Middle Wallop Airfield

Army Air Corps Middle Wallop
Characteristics
ICAO code	EGVP
Coordinates	51 ° 8 '57 " N , 1 ° 34' 12" W Coordinates: 51 ° 8 '57 " N , 1 ° 34' 12" W.
Height above MSL	91 m (299 ft )
Transport links
Distance from the city center	1 km east of Middle Wallop
Street
Basic data
opening	April 16, 1940
operator	British Army
Runways
09/27	1096 m of grass
18/36	1181 m of grass

The Army Air Corps Middle Wallop Airfield is a military airfield of the British Army near Middle Wallop in Hampshire in the south of England , about ten km southwest of Andover and 25 km north of Southampton . The base was formerly a base of the Royal Air Force (RAF). Today it houses the headquarters and training center of the army aviation .

history

RAF Middle Wallop / RNAS Middle Wallop

The site for the airfield, now the largest grass airfield in England, was acquired by the British Aviation Ministry in 1938 during the armament period leading up to the Second World War . However, construction only began after the outbreak of war in November 1939 and the Royal Air Force Station Middle Wallop , or RAF Middle Wallop for short , was opened on April 16, 1940 .

During the Battle of Britain , the station was the base of hurricanes and spitfires of the RAF Fighter Command and was repeatedly the target of air strikes by the German Air Force .

As part of the preparations for the invasion , RAF Middle Wallop became a base for P-38 and P-51 photo reconnaissance of the Ninth Air Force of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) from November 1943 . After the invasion began, the US scouts moved to France.

The base was then returned to the RAF and, from July 1944, was the base of a mosquito night-hunting squadron of the Royal Canadian Air Force for six months . The Royal Navy then took over the airfield as Royal Naval Air Station Middle Wallop , RNAS Middle Wallop for short, and referred to the facility as HMS Flycatcher . In the following year, however, the station came under the command of the RAF again and from September 1946 became home to a Spitfire squadron, which converted to the Meteor in April 1948 and left the base in May 1950.

At the same time, school operations for the so-called Air Observation Post (AOP) units in RAF Middle Wallop had already started in 1947 , initially only with fixed-wing aircraft, later the first helicopters were added. The observation squadrons and the school regiment for sailors including the school in Middle Wallop were finally transferred to the newly established Army Air Corps in 1957.

Middle Wallop Airfield

On September 1, 1957, the Army Air Corps was set up and the Army Air Corps Center emerged from the RAF's previous Light Aircraft School . Due to the proximity to the large military training area on Salisbury Plain , the army decided early on to set up its flight school in Middle Wallop for the helicopters to be used in the future. An Army helicopter test unit had already arrived in RAF Middle Wallop in 1954.

Middle Wallop has retained its function as a training center for British Army Aviation to this day. In addition, the "Museum of Army Flying" has been located here since 1987.

Todays use

After a reorganization within the Army Air Corps (AAC) in 2009, Middle Wallop is now (2013) home to the 2nd and 7th (training) regiments of the AAC and the Army Aviation Center . The two flying squadrons, one equipped with a Lynx, Gazelle and Bell 212 and the other with Apache, are subordinate to the 7th Regiment, while the 2nd is responsible for training ground personnel.

The Museum of Army Flying is also located on the edge of the site .

Web links

Commons : Middle Wallop airfield - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

AAC Middle Wallop on the website of the British Army (English)
Website of The Museum of Army Flying (English)