RAF Church Lawford
RAF Church Lawford AMSL | |||||||||||
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Royal Air Force Church Lawford or more simply RAF Church Lawford is a former Royal Air Force station located 1.5 mi (2.4 km) south of Church Lawford, Warwickshire, England, 3 miles (4.8 km) south-west of Rugby, Warwickshire.
The airfield opened in April 1941[1] and was used by the RAF for pilot training until it closed in 1955.
Based units
A number of
The first unit to use the airfield was No. 2 Central Flying School flying Oxfords and
A further two flying schools used the airfield after the end of the Second World War. The first was
Other units
A small number of other units was present at RAF Church Lawford during its lifetime such as
Airfield Construction Branch
In 1948 The
Accidents and Incidents
During life as a RAF training base, accidents were not far away with a number of airmen killed during training. These are just a select few:
Date | Incident | Reference |
---|---|---|
22 November 1942 | Oxford R6145 of 18 PAFU overshot landing and crashed at Bretford. P/O Victor André Brayer (Jean Pierre Hinque) of the Free French air force was killed. | [6] |
8 May 1944 | Oxford HN440 of 18 ((P)AFU) struck a tree at night while force landing following engine failure. | [7] |
14 October 1944 | 434 Squadron crashed at Church Lawford after catching fire in the air. |
[7] |
21 August 1946 | Harvard FT359 of No. 20 Service Flying Training School undershot landing. | [8] |
9 January 1948 | Harvard FS725 of No. 2 Flying Training School belly landed. | [8] |
Current use
The site of the airfield has been turned into a quarry called Ling Hall and the Lawford Heath Industrial Estate.[9]
References
- ^ a b "Church Lawford". Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust. Retrieved 22 April 2012.
- ^ a b c "Military flying units in the south west Midlands". Aviation Archaeology. Retrieved 18 April 2012.
- ^ "RAF Church Lawford". RAFWEB. Retrieved 18 April 2012.
- ^ "The Royal Air Force – Airfield Construction Branch. 1941 to 1966". RAFACB. Retrieved 18 April 2012.
- ^ "About Us". RAF.ACB. Archived from the original on 7 September 2012. Retrieved 18 April 2012.
- ^ "Military crashes in the south west Midlands – 1942".
- ^ a b "Military aircraft crashes in the south west Midlands – 1944". Aviation Archaeology. Retrieved 18 April 2012.
- ^ a b "Military aircraft crashes in the south west Midlands – 1946 to 1949". Aviation Archaeology. Retrieved 18 April 2012.
- ^ "Lawford Heath". BMH Online. Archived from the original on 22 July 2012. Retrieved 18 April 2012.