RAF Wrexham
Encyclopedia
RAF Wrexham was a World War II
Royal Air Force
station at Borras
, on the outskirts of Wrexham
North Wales and east of the city centre.
Initially opened as a municipal aerodrome the airfield was used by the Royal Flying Corps during World War I and the Royal Air Force in World War II. The airfield became the site of a Royal Observer Corps nuclear bunker during the Cold War
.
visited the Racecourse Ground
to entertain the public with air displays. The local council discussed transforming the racecourse into a municipal airport.
During the period 1917 - 1920 fields at Borras Lodge were used by Nos. 4 and 51 Training Squadrons/Schools of the Royal Flying Corps
and after 1918 by Royal Air Force
training squadrons based at RAF Shotwick (later RAF Sealand
) and Hooton Park
. The same location was also used by the Lancashire Aero Club
and the Liverpool and District Aero Club for air displays during the 1930s, and two visits from Sir Alan Cobham
's National Aviation day Circus.
and Hawarden Airport
, both reclaimed from the River Dee. This dryness encouraged visits from several training squadrons, such as spitfires from RAF Ternhill
. After the initial breakout of the War, No 5 Service Flying Training School used the ground as a relief strip, and in 1940, three grass runways of approximately 550-660 yards existed. The wet conditions of surrounding airfields usually caused training groups to send planes to Wrexham, which had no air traffic control, which caused several incidents.
The main period of construction at the site took place between December 1940 and June 1941, which often saw floodlit operations during the dark winter. The airfield was upgraded with hardened concrete runways and appropriate lighting for them, with defence against any possible ground invasion provided by the ring of defences surrounding the nearby Royal Ordnance Factory. The Airfield was primarily built to house a night fighter
squadron for the air defence of Liverpool
and Manchester
, and in 1941, No. 96 Squadron RAF
, a night fighter squadron, was moved to Wrexham from RAF Cranage
. In 1944 it was occupied by RAF. 21 Grp. AFU.
It was also home to No. 285 Squadron, which provided Target tug
aircraft for training exercises, starting with Bristol Blenheims
, Lockheed Hudsons
and Westland Lysanders
, later replaced with Boulton Paul Defiants
and Miles Martinets
. After moving through a number of Headquarters, this squadron was disbanded 26 June 1945.
To the West, on Esclusham Mountain
, a decoy airfield existed. This was only in operation from 1941-3, however the mountain was bombed several times by incendiary bombers during the war, causing mountain fires. The waves of bombing were caused by a single bomber jettisoning its bombs after missing the Monsanto Chemical Works
in nearby Cefn Mawr
, followed by several targeted raids against the ensuing fire, with Luftwaffe
crew believing the fires to be from a burning Liverpool.
could land, in support of the 400th Armored Field Artillery battalion and No 33 Signals Construction Battalion, who were billeted in local houses, most notably Acton Hall. There were no surface treatment or buildings at any of these sites. As well as the one on the airfield, there were four others; two in Acton, one just outside the Airfield, and one in Gresford
, opposite the entrance gates of Gresford Colliery
. These were used by the 322nd Field Artillery Battalion of the 83rd Infantry Division. None of these sites lasted more than a year.
. In the 1970's quarrying operations commenced in the area and have almost completely obliterated the site. As recently as 2004, the original runway surface and paint still existed in places.
The site is also referred to as Borras Airfield, ICAO reference EGCE. In 1977 the National Eisteddfod of Wales
was held on the airfield.
In 2005, the Tarmac quarry posted an application to increase quarrying activities. As a result of the archaeological report of this application, several of the original structures have been deemed intact, including a Bellman hangar
, several gunnery butts, which were brick buildings used for target practice and alignment of fighter weapons. There are also several air crash sites in the area, including a Bristol Beaufighter
that crashed into a pond.
and would have sounded the four minute warning
alarm in the event of war and warned the population of Wrexham in the event of approaching radioactive fallout. The building was manned by up to 80 volunteers who trained on a weekly basis and wore a Royal Air Force
style uniform. After the break up of the communist bloc in 1989, the Royal Observer Corps was disbanded between September 1991 and December 1995. However, the nuclear bunker still stands on the site of RAF Wrexham as a lasting reminder of the cold war, but is now converted and used as a recording studio.
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
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...
station at Borras
Borras
Borras is an area to the north-east of Wrexham, Wales. It is part of the community of Holt.The nearby residential area of Borras Park is named after Borras but is part of the community of Acton, Wrexham.-Early history:...
, on the outskirts of Wrexham
Wrexham
Wrexham is a town in Wales. It is the administrative centre of the wider Wrexham County Borough, and the largest town in North Wales, located in the east of the region. It is situated between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley close to the border with Cheshire, England...
North Wales and east of the city centre.
Initially opened as a municipal aerodrome the airfield was used by the Royal Flying Corps during World War I and the Royal Air Force in World War II. The airfield became the site of a Royal Observer Corps nuclear bunker during the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
.
Early days
The first noted involvement of aviation with Wrexham was in 1912 when Gustav HamelGustav Hamel
Gustav Hamel was a pioneer British aviator.Hamel was prominent in the early history of aviation in Britain, and in particular that of Hendon airfield, where Claude Graham-White was energetically developing and promoting flying.-Biography:Gustav Hamel was educated at Westminster School and chose to...
visited the Racecourse Ground
Racecourse Ground
The Glyndŵr University Racecourse Stadium AKA The Racecourse Ground is a stadium located in Wrexham, North Wales. It is the home of Wrexham F.C. and, since 2010, the Crusaders Rugby League team who play in the engage Super League...
to entertain the public with air displays. The local council discussed transforming the racecourse into a municipal airport.
During the period 1917 - 1920 fields at Borras Lodge were used by Nos. 4 and 51 Training Squadrons/Schools of the Royal Flying Corps
Royal Flying Corps
The Royal Flying Corps was the over-land air arm of the British military during most of the First World War. During the early part of the war, the RFC's responsibilities were centred on support of the British Army, via artillery co-operation and photographic reconnaissance...
and after 1918 by 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...
training squadrons based at RAF Shotwick (later RAF Sealand
RAF Sealand
RAF Sealand was a former Royal Air Force station in Flintshire, north Wales and operated between 1916 and 2006.Under defence cuts announced in 2004 RAF Sealand was completely closed in April 2006. All remaining RAF units were moved to RAF Leeming...
) and Hooton Park
Hooton Park
RAF Hooton Park, on the Wirral Peninsula, Cheshire, was a Royal Air Force station originally built for the Royal Flying Corps in 1917 as a training aerodrome for pilots in World War I. During the early/mid 1930s, it was one of the two airfields handling scheduled services for the Merseyside...
. The same location was also used by the Lancashire Aero Club
Lancashire Aero Club
The Lancashire Aero Club is the oldest established Flying Club in the United Kingdom.- Early history :* Late 1922: The club was formed by John F. Leeming and a group of friends who had started to build a glider in Leeming's garage at his home in Bowdon near Altrincham Cheshire...
and the Liverpool and District Aero Club for air displays during the 1930s, and two visits from Sir Alan Cobham
Alan Cobham
Sir Alan John Cobham, KBE, AFC was an English aviation pioneer.A member of the Royal Flying Corps in World War I, Alan Cobham became famous as a pioneer of long distance aviation. After the war he became a test pilot for the de Havilland aircraft company, and was the first pilot for the newly...
's National Aviation day Circus.
Second World War
As the entire area was on a plateau, the field was largely dry, unlike RAF SealandRAF Sealand
RAF Sealand was a former Royal Air Force station in Flintshire, north Wales and operated between 1916 and 2006.Under defence cuts announced in 2004 RAF Sealand was completely closed in April 2006. All remaining RAF units were moved to RAF Leeming...
and Hawarden Airport
Hawarden Airport
Hawarden Airport , is a small airport in Hawarden situated in North East Wales close to the border with England and west southwest of the city of Chester. The airport is owned and operated by BAE Systems. A long term tenancy agreement has been signed with Airbus UK, giving rights as the sole...
, both reclaimed from the River Dee. This dryness encouraged visits from several training squadrons, such as spitfires from RAF Ternhill
RAF Ternhill
RAF Ternhill is a small Royal Air Force station at Ternhill in Shropshire, near the towns of Newport and Market Drayton. The station, home of Volunteer Gliding Squadron 632, was a helicopter base but is now principally used as an outpost for the tri-service helicopter training establishment at RAF...
. After the initial breakout of the War, No 5 Service Flying Training School used the ground as a relief strip, and in 1940, three grass runways of approximately 550-660 yards existed. The wet conditions of surrounding airfields usually caused training groups to send planes to Wrexham, which had no air traffic control, which caused several incidents.
The main period of construction at the site took place between December 1940 and June 1941, which often saw floodlit operations during the dark winter. The airfield was upgraded with hardened concrete runways and appropriate lighting for them, with defence against any possible ground invasion provided by the ring of defences surrounding the nearby Royal Ordnance Factory. The Airfield was primarily built to house a night fighter
Night fighter
A night fighter is a fighter aircraft adapted for use at night or in other times of bad visibility...
squadron for the air defence of Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
and 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...
, and in 1941, No. 96 Squadron RAF
No. 96 Squadron RAF
No. 96 Squadron was a Royal Air Force squadron. The squadron served on the Western Front during World War II and the Burma Campaign in the South-East Asian Theatre of World War II. No. 96 Squadron served in a variety of roles such as night fighter cover and transportation. It was disbanded in 1959,...
, a night fighter squadron, was moved to Wrexham from RAF Cranage
RAF Cranage
RAF Cranage was a Royal Air Force station during the Second World War. It was located just to the North of Middlewich, Cheshire, England.-History:...
. In 1944 it was occupied by RAF. 21 Grp. AFU.
It was also home to No. 285 Squadron, which provided Target tug
Target tug
A target tug is an aircraft which tows an unmanned drone, a fabric drogue or other kind of target, for the purposes of gun or missile target practice. Target tugs are often conversions of transport and utility aircraft, as well as obsolescent combat types...
aircraft for training exercises, starting with Bristol Blenheims
Bristol Blenheim
The Bristol Blenheim was a British light bomber aircraft designed and built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company that was used extensively in the early days of the Second World War. It was adapted as an interim long-range and night fighter, pending the availability of the Beaufighter...
, Lockheed Hudsons
Lockheed Hudson
The Lockheed Hudson was an American-built light bomber and coastal reconnaissance aircraft built initially for the Royal Air Force shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War and primarily operated by the RAF thereafter...
and Westland Lysanders
Westland Lysander
The Westland Lysander was a British army co-operation and liaison aircraft produced by Westland Aircraft used immediately before and during the Second World War...
, later replaced with Boulton Paul Defiants
Boulton Paul Defiant
The Boulton Paul Defiant was a British interceptor aircraft that served with the Royal Air Force early in the Second World War. The Defiant was designed and built by Boulton Paul Aircraft as a "turret fighter", without any forward-firing guns. It was a contemporary of the Royal Navy's Blackburn Roc...
and Miles Martinets
Miles Martinet
|-See also:-Bibliography:* Amos, Peter. and Brown, Don Lambert. Miles Aircraft Since 1925, Volume 1. London: Putnam Aeronautical, 2000. ISBN 0-85177-787-0....
. After moving through a number of Headquarters, this squadron was disbanded 26 June 1945.
To the West, on Esclusham Mountain
Esclusham Mountain
Esclusham Mountain is an area in the north-east of Wales and is part of the Ruabon Moors. It rises to a height of 460 m , with the nearby spur of Cyrn-y-Brain, to the west, reaching 473 m . It lies mostly within the community of Esclusham...
, a decoy airfield existed. This was only in operation from 1941-3, however the mountain was bombed several times by incendiary bombers during the war, causing mountain fires. The waves of bombing were caused by a single bomber jettisoning its bombs after missing the Monsanto Chemical Works
Monsanto
The Monsanto Company is a US-based multinational agricultural biotechnology corporation. It is the world's leading producer of the herbicide glyphosate, marketed in the "Roundup" brand of herbicides, and in other brands...
in nearby Cefn Mawr
Cefn Mawr
Cefn Mawr is a large village in the community of Cefn within the County Borough of Wrexham, Wales. Its name translates as "great ridge".The community of Cefn comprises the villages of Cefn Mawr, Cefn-bychan , Acrefair, Penybryn, Newbridge, Plasmadoc and Rhosymedre and is situated on the northern...
, followed by several targeted raids against the ensuing fire, with Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
crew believing the fires to be from a burning Liverpool.
US Army Airstrips
There was a US Army cubstrip on the Aerodrome itself. This was a small designated area where US Army Piper CubsPiper J-3
The Piper J-3 Cub is a small, simple, light aircraft that was built between 1937 and 1947 by Piper Aircraft. With tandem seating, it was intended for flight training but became one of the most popular and best-known light aircraft of all time...
could land, in support of the 400th Armored Field Artillery battalion and No 33 Signals Construction Battalion, who were billeted in local houses, most notably Acton Hall. There were no surface treatment or buildings at any of these sites. As well as the one on the airfield, there were four others; two in Acton, one just outside the Airfield, and one in Gresford
Gresford
Gresford is a village and a local government community, the lowest tier of local government, part of Wrexham County Borough in Wales.According to the 2001 Census, the population of the community, which also includes the village of Marford, was 5,334....
, opposite the entrance gates of Gresford Colliery
Gresford Colliery
Gresford Colliery was a coal mine located a mile from the North Wales village of Gresford, near Wrexham, Wales.-Sinking:The Gresford coalfield runs from Point of Ayr, on the Flintshire coast, down to the Shropshire border. Although coal mining records date back to the 15th Century, it was not...
. These were used by the 322nd Field Artillery Battalion of the 83rd Infantry Division. None of these sites lasted more than a year.
After the RAF
The airfield was closed and placed on care and maintenance in 1945. On 22 October 1959, it was sold to United Gravel Company a subsidiary of Alfred McAlpineAlfred McAlpine
Alfred McAlpine plc was a British construction firm headquartered in London. It was a major road builder, and constructed over 10% of Britain's motorways, including the M6 Toll...
. In the 1970's quarrying operations commenced in the area and have almost completely obliterated the site. As recently as 2004, the original runway surface and paint still existed in places.
The site is also referred to as Borras Airfield, ICAO reference EGCE. In 1977 the National Eisteddfod of Wales
National Eisteddfod of Wales
The National Eisteddfod of Wales is the most important of several eisteddfodau that are held annually, mostly in Wales.- Organisation :...
was held on the airfield.
In 2005, the Tarmac quarry posted an application to increase quarrying activities. As a result of the archaeological report of this application, several of the original structures have been deemed intact, including a Bellman hangar
Bellman hangar
The Bellman Hangar was designed in the United Kingdom in 1936 by the Directorate of Works structural engineer, N. S. Bellman, as a temporary hangar capable of being erected or dismantled by unskilled labour with simple equipment and to be easily transportable. Commercial manufacturing rights were...
, several gunnery butts, which were brick buildings used for target practice and alignment of fighter weapons. There are also several air crash sites in the area, including a 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...
that crashed into a pond.
Cold War
Between 1962 and 1992 there was a hardened nuclear bunker, built for No 17 Group Royal Observer Corps North Wales, who provided the field force of the United Kingdom Warning and Monitoring OrganisationUnited Kingdom Warning and Monitoring Organisation
The United Kingdom Warning and Monitoring Organisation was a British civilian organisation operating between 1957 and 1992 to provide the authorities with data about nuclear explosions and forecasts of likely fallout profiles across the country in the event of war.The UKWMO was established and...
and would have sounded the four minute warning
Four minute warning
The four minute warning was a public alert system conceived by the British Government during the Cold War and operated between 1953 and 1992 when the system was dismantled after the cold war ended...
alarm in the event of war and warned the population of Wrexham in the event of approaching radioactive fallout. The building was manned by up to 80 volunteers who trained on a weekly basis and wore a 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...
style uniform. After the break up of the communist bloc in 1989, the Royal Observer Corps was disbanded between September 1991 and December 1995. However, the nuclear bunker still stands on the site of RAF Wrexham as a lasting reminder of the cold war, but is now converted and used as a recording studio.