RAF Condover - History

History

The station formally opened on 21 August 1942 with three new concrete runways designed for both fighter and bomber aircraft. The airfield was originally planned as a Relief Landing Ground (RLG) and satellite to RAF Atcham but by the time it was completed Atcham had been handed over to the United States Air Force as a fighter base, so Condover was instead established as a satellite airfield under RAF Shawbury, also serving as an RLG for RAF Ternhill. Although it had a large layout for a satellite field it remained mostly under utilised throughout its existence during World War II .

The airfield's three runways, two short and one long runway for heavier bomber aircraft were poorly constructed and the station closed for runway repairs on more than one occasion during the three year span of its operational career. There were ten hangars erected, a single Type T1 and 9 prefabricated blister type. Airmen and WAAF personnel were accommodated in prefabricated Quonset hutting and the officers were housed in the nearby magnificent Elizabethan manor house, Condover Hall, that had been commandeered by the War Office for the duration of the war.

The first unit at Condover was No. 11 (Pilot) Advanced Flying Unit, of No. 21 Group Flying Training Command, flying Airspeed Oxfords and conducting navigation and cross-country training. At various times between 1942 and 1945 Condover was visited by Supermarine Spitfires, Hawker Hurricanes, Short Stirlings and Avro Lancasters that either diverted to Condover, made emergency landings or overnighted at the station. In January 1945 new North American Harvard trainer aircraft arrived at the airfield but were removed again by June the same year, when the airfield closed. The station was retained by the RAF on a care and maintenance basis until 1960 when it was sold by auction.