RAF Worthy Down
Encyclopedia
Worthy Down Barracks is a British Army
barracks near Winchester
, Hampshire
. It is the headquarters and depot of the Adjutant General's Corps
and is part of the Winchester Garrison. The site is located between the villages of South Wonston
and Kings Worthy
.
opened an airfield on the site of the Winchester Racecourse in October 1917 as the base of the Wireless and Observers School. With the founding of the Royal Air Force
in April 1918 the site was handed over. The runways were grass and sited to the North-West of the current barracks area.
The site was recommissioned by the Royal Navy
in 1939 as HMS Kestrel
and used as a flying station by the Fleet Air Arm
until 1942 when flying ceased due to the orientation of the runway. It was placed in a state of care and maintenance until 1952 when it was re-established as HMS Ariel
and used as an engineering training school.
The site was then handed over the Royal Army Pay Corps
in 1960 and became home to the Electronic Accounting Development Unit who housed their computer centre there, as a home for an IBM 705 system. The computer was used to process the 1961 UK census electronically for the first time.
With the merger of the RAPC into the AGC in 1992 the barracks became the headquarters of the AGC and training depot for members of the Staff and Personnel Support, Education and Training Services and Army Legal Service branches.
The barracks was used by the Service Personnel and Veterans Agency
to house the Joint Personnel Administration
project team from 2002 until 2009. The building is now used by the Defence Food Services School (DFSS)
The camp was served by Worthy Down railway station
to the East, on the Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway
opened in 1918 and closing finally in 1960. The route of the railway is combined into a running circuit around the camp.
The airfield area is now used as farmland.
Additionally Supermarine
used the airfield in the development of the Spitfire
from December 1940 to March 1944.
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
barracks near Winchester
Winchester
Winchester is a historic cathedral city and former capital city of England. It is the county town of Hampshire, in South East England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government district, and is located at the western end of the South Downs, along the course of...
, Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
. It is the headquarters and depot of the Adjutant General's Corps
Adjutant General's Corps
The Adjutant General's Corps is a corps in the British Army responsible for many of its general administrative services. As of 2002, the AGC had a staff of 7,000 people...
and is part of the Winchester Garrison. The site is located between the villages of South Wonston
South Wonston
South Wonston is a village on the outskirts of the City of Winchester district of Hampshire, England. The population of the village is estimated to be 3,718 people living in an estimated 1,506 households.-Education:...
and Kings Worthy
Kings Worthy
Kings Worthy is a village and civil parish in Hampshire, England, approximately two miles north-east of Winchester. Kings Worthy was a tithing of Barton Stacey when the Domesday Book was written....
.
History
The site was first used as a military establishment when the Royal Naval Air ServiceRoyal Naval Air Service
The Royal Naval Air Service or RNAS was the air arm of the Royal Navy until near the end of the First World War, when it merged with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps to form a new service , the Royal Air Force...
opened an airfield on the site of the Winchester Racecourse in October 1917 as the base of the Wireless and Observers School. With the founding of the Royal Air Force
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...
in April 1918 the site was handed over. The runways were grass and sited to the North-West of the current barracks area.
The site was recommissioned by the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
in 1939 as HMS Kestrel
HMS Kestrel
Four ships and a shore establishment of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Kestrel, after the bird of prey, the kestrel:Ships was a brigantine purchased in 1846 and broken up in 1852. was a Clown class wooden screw gunboat launched in 1856, sunk in action in 1859, raised in 1866 and resold to...
and used as a flying station by the Fleet Air Arm
Fleet Air Arm
The Fleet Air Arm is the branch of the British Royal Navy responsible for the operation of naval aircraft. The Fleet Air Arm currently operates the AgustaWestland Merlin, Westland Sea King and Westland Lynx helicopters...
until 1942 when flying ceased due to the orientation of the runway. It was placed in a state of care and maintenance until 1952 when it was re-established as HMS Ariel
HMS Ariel
Ten ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Ariel, possibly after the archangel Ariel in Judeo-Christian mysticism, but certainly influenced by Shakespeare's "airy spirit" of the same name:...
and used as an engineering training school.
The site was then handed over the Royal Army Pay Corps
Royal Army Pay Corps
The Royal Army Pay Corps was a former corps of the British Army responsible for administering all financial matters. It was amalgamated into the Adjutant General's Corps in 1992....
in 1960 and became home to the Electronic Accounting Development Unit who housed their computer centre there, as a home for an IBM 705 system. The computer was used to process the 1961 UK census electronically for the first time.
With the merger of the RAPC into the AGC in 1992 the barracks became the headquarters of the AGC and training depot for members of the Staff and Personnel Support, Education and Training Services and Army Legal Service branches.
The barracks was used by the Service Personnel and Veterans Agency
Service Personnel and Veterans Agency
The Service Personnel and Veterans Agency was officially launched on 2 April 2007 and is part of the UK Ministry of Defence. SPVA provides personnel, pensions, welfare and support services to members of the UK Armed Forces and veterans and their dependents...
to house the Joint Personnel Administration
Joint Personnel Administration
Joint Personnel Administration is the intranet-based personnel administration system used by the British Armed Forces from April 2006 onwards, replacing the separate payment and administration teams from each Force...
project team from 2002 until 2009. The building is now used by the Defence Food Services School (DFSS)
The camp was served by Worthy Down railway station
Worthy Down railway station
Worthy Down Halt railway station was a small single platform halt built in 1917 to serve the Royal Flying Corps depot nearby. It included two passing loops to provide supplies to the site. Later, the station became a junction for a spur to connect with the Southern Railway line through Winchester...
to the East, on the Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway
Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway
The Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway was a cross-country railway running north-south between Didcot, Newbury and Southampton although it actually reached the latter by running over the London and South Western Railway tracks from Shawford Junction, south of Winchester...
opened in 1918 and closing finally in 1960. The route of the railway is combined into a running circuit around the camp.
The airfield area is now used as farmland.
The Future
An update was given at Deepcut on 6 December 2010 on the future planned move of HQ RLC & Defence Logistics School from Deepcut to Worthy Down (Project KESTREL) the date of 2013 was announced for early moves, with new buildings being built from April 2013 with 'ring-fenced' cash not affected by the 'Strategic Defence Review'RAF Units
- No. 7 Squadron RAFNo. 7 Squadron RAFNo. 7 Squadron of the Royal Air Force operates the Boeing Chinook HC.2 from RAF Odiham, Hampshire.-Formation and early years:No. 7 Squadron was formed at Farnborough Airfield on 1 May 1914 as the last squadron of the RFC to be formed before the First World War, but has been disbanded and reformed...
- 7 April 1927 - 3 September 1936 - No. XXXV Squadron RAFNo. XXXV Squadron RAFNo. 35 Squadron is a squadron of the Royal Air Force.It was formed on February 1, 1916 at Thetford, training as a Corps reconnaissance squadron...
- 26 August 1936 - 20 April 1938 - No. 58 Squadron RAFNo. 58 Squadron RAFNo. 58 Squadron was a squadron of the Royal Air Force.- History :No. 58 Squadron was first formed at Cramlington, Northumberland, on 8 June 1916 as a squadron of the Royal Flying Corps....
- 1 April 1924 - 13 January 1936 - No. 102 Squadron RAFNo. 102 Squadron RAFNo. 102 Squadron was a Royal Air Force night bomber squadron in World War I and a heavy bomber squadron in World War II. After the war it flew briefly as a transport squadron before being reformed a light bomber unit with the Second Tactical Air Force within RAF Germany. Its last existence was as a...
- 1 October 1935 - 3 September 1936 - No. 215 Squadron RAFNo. 215 Squadron RAFNo. 215 Squadron was a Royal Air Force aircraft squadron formed as a night bomber squadron in World War I and again in World War II, becoming a transport squadron near the end of the Second World War.-History:...
- 1 October 1935 - 14 March 1936 - Southampton UAS - 1945 - 1946
Royal Navy Units
- 700 Naval Air Squadron - 1945
- 734 Naval Air Squadron - February 1944 - 1945
- 739 Naval Air Squadron (BADU) - September 1943 - September 1944
- 755 Naval Air Squadron - 1939
- 756 Naval Air Squadron - 1939 - 1943
- 757 Naval Air Squadron - 1939 - 1943
- 763 Naval Air Squadron - December 1939 - June 1940
- 763 (FAA Pool) Naval Air Squadron - February - July 1941
- 800 Naval Air Squadron - 1938 - 1939
- 803 Naval Air Squadron803 Naval Air Squadron803 Naval Air Squadron was a Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm squadron.-Interwar:803 NAS was formed on 3 April 1933 by promoting No 409 Flight to the status of a squadron, with nine Ospreys...
- 21 November 1938 - 806 Naval Air Squadron806 Naval Air Squadron806 Naval Air Squadron was a fighter squadron in the Fleet Air Arm that existed from February 1940 to December 1960 and saw active service in Norway, the Dunkirk evacuation and the Malta Convoys.-Formation:...
- May 1940 - 807 Naval Air Squadron807 Naval Air Squadron807 Naval Air Squadron was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy.-Second World War:807 Squadron was formed at Worthy Down in September 1940, equipped with Fairey Fulmar Is. Three were embarked on HMS Pegasus, where they remained until February 1941, when the entire squadron embarked on for...
- 15 September 1940 - 808 Naval Air Squadron808 Naval Air Squadron808 Naval Air Squadron was a Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm carrier based squadron formed in July 1940. It served on a number of the Navy's aircraft carriers during the Second World War, serving in most of the theatres of the war, before decommissioning at the end of the war...
- 1 July 1940 - 5 September 1940 - 811 Naval Air Squadron - October 1939
- 815 Naval Air Squadron815 Naval Air Squadron815 Naval Air Squadron is a squadron of the Fleet Air Arm, part of the Royal Navy. The squadron is currently based at RNAS Yeovilton in Somerset, United Kingdom and it is the Navy's front line Lynx Naval Air Squadron. It currently comprises more than 30 Lynx helicopters of various types...
- 15 October 1939 - May 1940 - 822 Naval Air Squadron - October 1939
- 848 Naval Air Squadron - November 1959 - March 1960
- Air Electrical School - June 1952 - 1 November 1960
Additionally Supermarine
Supermarine
Supermarine was a British aircraft manufacturer that became famous for producing a range of sea planes and the Supermarine Spitfire fighter. The name now belongs to an English motorboat manufacturer.-History:...
used the airfield in the development of the 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...
from December 1940 to March 1944.