RAF Mount Batten
RAF Mount Batten | |
|---|---|
| Plymouth Sound, Devon, England | |
 "In Honour Bound" | |
  RAF Mount Batten Shown within Devon  RAF Mount Batten RAF Mount Batten (the United Kingdom) | |
| Coordinates | 50°21′32″N 4°07′48″W / 50.35889°N 4.13000°W |
| Type | Seaplane Station and Flying Boat base |
| Site information | |
| Owner | Ministry of Defence |
| Operator | Royal Naval Air Service Royal Air Force |
| Condition | Closed |
| Site history | |
| In use | 1917[citation needed]–4 July 1992[1] |
| Battles/wars | First World War Second World War |
Royal Air Force Mount Batten, or more simply RAF Mount Batten, is a former Royal Air Force station and flying boat base at Mount Batten, a peninsula in Plymouth Sound, Devon, England, UK. Originally a seaplane station opened in 1917 as a Royal Navy Air Service Station Cattewater it became RAF Cattewater in 1918 and in 1928 was renamed RAF Mount Batten. The base is named after Captain Batten, a Civil War commander who defended this area at the time, with the Mountbatten family motto In Honour Bound taken as the station's motto.[2][3]
Today, little evidence of the RAF base remains apart from several
History
As early as 1913 the sheltered
Royal Air Force Cattewater
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With the formation in April 1918 of the
Royal Air Force Mount Batten
On 1 October 1928, following re-building, the old Cattewater seaplane station was opened as RAF Mount Batten to provide a base for flying boats to defend south-west England. The first squadron (No. 203 Squadron RAF) was equipped with the Supermarine Southampton. The station also became a base for high-speed air sea rescue launches on which, in the 1930s, was employed Aircraftman Shaw, better known as T. E. Lawrence.[4][5]
With the start of the Second World War there was an increase in operational flying from Mount Batten. It was also the target for a number of German air raids resulting in the destruction of one of the hangars and a Short Sunderland on 28 November 1940. At the end of the war the station became a Maintenance Unit.
At the end of the 1950s the station became the Marine Craft Training School and from 1961 became the main base of the
RAF units and aircraft
| Unit | Dates | Aircraft | Variant | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. 203 Squadron RAF | 1929 | Supermarine Southampton | [6] | |
| No. 204 Squadron RAF | 1929–1935 | Supermarine Southampton | [6] | |
| No. 209 Squadron RAF | 1930–1935 | Short R.24/31 (1935)
|
[7] | |
| No. 237 Squadron RAF | 1918–1919 | Short 184
|
Formed from 420, 421, 422 and 423 Flights.[8] | |
| No. 238 Squadron RAF | 1918–1919 | Formed from 347, 348 and 349 Flights.[8] | ||
| No. 461 Squadron RAAF | 1942 | Short Sunderland | II and III | Australian squadron under RAF operational control.[9] |
| No. 10 Squadron RAAF | 1941–1945 | Short Sunderland | Australian squadron under RAF operational control |
References
Citations
- ^ March 1993, p. 86.
- ISSN 1361-4231.
- ISBN 0-7100-9339-X.
- ^ Beauforte-Greenwood, W. E. G. "Notes on the introduction to the RAF of high-speed craft". T. E. Lawrence Studies. Retrieved 11 April 2011.
- ISBN 978-0-06-171261-6, p. 642
- ^ a b Jefford 1988, p. 68.
- ^ Jefford 1988, p. 69.
- ^ a b Jefford 1988, p. 75.
- ^ Jefford 1988, p. 93.
Bibliography
- March, P. (1993). Royal Air Force Yearbook 1993. Fairford, UK: Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund.
- Jefford, C. G. (1988). RAF Squadrons. A comprehensive record of the movement and equipment of all RAF squadrons and their antecedents since 1912. ISBN 1-85310-053-6.
- Teague, D. C. (1986). Mount Batten: Flying Boat Base Plymouth 1913-1986. author.
