RAF St Athan History

The Station opened in September 1938 and was built on a site known locally, since the time of Henry I, as the East and West Orchards. The site was purchased by the Air Ministry in 1936, with the intention of establishing a permanent RAF station; however, the urgent requirement for new training accommodation necessitated the construction of a hutted camp as an interim measure. Those 'interim measures' were still standing on the East Camp until the end of the 1990's. The erection of permanent buildings began in 1939 and these included a cinema, a heated swimming pool (the first in Wales), a huge gymnasium and an indoor drill hall. The airfield, initially with a grassed landing area, was situated in the middle of the site, the hard runway system being laid down in 1942.
Station Headquarters opened on 1 September 1938, under the command of Group Captain E B Brice, the Station being administered by No 24 Group Training Command. The first unit to take up residence was No 4 School of Technical Training (4SofTT), which was responsible for the training of flight mechanics, riggers and MT drivers. The School is still situated on the East Camp. In 1939, the scope of the Station's activities began to expand with the arrival of other units, including a fighter group pool, a maintenance unit (MU) and a school of air navigation. The increase in the size and importance of the Station led to the position of Commanding Officer being upgraded to air rank, and Air Commodore the Honourable J D Boyle was the first air officer to fill the position.
In 1940, RAF St Athan was subjected to air attack several times, sustaining casualties and damage; during one air raid, the large and well-equipped Station Hospital was bombed. As the war progressed, many more units, of diverse nature, were transferred to and from St Athan. Among those were various training units, which were responsible for turning out 22,000 flight engineers and thousands of other trained personnel, including ground mechanics, wireless and radar operators, physical training instructors and navigators. Nos 19 and 32 MUs handled a great variety of stores and undertook repairs to vast numbers of aircraft and other equipment. For a time, the Czechoslovak Air Force Depot was also situated at RAF St Athan. At its wartime peak, the Station's working population totaled over 14,000 men and women.
With the transfer of ownership of the St Athan site to Welsh Assembly Government, the introduction of commercial businesses and arrival of the Special Forces Support Group, the Royal Air Force St Athan title was given up on 1 July 2006 in favour of naming the site MOD St Athan. This title more accurately represents the diversity of the personnel based here. No4 SofTT, which is part of the Defence College of Electro-Mechanical Engineering, has taken over the RAF Support Unit role, with CO 4 SofTT taking on the post as Senior RAF Officer St Athan or CO MOD St Athan (RAF).
Based Units:
No 9 Aircraft Storage Unit (1938 - 7 Feb 1939)
No 19 Maintenance Unit (7 Feb 1939 - 1 Nov 1968/7 Apr 1999)
No 32 Maintenance Unit (1 Jul 1939 - 1 Nov 1968/7 Apr 1999)
No 11 Group Pool (1 Jul 1939 - 9 Mar 1940)
No 4 Air Stores Park (26 Aug - 15 Sep 1939)
No 5 Air Stores Park (26 Aug - 16 Sep 1939)
School of Air Navigation (2 Sep 1939 - Jun 1940)
No 1 School of Air Navigation (Jun - 12 Oct 1940)
No 5 Salvage Centre (18 - 24 Sep 1939)
Special Duty Flt (14 Nov 1939 - 27 Apr 1940)
No 417 Flt (15 Jul - 1 Oct 1940)
'U' Flt, No 1 AACU (15 Aug - 15 Sep 1940)
No 1417 Flt (1 - 18 Mar 1941)
No 4 School of Technical Training (1 Sep 1938 - Current)
No 12 Radio School (1 Sep 1943 - 7 Mar 1946)
No 14 Radio School (1 Jun 1944 - 7 Mar 1946)
Signals Instructor School (1 Jun 1944 - ?)
No 68 Gliding School (Mar 1947 - 1 Sep 1955)
Special Installation Flt (29 Feb 1948 - 5 Oct 1953)
No 634 Volunteer Gliding School (1 Sep 1955 - 1 May 1964, 1 Oct 64 - Current)
University of Wales Air Sqn (26 Aug 1963 - Current)
Repair and Salvage Squadron (1991 - Current
Aircraft Recovery and Transportation Flt (1991 - Current)