RAF Roborough
| RAF Roborough | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roborough, Devon in England | |||||||||||
| Site information | |||||||||||
| Type | Royal Air Force station | ||||||||||
| Owner | Admiralty Air Ministry | ||||||||||
| Operator | Royal Navy Royal Air Force | ||||||||||
| Controlled by | Fleet Air Arm RAF Fighter Command 1940-41 | ||||||||||
| Location | |||||||||||
| Lua error in Module:Location_map at line 411: Malformed coordinates value. | |||||||||||
| Coordinates | Lua error in Module:Coordinates at line 489: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). | ||||||||||
| Site history | |||||||||||
| Built | 1931 | ||||||||||
| In use | July 1931 - 1950 | ||||||||||
| Battles/wars | European theatre of World War II | ||||||||||
| Airfield information | |||||||||||
| Elevation | 149 metres (489 ft)[1] AMSL | ||||||||||
| |||||||||||
Royal Air Force Roborough or more simply RAF Roborough was a Royal Air Force station in Roborough located 3.8 miles (6.1 km) north of Plymouth, Devon which used Plymouth City Airport as their base.
History
[edit | edit source]RAF Roborough began when the Air Ministry started to use Plymouth City Airport for exercises between the RAF, Royal Navy and the British Army. The Royal Navy started to use the airport in the late 1930s and was renamed RNAS Roborough however on 1 May 1942 the site was taken over by the Air Ministry for Royal Air Force use primarily for RAF Coastal Command.[2]
RNAS Roborough
[edit | edit source]The Admiralty used the airfield for various duties also the airfield played an important role during the Battle of Britain coming under partial control of the No. 10 Group RAF headquarters at RAF Box and had RAF Middle Wallop as their sector station. The first squadron to use the airfield was No. 247 Squadron RAF between 1 August 1940 and 10 February 1941 flying the Gloster Gladiator II before moving to RAF St Eval on 10 February 1941 however after seven days the squadron moved back to Roborough flying the Hawker Hurricane I before moving out for the last time on 10 May 1941 when the squadron went to RAF Portreath.[3]
- Air Sea Rescue Flight RAF, Roborough (1941)[4]
RAF Roborough
[edit | edit source]In 1942 the site was taken over by the Royal Air Force for Coastal Command Duties with No. 691 Squadron RAF forming at the airfield on 1 December 1943 flying Hurricane I's, Boulton Paul Defiant I's, Airspeed Oxford I's and Fairey Barracuda II's before leaving on 21 February 1945 moving to RAF Harrowbeer.[5]
Units
[edit | edit source]The following squadrons were here at some point:[6]
The following units were also here at some point:[6]
Later use
[edit | edit source]In the 1950s the Royal Air Force left and the site became Plymouth City Airport, which in turn was shut down for good in 2011.[7]
See also
[edit | edit source]- List of air stations of the Royal Navy
- List of former Royal Air Force stations
- RAF Fighter Command Order of Battle 1940
References
[edit | edit source]Citations
[edit | edit source]- ^ Falconer 1998, p. 77.
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Halley 1988, p. 316.
- ^ Lake 1999, p. 22.
- ^ Halley 1988, p. 457.
- ^ a b Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
Bibliography
[edit | edit source]- Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- Halley, James J. The Squadrons of the Royal Air Force & Commonwealth, 1981-1988. Tonbridge, Kent, UK: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd., 1988. Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value)..
- Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
