RAF Flowerdown

Last updated

RAF Flowerdown
Ensign of the Royal Air Force.svg
Located near Winchester in Hampshire
Hampshire UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
RAF Flowerdown
Coordinates 51°03′36″N1°20′42″W / 51.060°N 1.345°W / 51.060; -1.345
Type Listening station
Site information
Owner Ministry of Defence
Controlled by Royal Air Force
Site history
Built1918 (1918)
In use1918-1979, 1986-Present

Royal Air Force Flowerdown, or more simply RAF Flowerdown, is a former Royal Air Force station located in Hampshire, England.

The Royal Flying Corps (RFC) School for Wireless Operators moved from Farnborough to Flowerdown, later RAF Flowerdown in 1918. From April 1926 the Electrical and Wireless School, part of 23 Group, Inland Area, was located at Flowerdown. [1] The apprentice training school moved from Flowerdown to Cranwell in 1929 [2] and the RNAS moved into Flowerdown which remained as a wireless station until 1956. It was never an airfield but it was bombed twice in one week.

During the Second World War, Flowerdown was one of a number of listening stations around the country that fed information into Bletchley Park with staff working 12-hour shifts listening to Morse code which was then used to decipher the German codes.

In 1956 the site was taken over by GCHQ's Composite Signals Organisation as a large HF listening station. It closed in the late 1970s.

In 1986 the site became the new depot for the Light Division when they moved from Peninsula Barracks, Winchester and was named Sir John Moore Barracks. [3] The barracks went on to become the home of the Army Training Regiment, Winchester. [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Army Air Corps (United Kingdom)</span> Aviation arm of the British Army

The Army Air Corps (AAC) is a component of the British Army, first formed in 1942 during the Second World War by grouping the various airborne units of the British Army. Today, there are eight regiments of the AAC as well as two Independent Flights and two Independent Squadrons deployed in support of British Army operations around the world. Regiments and flights are located in the United Kingdom, Kenya, and Canada. Some AAC squadrons provide the air assault elements of 16 Air Assault Brigade through Joint Helicopter Command.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British Forces Overseas Hong Kong</span> United Kingdom military forces in the colony of Hong Kong

British Forces Overseas Hong Kong comprised the elements of the British Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force stationed in British Hong Kong. The Governor of Hong Kong also assumed the position of the commander-in-chief of the forces and the Commander British Forces in Hong Kong took charge of the daily deployment of the troops. Much of the British military left prior to the handover of Hong Kong to China in 1997. The present article focuses mainly on the British garrison in Hong Kong in the post Second World War era. For more information concerning the British garrison during the Second World War and earlier, see the Battle of Hong Kong.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RAF Tern Hill</span> Former Royal Air Force station in Shropshire, England

Royal Air Force Tern Hill, or more simply RAF Tern Hill, was a Royal Air Force station at Ternhill in Shropshire, England, near the towns of Newport and Market Drayton.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Redford Barracks</span> Barracks in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK

Redford Cavalry and Infantry Barracks is a military installation located on Colinton Road, near the Edinburgh City Bypass, east of the suburb of Colinton in Edinburgh, Scotland. The barracks are set to close in 2029.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RAF Catterick</span> Royal Air Force base in Yorkshire, England

Royal Air Force Catterick or RAF Catterick is a former Royal Air Force airfield located near Catterick, North Yorkshire in England. It is located alongside the A6055 road on the outskirts of Catterick Village.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RAF Spitalgate</span> Royal Air Force station in Grantham, UK

Royal Air Force Spitalgate or more simply RAF Spitalgate formerly known as RFC Grantham and RAF Grantham was a Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force station, located 2 mi (3.2 km) south east of the centre of Grantham, Lincolnshire, England fronting onto the main A52 road.

RAF Locking was a Royal Air Force station near the village of Locking and about 3 miles from Weston-super-Mare in North Somerset, England. During the period 1939 to 2000, the station trained tens of thousands of engineers in the maintenance of aircraft then radar, radio and computers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RAF Swanton Morley</span>

Royal Air Force Swanton Morley or more simply RAF Swanton Morley, is a former Royal Air Force station in Norfolk, England, located near to the village of Swanton Morley. The site, now known as Robertson Barracks, is occupied by the Queen's Dragoon Guards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RAF Hullavington</span> Former Royal Air Force station in Wiltshire, England

Royal Air Force Hullavington, or more simply RAF Hullavington, was a Royal Air Force station located at Hullavington, near Chippenham, Wiltshire, England. The station opened in June 1937 and was primarily used for training. It closed on 31 March 1992 when it was transferred to the British Army and renamed Buckley Barracks. The airfield part of the site, known as Hullavington Airfield, continued to be used for RAF gliding operations until 2016 when it was sold to technology company Dyson.

Royal Air Force Kirton in Lindsey or more simply RAF Kirton in Lindsey is a former Royal Air Force station located 15 miles (24 km) north of Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RAF Flying Training Command</span> Former command of the Royal Air Force

Flying Training Command was an organization of the Royal Air Force; it controlled flight training units. The command's headquarters were at RAF Shinfield Park, Reading in Berkshire.

RAF Worthy Down was a Royal Air Force station built in 1918, 3.5 miles (6 km) north of Winchester, Hampshire, England. After it was transferred to Royal Navy control in 1939 as RNAS Worthy Down, the airfield remained in use throughout the Second World War and then housed an engineering school from 1952. The airfield was in use until 1960. The site is now Worthy Down Camp.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bordon and Longmoor Military Camps</span>

Bordon and Longmoor Military Camps are British Army training camps close to the A3 and A325 roads in and around the settlements of Bordon, Longmoor, Liss and Liphook in Hampshire, England. The main street of the Longmoor part of the camp is built on an ancient Roman road, the Chichester to Silchester Way, while the village of Greatham lies to the west. The combined camp and training area coveres 1,783 hectares of wooded areas, heath, wetlands and hard standings. Longmoor camp and the training areas are still active, and maintained by the Defence Infrastructure Organisation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sir John Moore Barracks, Winchester</span>

Sir John Moore Barracks is a military installation near Winchester. It is set to close in 2026.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Structure of the British Army</span> Organisation of the British Army

The structure of the British Army is being reorganised to the Future Soldier structure. The Army is commanded by the Chief of the General Staff (CGS), with Army Headquarters which is located in Andover, Hampshire. Subordinate to that post, there is a Commander Field Army, and a personnel and UK operations command, Home Command.

The following is a hierarchical outline for the structure of the British Army in 1989. The most authoritative source for this type of information available is Ministry of Defence, Master Order of Battle, and United Kingdom Land Forces, HQ UKLF, UKLF ORBAT Review Action Plan, HQ UKLF, 1990.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">No. 23 Group RAF</span> Former Royal Air Force flying training group

No. 23 Group RAF was a group of the Royal Air Force, first established in 1918, and finally disbanded in 1975.

Future Soldier is a reform of the British Army resulting from the Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy published in March 2021. The aim of the reform is to create a more lethal, agile and expeditionary force, able to fight and win wars and to operate in the grey-zone between peace and war. Future Soldier was published on 25 November 2021 and deals with the organizational changes of the British Army, with changes to personnel and equipment were set out in the Defence in a Competitive Age paper published on 22 March 2021.

References

  1. Ian Philpott (2005). The Royal Air Force: The Trenchard Years, 1918–1929. Casemate Publishers. (no page number visible), drawing upon Air Ministry Weekly Order 354/1926.
  2. Anduaga, Aitor (2009). Wireless and Empire: Geopolitics, Radio Industry, and Ionosphere in the British Empire, 1918-1939. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 89. ISBN   9780199562725.
  3. "The history of the Light Infantry". Light Infantry. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
  4. "Army Training Regiment, Winchester" . Retrieved 31 March 2014.