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RAF
Woodvale Merseyside
History Section
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THE RAF
base has some interesting surprises to offer
researchers, originally built as a night fighter station
to defend Liverpool, RAF Woodvale was opened in 1941
with 3 Bellman hangars and 9 Blister hangars it was
nothing special. Built on the site of the former
Freshfield Golf Club it has 3 tarmac runways that are
still in operation today. Located about 12 miles north
West of Liverpool it was designed as a Forward Airfield
Night Fighter Station in the early days of World War II
for the fighter defence of Mersey and Liverpool. Many
original buildings remain and one of it's original
hangars is still in operation today. The other hangers
are now long gone, 2 of them replaced with smaller
hangers, the others were never rebuilt. The Tower is a
Watch Office, type 12096/41, also built in 1941 as the
original control tower and it is still in use today. It
is used by the RAF for Air Traffic Control, but now clad
with metal sheeting, it's roof now has solid railings,
masts and new Visual Control Room. 1942, 23 May, 315
(Polish) Sqn Detachment Woodvale, moved from Woodvale
with Spitfire Vb aircraft to RAF Valley an this marked a
long standing attachment with the airfield to Spitfires.
The 315 were joined on July 12 1942 by 167 Squadron and
No.322 (Dutch) Squadron with Spitfires moved to
Woodvale. The Squadron Commander (S/L/ A.C. Stewart)
remained British for a while, and of the 23 pilots only
eight had the Dutch nationality. This changed rather
quick and in September 1943 only the Squadron Commander
and one Flight Commander had British nationalities. On
May 21, 1943 167 Squadron moved to Westhampnett in the
Southern parts of England. In 1947 the Polish No 190
Gliding School moved to Woodvale.
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During World
War 2 a Q site, night bombing decoy, in Lancashire was
put into service. Near Formby at Downholland Moss the
remains of control shelter for a Q site still stand
today as well as many gunning emplacements all over the
coast and around the airport. Q sites were night bombing
decoys. This one was built to decoy RAF Woodvale further
up the coast. The Q site itself was almost one and a
half miles long and was intended to represent an
airfield at night and consisted of a dummy flare path
for landing aircraft and a v-shaped approach funnel. The
shelter was normally situated within 400 metres of the
decoy and housed 2 generators and rest area for the
crew. There were normally 2 crew; one operated the
headlight while the other kept watch. The shelter was
covered with earth to protect it from near misses. The
earth has now fallen away.
After the war as other airfields were closed, Woodvale
was to play another role with the RAF and was kept open.
With the increase of air traffic from Liverpool Speke
Airport (now John Lennon Airport) in 1951 Number 611
'West Lancashire' Squadron moved to Woodvale from Hooton
Park, which was situated other side of the River Mersey.
611 Squadron conducted THUM (Temperature and Humidity)
flights using the aircraft. In 1953 Manchester
University Air Squadron moved its flying operations from
Barton to Woodvale. 1957 the No 611 Squadron was
disbanded and this also was the end of the operational
service of the British legend, the Spitfire. The last
one to fly in British military markings took of from
Woodvale that same year. Things were changing at the air
base and more none MOD operations were taking place and
in 1965 on the 3rd October, RAF Woodvale held a Dragfest.
Buddy Cortines won and posted the UK's first 200mph
terminal speed. Buddy also recorded the fastest time of
the '65 Dragfest with a 7.74/201. This stood as an
unofficial UK record until 1970. In 1975 the Manchester
University Air Squadron was renamed Manchester and
Salford Universities Air Squadron in the April, to
accommodate the new status of Salford University. Due to
its increasing air traffic at Liverpool John Lennon
Airport a great deal of research was carried out to find
a new home for the Merseyside Police Air Support Group
and RAF Woodvale was identified as the most suitable
location. This marked a new era for the air field and in
2000 the Police force moved their helicopter to a
purpose built hanger at Woodvale.
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From its
designed role for combat, the airfield is still
operating, but in a new world is now far from the its
original design purpose. It is now home to the
University Air Squadrons of Manchester and Liverpool as
well as local flying clubs, the Merseyside Police Air
Support Group and RAF No. 10 Air Experience Flight
(AEF). The aircraft today are a Eurocopter EC135
Helicopter owned and operated by the police, a Bulldog
aircraft owned by local civilian flyers. Interestingly
from 1973 to 1999, they were also used at Woodvale by
the Universities. The Universities now use Grob Tutor T1
aircraft with distinctive white fuselage and wings with
blue trim. Strangely the University Squadron aircraft
carry civil registrations. The station is now a primary
training center for the RAF training of undergraduate
student pilots to the Elementary Flying Training
syllabus. Ex-UAS student pilots are then able to enter
the RAF at a stage where they can be selected for fast
jet, helicopter or multi-engine aircraft. The AEF
provides air experience for air cadet members of the Air
Training Corps and RAF sections of the College Cadet
Force.
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This
section is basic event data with national and local
events included to help you fit events into world
context. If you have any dates that you
would like us to enter please email us at history@pcbtphotography.co.uk
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Mersey
Reporter and Liverpool Reporter are Trade Marks of Patrick Trollope. Copyright © Patrick
Trollope 2003
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