RAF Ringway
Encyclopedia
RAF Ringway, was a Royal Air Force
station near Manchester
, UK, in the parish of Ringway, then in Cheshire
. It was operational from 1939 until 1957.
(open from April 1929), and then Barton Aerodrome
(open from January 1930) just west of Eccles
. Barton Aerodrome was planned to be the main airport for Manchester, but it became clear by 1934 that its small boggy grass airfield was inadequate for the larger airliners then coming into service including the Douglas DC-2
and DC-3
.
A new airport site at Ringway, eight miles south of Manchester city, was selected from several alternatives, and this was to become the site of the RAF station by early 1940. Construction of the all-grass airfield began in late 1935, and the first (westerly) portion opened in June 1937 for use by Fairey Aviation
. The remaining airfield areas and the terminal building were opened for public use on 25 June 1938. Initially known as Manchester (Ringway) Airport, then Manchester International Airport, from 1986 it has been designated simply Manchester Airport.
station, including two large hangars, workshops, barrack blocks and ancillary accommodation, began in the northeast corner of the airport during spring 1939, with phased completion during early 1940. One of the hangars was intended for use by No. 613 (City of Manchester) Squadron
, but this unit had been moved south at the outbreak of war. RAF Ringway was therefore initially used by No. 1 Operational Training Unit, RAF Coastal Command
.
From June 1940, Ringway became the wartime base for No.1 Parachute Training School RAF
, which was charged with the initial training of all allied paratroopers trained in Europe (60,000) and for development of parachute drops of equipment; also the development of military gliding operations. Men and women agents of the Special Operations Executive
were also trained to jump.
Comedian Frank Muir
, spent several years at the school in the photographic section taking slow motion film of jumps on a project intended to decrease the frequency of parachutes failing (sometimes called "Roman Candle"). He recalls the Special Operations Executive (SOE) training centre, housed in an Edwardian house on the outskirts of the airfield, where he was assigned to take pictures of the agents for identity documents. There was an additional SOE holding centre in a large house in nearby Bowdon
.
No.14 Ferry Pilot Pool of the Air Transport Auxiliary
(ATA) was based at Ringway between 1940 and 1945. The veteran ATA aircrews delivered many thousands of military aircraft built, modified or repaired at Ringway, Woodford
, Barton and at other northwest aircraft factories and airfields.
Over 4400 warplanes were built at Ringway by Fairey Aviation and Avro. The aircraft included the Fairey Battle
, Fairey Fulmar
, Fairey Barracuda
, Bristol Beaufighter
, Handley Page Halifax
and Fairey Gannet
. Avro's experimental department, located in Ringway's 1938-built northside hangar between mid-1939 and late 1945, completed the prototype Avro Manchester
bomber. This was followed in January 1941 by the prototype of the famous Avro Lancaster
bomber. The last warplane prototype to be assembled here was the Avro Lincoln
bomber which first flew from Ringway on 9 July 1944. Avro built over 100 Avro York
military transport aircraft in the three 1941/42 southside hangars. Two hangars built in the NW corner of the airfield during 1939/40 for use by Fairey Aviation remain in use, one for aircraft maintenance and the other for ground operations. The other three wartime hangars built for Fairey's were demolished during the 1990s.
No. 613 (City of Manchester) Squadron had its home base at RAF Ringway during 1939 and again from 1946 to 1957 when it flew Supermarine Spitfire
s and De Havilland Vampire
jet fighters in its fighter role as a unit within the Royal Auxiliary Air Force
.
The two 1939/40-built hangars remained in use until late 1995, when they were demolished to permit construction of the new Terminal 3.
By January 2009, the only surviving building from RAF Ringway was the Officers Mess (Building 217) in Ringway Road and until recently used as the Airport Archive. It was still standing, but disused, in November 2011.
There is a monument, formerly in Terminal 1 but now in Manchester Airport railway station
, to Alcock and Brown
, the pioneers of transatlantic flight
; of them, John Alcock was born in Old Trafford, near Barton Airport.
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
station near Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, UK, in the parish of Ringway, then in Cheshire
Cheshire
Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...
. It was operational from 1939 until 1957.
Prewar years
Manchester's first airfield was Manchester (Wythenshawe) AerodromeManchester (Wythenshawe) Aerodrome
Manchester Aerodrome also known locally as Rackhouse Aerodrome was the first airfield built to serve, temporarily, as Manchester's municipal aerodrome.-Construction and facilities:...
(open from April 1929), and then Barton Aerodrome
Barton Aerodrome
City Airport is a general aviation airport in the Barton-upon-Irwell area of Eccles, in the City of Salford, Greater Manchester, England. Formerly known as both Barton Aerodrome and City Airport Manchester...
(open from January 1930) just west of Eccles
Eccles, Greater Manchester
Eccles is a town in the City of Salford, a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester in North West England, west of Salford and west of Manchester city centre...
. Barton Aerodrome was planned to be the main airport for Manchester, but it became clear by 1934 that its small boggy grass airfield was inadequate for the larger airliners then coming into service including the Douglas DC-2
Douglas DC-2
The Douglas DC-2 was a 14-seat, twin-engine airliner produced by the American company Douglas Aircraft Corporation starting in 1934. It competed with the Boeing 247...
and DC-3
Douglas DC-3
The Douglas DC-3 is an American fixed-wing propeller-driven aircraft whose speed and range revolutionized air transport in the 1930s and 1940s. Its lasting impact on the airline industry and World War II makes it one of the most significant transport aircraft ever made...
.
A new airport site at Ringway, eight miles south of Manchester city, was selected from several alternatives, and this was to become the site of the RAF station by early 1940. Construction of the all-grass airfield began in late 1935, and the first (westerly) portion opened in June 1937 for use by Fairey Aviation
Fairey Aviation
The Fairey Aviation Company Limited was a British aircraft manufacturer of the first half of the 20th century based in Hayes in Greater London and Heaton Chapel and RAF Ringway in Greater Manchester...
. The remaining airfield areas and the terminal building were opened for public use on 25 June 1938. Initially known as Manchester (Ringway) Airport, then Manchester International Airport, from 1986 it has been designated simply Manchester Airport.
Second World War
Construction of a Royal Air ForceRoyal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
station, including two large hangars, workshops, barrack blocks and ancillary accommodation, began in the northeast corner of the airport during spring 1939, with phased completion during early 1940. One of the hangars was intended for use by No. 613 (City of Manchester) Squadron
No. 613 Squadron RAF
No. 613 Squadron was an Auxiliary Air Force later Royal Auxiliary Air Force squadron formed on 1 February 1939 at the then new municipal airport at Ringway, nine miles south of Manchester. The squadron served at first in the army cooperation role, and later during World War II became a tactical...
, but this unit had been moved south at the outbreak of war. RAF Ringway was therefore initially used by No. 1 Operational Training Unit, RAF Coastal Command
RAF Coastal Command
RAF Coastal Command was a formation within the Royal Air Force . Founded in 1936, it was the RAF's premier maritime arm, after the Royal Navy's secondment of the Fleet Air Arm in 1937. Naval aviation was neglected in the inter-war period, 1919–1939, and as a consequence the service did not receive...
.
From June 1940, Ringway became the wartime base for No.1 Parachute Training School RAF
No.1 Parachute Training School RAF
No.1 Parachute Training School RAF is a Royal Air Force training unit that was initially based at RAF Ringway, now Manchester Airport and is currently based at RAF Brize Norton. It was formed at Ringway on 21 June 1940 as the Central Landing School and from 1 October 1940 it was designated as the...
, which was charged with the initial training of all allied paratroopers trained in Europe (60,000) and for development of parachute drops of equipment; also the development of military gliding operations. Men and women agents of the Special Operations Executive
Special Operations Executive
The Special Operations Executive was a World War II organisation of the United Kingdom. It was officially formed by Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton on 22 July 1940, to conduct guerrilla warfare against the Axis powers and to instruct and aid local...
were also trained to jump.
Comedian Frank Muir
Frank Muir
Frank Herbert Muir was an English comedy writer, radio and television personality, and raconteur. His writing and performing partnership with Denis Norden endured for most of their careers. Together they wrote BBC radio's Take It From Here for over 10 years, and then appeared on BBC radio...
, spent several years at the school in the photographic section taking slow motion film of jumps on a project intended to decrease the frequency of parachutes failing (sometimes called "Roman Candle"). He recalls the Special Operations Executive (SOE) training centre, housed in an Edwardian house on the outskirts of the airfield, where he was assigned to take pictures of the agents for identity documents. There was an additional SOE holding centre in a large house in nearby Bowdon
Bowdon, Greater Manchester
Bowdon is a suburban village and electoral ward in the Altrincham area of the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford, in Greater Manchester, England.-History:...
.
No.14 Ferry Pilot Pool of the Air Transport Auxiliary
Air Transport Auxiliary
The Air Transport Auxiliary was a British World War II civilian organisation that ferried new, repaired and damaged military aircraft between UK factories, assembly plants, transatlantic delivery points, Maintenance Units , scrap yards, and active service squadrons and airfields—but not to...
(ATA) was based at Ringway between 1940 and 1945. The veteran ATA aircrews delivered many thousands of military aircraft built, modified or repaired at Ringway, Woodford
Woodford, Greater Manchester
Woodford is a suburban village at the southern extent of the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies south of Stockport, north-northwest of Macclesfield, and south-southeast of Manchester...
, Barton and at other northwest aircraft factories and airfields.
Over 4400 warplanes were built at Ringway by Fairey Aviation and Avro. The aircraft included the Fairey Battle
Fairey Battle
The Fairey Battle was a British single-engine light bomber built by the Fairey Aviation Company in the late 1930s for the Royal Air Force. The Battle was powered by the same Rolls-Royce Merlin piston engine that gave contemporary British fighters high performance; however, the Battle was weighed...
, Fairey Fulmar
Fairey Fulmar
The Fairey Fulmar was a British carrier-borne fighter aircraft that served with the Fleet Air Arm during the Second World War. A total of 600 were built by Fairey Aviation at its Stockport factory between January 1940 and December 1942...
, Fairey Barracuda
Fairey Barracuda
The Fairey Barracuda was a British carrier-borne torpedo- and dive bomber used during the Second World War, the first of its type used by the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm to be fabricated entirely from metal. It was introduced as a replacement for the Fairey Swordfish and Fairey Albacore biplanes...
, Bristol Beaufighter
Bristol Beaufighter
The Bristol Type 156 Beaufighter, often referred to as simply the Beau, was a British long-range heavy fighter modification of the Bristol Aeroplane Company's earlier Beaufort torpedo bomber design...
, Handley Page Halifax
Handley Page Halifax
The Handley Page Halifax was one of the British front-line, four-engined heavy bombers of the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. A contemporary of the famous Avro Lancaster, the Halifax remained in service until the end of the war, performing a variety of duties in addition to bombing...
and Fairey Gannet
Fairey Gannet
The Fairey Gannet was a British carrier-borne anti-submarine warfare and airborne early warning aircraft of the post-Second World War era developed for the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm by the Fairey Aviation Company...
. Avro's experimental department, located in Ringway's 1938-built northside hangar between mid-1939 and late 1945, completed the prototype Avro Manchester
Avro Manchester
|-See also:-References:NotesCitationsBibliography* Buttler, Tony. British Secret Projects: Fighters and Bombers 1935–1950. Hickley, UK: Midland Publishing, 2004. ISBN 978-1857801798....
bomber. This was followed in January 1941 by the prototype of the famous Avro Lancaster
Avro Lancaster
The Avro Lancaster is a British four-engined Second World War heavy bomber made initially by Avro for the Royal Air Force . It first saw active service in 1942, and together with the Handley Page Halifax it was one of the main heavy bombers of the RAF, the RCAF, and squadrons from other...
bomber. The last warplane prototype to be assembled here was the Avro Lincoln
Avro Lincoln
The Avro Type 694, better known as the Avro Lincoln, was a British four-engined heavy bomber, which first flew on 9 June 1944. Developed from the Avro Lancaster, the first Lincoln variants were known initially as the Lancaster IV and V, but were renamed Lincoln I and II...
bomber which first flew from Ringway on 9 July 1944. Avro built over 100 Avro York
Avro York
The Avro York was a British transport aircraft that was derived from the Second World War Lancaster heavy bomber, and used in both military and airliner roles between 1943 and 1964.-Design and development:...
military transport aircraft in the three 1941/42 southside hangars. Two hangars built in the NW corner of the airfield during 1939/40 for use by Fairey Aviation remain in use, one for aircraft maintenance and the other for ground operations. The other three wartime hangars built for Fairey's were demolished during the 1990s.
No. 613 (City of Manchester) Squadron had its home base at RAF Ringway during 1939 and again from 1946 to 1957 when it flew Supermarine Spitfire
Supermarine Spitfire
The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was used by the Royal Air Force and many other Allied countries throughout the Second World War. The Spitfire continued to be used as a front line fighter and in secondary roles into the 1950s...
s and De Havilland Vampire
De Havilland Vampire
The de Havilland DH.100 Vampire was a British jet-engine fighter commissioned by the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. Following the Gloster Meteor, it was the second jet fighter to enter service with the RAF. Although it arrived too late to see combat during the war, the Vampire served...
jet fighters in its fighter role as a unit within the Royal Auxiliary Air Force
Royal Auxiliary Air Force
The Royal Auxiliary Air Force , originally the Auxiliary Air Force , is the voluntary active duty reserve element of the Royal Air Force, providing a primary reinforcement capability for the regular service...
.
Post war
On the disbandment of 613 Squadron (and all other Royal Auxiliary Air Force Squadrons) in March 1957, RAF Ringway was closed and its hangars and other buildings handed over for civil airline operations including cargo and maintenance.The two 1939/40-built hangars remained in use until late 1995, when they were demolished to permit construction of the new Terminal 3.
By January 2009, the only surviving building from RAF Ringway was the Officers Mess (Building 217) in Ringway Road and until recently used as the Airport Archive. It was still standing, but disused, in November 2011.
Memorials and monuments
A garden outside Olympic House (near Terminal 1) houses several carved stone memorials to the wartime units based at Ringway and to 613 Squadron.There is a monument, formerly in Terminal 1 but now in Manchester Airport railway station
Manchester Airport railway station
Manchester Airport railway station is the railway station that serves Manchester Airport and is built into the airport's terminal buildings. The station was opened together with the second airport terminal in 1993.- Description:...
, to Alcock and Brown
Alcock and Brown
British aviators Alcock and Brown made the first non-stop transatlantic flight in June 1919. They flew a modified World War I Vickers Vimy bomber from St. John's, Newfoundland, to Clifden, Connemara, County Galway, Ireland...
, the pioneers of transatlantic flight
Transatlantic flight
Transatlantic flight is the flight of an aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean. A transatlantic flight may proceed east-to-west, originating in Europe or Africa and terminating in North America or South America, or it may go in the reverse direction, west-to-east...
; of them, John Alcock was born in Old Trafford, near Barton Airport.