Royal Air Force Croughton or more simply RAF Croughton is a Royal Air Force station in Northamptonshire, England, located southeast of the village of Croughton. It is currently a United States Air Force communications station, home to the 422nd Air Base Group and operates one of Europe's largest military switchboards, processing approximately a third of all U.S. military communications in Europe.
History
Early years RAF Croughton was built in 1938, and was originally known as Brackley Landing Ground until 1940 when it became RAF Brackley. In July 1941 the name changed again and the station became RAF Croughton. It consisted of 694 acres (281 hectares) consolidated from three farms. Three grass runways with concrete taxiways dominated the high ground with the tower and other infrastructure buildings along the north side of the station and the slope leading up to the runways. In June 1940 the station became a satellite for RAF Upper Heyford for No. 16 Operational Training Unit (No. 16 OTU) to provide the unit with extra airfield space for night-flying training. Much of this training was for Commonwealth pilots (Canadians, South Africans, Australians, and New Zealanders) on Handley Page Hampdens, Bristol Blenheims, and Vickers Wellington bombers. The unit fell under the operational control of the newly formed No. 7 Group RAF of RAF Bomber Command.
Second World War In September 1940 the Air Ministry decided that certain stations would be designated as emergency airfields. These stations would give assistance to any operational aircraft returning damaged or with engine problems. The Station Commander at RAF Upper Heyford received one of these orders. RAF Brackley (Croughton) would remain open with its flare paths illuminated irrespective of enemy activity in the area. This meant that RAF Brackley along with other emergency airfields attracted additional enemy night attacks. Added to this accepted high risk was the fact that RAF Brackley was a training airfield. During the war both sides considered it worthwhile to attack and disrupt training programmes. Because training fields and aircraft were lightly defended, they made for easier targets. For these reasons, it was not uncommon for the station or training crews conducting night training to receive the attention of the Luftwaffe. While the station remained a satellite for RAF Upper Heyford and No. 16 OTU until July 1942 and even partially re-equipped with Wellington bombers, its future had already changed. No. 23 Squadron of RAF Flying Training Command (FTC) was desperately seeking a suitable airfield to re-house its No. 1 Glider Training School (No. 1 GTS). Its then home was a small airfield at RAF Thame in Buckinghamshire and FTC felt it inadequate for glider training. Several airfields in the near vicinity made the short list, but RAF Croughton became the new home for the gliders. On 19 July 1942, No. 1 GTS began to move in and by 1 August 1942 they were settled into their new home. During this training Hawker Hectors, North American Harvards, and Miles Masters pulled General Aircraft Hotspur gliders, while Douglas Dakotas pulled the larger Airspeed Horsa gliders. With this new mission came a far stricter training regime and standards than that usually found at an RAF training station. The reason for this was the dual roles required of the glider pilots. They would receive twelve weeks of basic flying training, before moving to one of the GTS. Training at the GTS took another twelve weeks. From there they would move onto their operational units. In addition to flying the gliders, pilots had to be as highly trained and disciplined as infantry troops. This way they could make a positive contribution to the battle after landing in the assault areas. However, they would only remain in the assault area until their recovery. By the end of 1942 the RAF thought it had enough trained glider pilots, at least for foreseeable operational need. There was now a large number of trained glider pilots and this led to its own problems and another change in the station's mission.
As the last class passed out of RAF Croughton on 24 March 1943, the glider school closed down. It continued to be a training base, but now it was a satellite for Kidlington in Oxfordshire where the No. 20 (Pilots) Advanced Flying Unit RAF (AFU) gave refresher or advanced training to pilots. Established in 1942, the AFUs provided refresher courses to pilots trained overseas under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. It also gave newly qualified pilots experience with flying in British weather and handling heavier aircraft. With the No. 20 AFU, this meant the Airspeed Oxford. Pilots training with these aircraft knew they were destined for either Bomber or Coastal Command. On 15 April 1943 No. 1538 (Beam Approach Training) Flight RAF (No.15 BATF) formed at RAF Croughton and added to the station's training mission. Before this many of the pilots training with No. 20 AFU received their Beam Approach Training at RAF Feltwell. Both No. 1538 BATF and No. 20 AFU remained at RAF Croughton until 18 October 1944 when the airfield returned to Flying Training Command. On this date No. 1538 BATF disbanded and No. 20 AFU retired to Kidlington. RAF Flying Training Command needed the station to reform No. 1 Glider Training School. The decision to reopen glider training came about when the army finally agreed that the glider pilots should be RAF. From the beginning both the RAF and Army had differing opinions as to who should pilot the gliders. The Army felt the Glider Pilot Regiment was an elite force and that the pilots should be from the Army or at the very least trained to the same standard. The Army even rejected a proposal from the RAF to have a RAF pilot sit in the second pilot or co-pilot seat. This changed after Operation Market Garden.
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