RAF Northolt is a Royal Air Force station in South Ruislip, 2 nautical miles from Uxbridge in the London Borough of Hillingdon. It opened in May 1915, making it the oldest RAF base. The station was the first to take delivery of the Hawker Hurricane before the outbreak of the Second World War. It has been extensively redeveloped since 2006 to accommodate these changes, becoming home to the British Forces Post Office.
About RAF Northolt in brief
RAF Northolt is a Royal Air Force station in South Ruislip, 2 nautical miles from Uxbridge in the London Borough of Hillingdon. It opened in May 1915, making it the oldest RAF base. The station was the first to take delivery of the Hawker Hurricane before the outbreak of the Second World War. During the construction of Heathrow Airport, Northolt was used for commercial civil flights, becoming the busiest airport in Europe for a time. More recently the station has become the hub of British military flying operations in theLondon area. It 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. No. 32 Squadron, the Queen’s Colour Squadron, 600 Squadron, No 1 Aeronautical Information Documents Unit, the Air Historical Branch and the Central Band of the RAF are all based at RAF Northolt. The airfield has one runway in operation, spanning 1,687 m × 46 m, with a grooved asphalt surface. Northolt predates the establishment of the Royal Air force by almost three years, having opened on 3 May 1915. Originally established for the Royal Flying Corps, it has the longest history of continuous use of any RAF airfield. In the same year the airfield was extended westwards, and aircraft began flying sorties in defence of London against Zeppelin raids. No 43 Squadron went on to fly over France from 17 January 1917, taking part in the Battle of Vimy Ridge between 4 and 8 April 1917.
Flights resumed from the aerodrome in 1928 when the Ministry of the Air gave the company notice to vacate the air field, which was eventually developed as Heathrow. Most early RAF airfields were named after the nearest railway station, in this case Northolt Junction, later named Northolt Halt and now SouthRuislip station; so theAirfield became \”Northolt\” despite being in neighbouring South Ruylip. The company established to develop the site was listed on the London Stock Exchange but the idea did not progress any further. 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. In 1916, 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. No 43 Squadron was built under the command of Major Sholto Douglas Aircraft equipping the squadron with the Sopwith Sopwith 1½ Sopwith with Harry Strutter, who then made the first test flight at Northolt in 1916. In 1917, No 600 Squadron and No. 4 Reserve Aeroplane Squadron relocated from Farnborough to Northolt, taking the controls of the Fairey Fencer from 1917 until 1928.
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This page is based on the article RAF Northolt published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 08, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
