RAF Northolt
Royal Air Force Northolt or more simply RAF Northolt is a Royal Air Force station in South Ruislip, from Uxbridge in the London Borough of Hillingdon, western Greater London, England, approximately north of Heathrow Airport. As London VIP Airport, the station handles many private civil flights in addition to Air Force flights.
Northolt has one runway in operation, spanning, with a grooved asphalt surface. This airport is used for government and private VIP transport to and from London.
Northolt predates the establishment of the Royal Air Force by almost three years, having opened in May 1915, making it the oldest RAF base. Originally established for the Royal Flying Corps, it has the longest history of continuous use of any RAF airfield. Before the outbreak of the Second World War, the station was the first to take delivery of the Hawker Hurricane. The station played a key role during the Battle of Britain, when fighters from several of its units, including No. 303 Polish Fighter Squadron, engaged enemy aircraft as part of the defence of London. It became the first base to have squadrons operating Supermarine Spitfire aircraft within German airspace.
During the construction of Heathrow Airport, Northolt was used for commercial civil flights, becoming the busiest airport in Europe for a time and a major base for British European Airways. More recently the station has become the hub of British military flying operations in the London area. Northolt has been extensively redeveloped since 2006 to accommodate these changes, becoming home to the British Forces Post Office, which moved to a newly constructed headquarters and sorting office on the site. Units currently based at RAF Northolt are No. 32 Squadron, the King's Colour Squadron, 600 Squadron, No 1 Aeronautical Information Documents Unit, the Air Historical Branch and the Central Band of the RAF.
History
Construction
Following Louis Blériot's first flight across the English Channel in 1909, the British Army considered the necessity of defending the United Kingdom from a future air attack. By May 1910, Claude Grahame-White and other aviation pioneers were flying from the flat areas around Ruislip, although they soon sought an aerodrome for London, which was eventually built at Hendon. A proposal was made in 1912 for the area around where RAF Northolt now stands to be developed as "Harrow Aerodrome". The company established to develop the site was listed on the London Stock Exchange but the idea did not progress any further.The outbreak of the First World War necessitated a new aerodrome for the Royal Flying Corps. The Corps had received the Royal Warrant on 13 April 1912, whereupon Major Sefton Brancker of the War Office conducted aerial surveys in 1914 of Glebe Farm in Ickenham, and Hundred Acres Farm and Down Barnes Farm in Ruislip, looking for the most effective operating base for new squadrons. He settled on a site near Northolt Junction railway station; in January 1915 the government requisitioned the land. It is rumoured that the government official tasked with acquiring the land arrived at the site with his map upside down, leading to the government requisitioning and developing land on the wrong side of the railway line, including the old Hill Farm.
Construction of the new aerodrome, to be named "RFC Military School, Ruislip", began in January 1915. It opened on 3 May 1915, becoming known as Northolt and home to No. 4 Reserve Aeroplane Squadron which relocated from Farnborough. Most early RAF airfields were named after the nearest railway station, in this case Northolt Junction, later named Northolt Halt and now South Ruislip station; so the airfield became "Northolt" despite being in neighbouring South Ruislip. In the same year the airfield was extended westwards, and aircraft began flying sorties in defence of London against Zeppelin raids. No. 18 Squadron was formed in the same month as Northolt and equipped with Bleriot Experimental biplanes, whose slow speed led to heavy losses in combat with the German Fliegertruppe.
In 1916, No. 43 Squadron was formed under the command of Major Sholto Douglas. Aircraft equipping the squadron included the Sopwith 1½ Strutter, built by the Fairey Aviation company, then in Hayes. The Strutter made its first test flight from Northolt in 1916 with Harry Hawker at the controls. Fairey conducted test flights at Northolt from 1917 until 1928 when the Air Ministry gave the company notice to vacate the aerodrome. Flights later resumed from the Great West Aerodrome owned by Fairey in Harmondsworth, which was eventually developed as Heathrow Airport. No. 43 Squadron went on to fly sorties over France from 17 January 1917, taking part in the Battle of Vimy Ridge between 4 and 8 April 1917.
No. 600 Squadron and No. 601 Squadron of the fledgling Royal Auxiliary Air Force were formed at Northolt in 1925 under the command of Squadron Leader Lord Edward Grosvenor. Both squadrons were deployed to RAF Hendon in 1927, although 600 Squadron returned in 1939. The Prince of Wales, later King Edward VIII and subsequently the Duke of Windsor, made his first flight in a Bristol F.2 Fighter from Northolt on 27 April 1929.
Second World War and the Battle of Britain
Northolt became an active base during the Second World War for Royal Air Force and Polish Air Force squadrons in their defence of the United Kingdom. It was the first RAF station to operate the Hawker Hurricane, with No. 111 Squadron receiving the first four aircraft in December 1937, and reaching its full complement by February 1938. In the lead-up to war, the RAF implemented a policy of adding concrete runways to important airfields; by 1939 Northolt had a new concrete runway. Later in 1939 RAF Hendon became one of its satellite airfields. Polish pilots were taught English at RAF Uxbridge, where they also practised formation flying using tricycles with radios, compasses and speed indicators.On 15 September 1940 during the Battle of Britain, No. 1 Squadron RCAF, No. 229 Squadron, No. 303 Polish Fighter Squadron, No. 504 Squadron, and part of No. 264 Squadron were based at the station, all under the control of No. 11 Group RAF, headquartered at RAF Uxbridge. All flew Hawker Hurricanes except No. 264 Squadron's contingent, which operated the Boulton Paul Defiant. During the Battle of Britain, Polish 303 Squadron was the highest scoring Hurricane Sqd in Fighter Command, with its Czech pilot Sergeant Josef František becoming the fourth highest scoring RAF "ace" during the battle. The Luftwaffe bombed the airfield in August 1940 as well as other sector airfields in the area, including Biggin Hill, Hornchurch and North Weald, as part of a concentrated effort against the airfields and sector stations of No. 11 Group RAF. A total of 4,000 bombs were recorded as falling within two miles of the airfield over a fifteen-month period, although only two were recorded as hitting the airfield itself. Under the leadership of the station commander, Group Captain Stanley Vincent, the airfield was camouflaged to resemble civil housing. Vincent had been concerned that camouflaging the airfield as open land would look too suspicious from the air; Northolt was surrounded by housing and so a large open area would draw attention. A fake stream was painted across the main runway while the hangars were decorated to look like houses and gardens. The result was so effective that pilots flying to Northolt from other airfields often struggled to find it.
Thirty Allied airmen including servicemen from Belgium, Canada, Czechoslovakia, New Zealand, Poland and the United Kingdom were killed flying from RAF Northolt during the Battle of Britain, of whom ten were Polish. The Polish War Memorial dedicated to all Polish airmen who lost their lives during the Second World War, stands near the southeastern corner of the airfield. Its name is also commemorated at the adjacent eponymous junction on Western Avenue.
Squadrons based at RAF Northolt during the battle shot down a total of 148 Luftwaffe aircraft and damaged 52. A further 25 were claimed by pilots and recorded as "probables". Group Captain Vincent became one of the few RAF airmen to shoot down an enemy aircraft in both World Wars. He was a long-serving RAF man who had claimed an aerial victory over the Western Front in the First World War. By the time of the Battle of Britain he was too old for operational flying. Nevertheless, he took to the skies during one raid and brought down a German aircraft.
After the Battle of Britain, the station remained a base for daytime fighter operations, with No. 302 Polish Fighter Squadron, No. 229 Squadron and No. 615 Squadron all arriving before 3 November 1940. No. 308 Polish Fighter Squadron and No. 306 Polish Fighter Squadron later joined No. 303 during 1941 to form the No. 1 Polish Fighter Wing. Polish Fighter Squadrons based at Northolt in 1942 took part in Operation Jubilee on 19 August alongside Nos. 302 and 308 from nearby RAF Heston. Reconnaissance squadrons No. 16 Squadron and No. 140 Squadron operating Supermarine Spitfires and de Havilland Mosquitos moved to Northolt in 1944. No. 69 Squadron with their Vickers Wellingtons modified for photographic reconnaissance arrived later. All three reconnaissance squadrons were combined to form No. 34 Wing.
In 1943, the station became the first to fly sorties using Supermarine Spitfires in German airspace in support of bomber operations. On 25 March, RAF Ferry Command became RAF Transport Command and thereafter used Northolt as a London base for the transfer of new aircraft from factories to airfields. Runway 26/08 was extended in February that year to accommodate the larger transport aircraft required by the Command. Northolt continued as a Sector Fighter Station until February 1944. As a result of this and the new larger runway, the smaller 02/20 runway closed in April 1944.
RAF Northolt became home to Prime Minister Winston Churchill's personal aircraft, a modified Douglas C-54 Skymaster, in June 1944. The aircraft was used to fly him to meetings with other Allied leaders. Between 20 and 21 July 1944, a converted Consolidated B-24 Liberator bomber named "Marco Polo" made the first non-stop intercontinental flight, flying from London to Washington, DC, then returning to Northolt from La Guardia Airport within 18 hours. In November of the same year, an Avro York flew non-stop from Northolt to Cairo in 10 hours and 25 minutes. A new runway, 31/13, was surveyed the following month and built in March 1946.