well as civilian workers. At one time this OTU operated 81
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The Ground
Controlled Approach Squadron RAF was also here at some point under the control of the Signals Flying Unit.
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During life as a RAF training airfield accidents were not far away, with a number of airmen killed during training.
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Atherstone had its name changed during operations when, in May 1942, it became
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Action
Stations 6: Military airfield of the Cotswolds and the Central Midlands
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Wellington BK186 of 22 OTU had to crash land after an engine failure.
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BBC History WW2 People's War – RAF Wellesbourne
Mountford (Part 1)
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Royal Air Force stations of World War II in the United
Kingdom
734:"Military aircraft crashes in the south west Midlands – 1945"
712:"Military aircraft crashes in the south west Midlands – 1944"
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satellite station located 2.25 miles (3.62 km) south of
763:. Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, Patrick Stephens Ltd., 1983.
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overshot landing and ran into the railway embankment.
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Defunct airports and airfields in the United
Kingdom
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814:Warwickshire Airfields in the Second World War
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799:. Shrewsbury, Airlife Publishing Ltd., 1999.
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69:A section of perimeter track at the airfield
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337:1,080 metres (3,543 ft) Concrete
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321:1,480 metres (4,856 ft) Concrete
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371:, 7.5 miles (12.1 km) north-west of
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27:Former RAF base in Warwickshire, England
686:Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust
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1460:Commandant-General of the RAF Regiment
816:, countryside books, airfield series,
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1383:List of equipment of the RAF Regiment
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420:and Stratford used as a satellite.
134:RAF Atherstone (the United Kingdom)
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137:Show map of the United Kingdom
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780:. UK: Ian Allan Publishing.
778:RAF Airfields of World War 2
529:in which four firemen died.
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1309:RAF Mountain Rescue Service
1304:RAF Search and Rescue Force
759:Bowyer, M. J. F.
682:"Stratford II (Atherstone)"
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384:RAF Wellesbourne Mountford
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104:Show map of Warwickshire
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1046:Stanley Park, Blackpool
797:Flying Units of the RAF
506:Signals Flying Unit RAF
490:Wellington LN845 –C of
439:Accidents and incidents
426:Signals Flying Unit RAF
736:. Aviation Archaeology
714:. Aviation Archaeology
638:. Aviation Archaeology
239:No. 91 (OTU) Group RAF
1345:RAF Volunteer Reserve
776:Falconer, J. (2012).
1378:List of RAF missiles
1361:List of RAF aircraft
1279:RAF Medical Services
1264:RAF Chaplains Branch
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891:Bristol (Whitchurch)
382:as a satellite from
283:Airfield information
168:52.16111°N 1.68667°W
1539:RAF Benevolent Fund
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1107:Ministry of Defence
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582:on 19 November 2004
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234:No. 6 (T) Group RAF
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1435:Chief of Air Staff
1299:RAF Music Services
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313:Length and surface
229:RAF Bomber Command
225:Controlled by
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1245:branches and
1175:Glider units
906:Christchurch
813:
796:
777:
760:
753:Bibliography
738:. Retrieved
728:
716:. Retrieved
689:. Retrieved
676:
664:
652:
640:. Retrieved
630:
618:. Retrieved
608:
596:
584:. Retrieved
580:the original
531:
524:
520:
477:11 June 1944
442:
434:
422:
415:
400:
397:Posted units
390:
388:
377:
365:Warwickshire
352:
351:
273:Battles/wars
245:Site history
209:Air Ministry
55:Warwickshire
29:
1404:Other ranks
1170:Ferry units
911:Cricklewood
886:Bekesbourne
669:Bowyer 1983
538:Avro Ansons
517:Current use
430:RAF Honiley
409:with their
265:In use
171: /
159:001°41′12″W
147:Coordinates
1597:Categories
1549:RAF Museum
1324:Operations
1289:RAF Police
1247:components
1180:Misc units
1114:formations
1031:Samlesbury
1006:Panshanger
548:References
455:Reference
418:RAF Gaydon
1392:personnel
1354:equipment
1227:Squadrons
1145:Squadrons
1116:and units
1011:Penshurst
981:Maidstone
966:Leavesden
931:Gravesend
795:Lake, A.
657:Lake 1999
553:Citations
466:BK541 of
309:Direction
288:Elevation
156:52°9′40″N
1567:timeline
1491:Roundels
1215:Regiment
1189:stations
1130:Commands
1021:Ramsgate
1001:Newhaven
941:Hatfield
740:16 April
718:16 April
691:24 April
642:16 April
620:16 April
586:16 April
452:Incident
215:Operator
1582:commons
1562:history
1496:Uniform
1366:current
1232:Flights
1150:Flights
1056:Walsall
1026:Renfrew
961:Ipswich
916:Croydon
369:England
303:Runways
255: (
1572:future
1481:Ensign
1371:future
1201:Former
1196:Active
1135:Groups
991:Marden
976:Lympne
951:Heston
946:Hendon
820:
803:
784:
767:
1486:Badge
1222:Wings
1140:Wings
1123:units
921:Derby
428:from
334:14/32
326:06/24
318:02/20
250:Built
205:Owner
818:ISBN
801:ISBN
782:ISBN
765:ISBN
742:2012
720:2012
693:2020
644:2012
622:2012
588:2012
449:Date
293:AMSL
257:1940
253:1940
192:Code
184:Type
1599::
701:^
684:.
561:^
544:.
393:.
375:.
367:,
363:,
237:*
232:*
195:NF
53:,
1090:e
1083:t
1076:v
864:e
857:t
850:v
824:.
807:.
790:.
771:.
744:.
722:.
695:.
646:.
624:.
590:.
259:)
20:)
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
