The Flying Club Kemble - The Club

The following account is taken from an article in Aero Militaria published by the aviation history group Air Britain

RAF Kemble opened in 1938 as one of a number of new air bases built to counter the growing threat from the Nazis. The Cotswold area is an oolitic limestone plateau, well drained and with good bearing capacity, as well as being at that time remote from the danger of air attack from the Continent. Around a grass airfield 15 hangars were built for aircraft storage and maintenance, No 5 Maintenance Unit (5 MU) was formed on 22nd June 1938 and became active in February 1939, remaining on the base until 1983.

The first aircraft received were Bristol Blenheims and Hawker Hurricanes from the factories, to be made combat-ready and delivered to squadrons. Various training aircraft were also processed, and the number of aircraft on site required surrounding fields to be requisitioned for parking. When war was declared on Nazi Germany in September, Kemble became, for two days only, a combat base, with the 14 Wellingtons of No 37 Squadron on the dispersal. During September, 93 aircraft were received and 89 issued, with 376 on site at the end of the month, rising to 488 by the end of the year and to 629 in April 1940. Hard tracks were laid into the outlying aircraft parks, and types handled in numbers now included Battle, Beaufort, Hector, Hereford, Lysander and Wellington

Throughout the war enemy action in the area was to be slight. On 25th July 1940 a Junkers 88 which appeared to be headed for Kemble was shot down by a Hurricane, and on 14th August two aircraft dropped 18 bombs and damaged nine Armstrong Whitworth Whitleys on B Site, but without casualties or other damage. Then on 27th July 1942 three Dornier 217s machine-gunned the parked aircraft but failed to hit anything.

On the other hand, Kemble was a terminal for the relatively hazardous business of ferrying combat aircraft to the Middle East and later to India. To speed the delivery of the large numbers of aircraft, No 4 Ferry Pool moved from Cardiff to Kemble in June 1940, and in September the Overseas Aircraft Delivery Flight, at first mainly ferrying Wellingtons, was formed. Long range flying near enemy territory led to increasing losses, and the need for improved skills led to a formal recognition of a training function in mid-1941. In November 1941 a reorganisation created three new Units: Ferry Training, Overseas Aircraft Delivery, and Overseas Aircraft Preparation

From the beginning of 1941 satellite landing grounds (SLG) came into use, including the First World War airfield at Rendcomb, Bush Barn Oxon., Berrow Worcs., Booker, Beechwood Beds., and Barnsley Park Glos. Aircraft under 5 MU control were also at Northolt (Spitfires) and Woodley (Miles Masters), while two flights of the Overseas Aircraft Preparation Unit operated at Filton on Beauforts and Beaufighters.

In April 1942 Kemble acquired its first concrete runway 09-27. In September 1942 glider assembly began on the airfield, with Hotspurs, Horsas and Hamilcars. The main types being ferried overseas were the Wellington and Lockheed Hudson, with 661 and 269 handled respectively up to the end of 1942. There were also 17 Halifaxes, one of which sadly plunged into Oxleys Wood.

Beauforts and Hurricanes continued to be processed through into 1943, when Lancasters began to arrive in February, and Warwicks in August. In September 1943 runway 13-31 was begun. In 1944 Hawker Typhoons and Tempests and Bristol Buckinghams were handled as well as Lancaster and Albemarle modifications. The total of aircraft was reducing, and most of the SLGs were no longer needed.

Then came a heroic period. First the gliders began to be collected by C47s for use by the US airborne divisions in the invasion of France - 24 went on 27th May - and on 6th September a force of 165 C47s carried out 580 movements, carrying supplies to captured airfields in France. Up to the end of the month there were 2769 C47 flights from Kemble, and during October 5437 flights, now to airfields in Belgium. Despite opening up of surface transport, November still had 668, and December 645, movements by C47. This all involved considerable maintenance work on the C47, known as the Dakota in RAF service.

In January 1945 Kemble was transferred to No 47 Group Transport Command, the Transport Aircraft Modification Section became a "Unit", and the station was fully devoted to transport aircraft maintenance, with Yorks, Lancastrians and Stirlings as well as Dakotas. As the war ended, surplus aircraft flooded back to the base, and in November 1945 there were 925 powered aircraft and 85 gliders in stock. It seemed a time when "Everything Must Go!" but in fact 5 MU had only existed for 7 years. It was to continue at Kemble for another 38 years.