Full WW2 control tower details and photos for this wartime airfield are coming soon. Please check back later as this is work progress. If you would like to contribute information or photos please get in touch.
RAF Colerne, on the high ground of north Wiltshire near Chippenham, is remembered today for post-war jets, but its Second World War story is rooted in an unglamorous yet vital job: getting aircraft built, assembled, checked and issued to the front line. Opened in 1940, the airfield’s position away from the worst of the Luftwaffe’s early focus made it suitable for the logistical ‘back end’ of air power that kept squadrons supplied with serviceable machines.
Throughout most of the war the station was home to No. 4 Aircraft Assembly Unit. Assembly units received crated or part-built aircraft, completed their fitting-out, carried out acceptance checks and prepared them for operational service. This wasn’t simply ‘bolting wings on’: it included wiring and systems installation, rectification of production faults, fitting of equipment that could change with operational lessons, and test flying. It also required close coordination with delivery organisations so aircraft could be moved rapidly onward to operational units. In March 1942 the work was reorganised as No. 218 Maintenance Unit, reflecting the scale and importance of repair, modification and issue tasks.
Colerne also supported communications and delivery activity. A Group communication flight operated from the airfield for much of the war, providing liaison flying for commanders and staff and moving personnel and urgent items around the region. Delivery flights were another practical but important feature: pilots ferried aircraft to and from the assembly and maintenance pipelines, ensuring frontline squadrons were replenished and damaged aircraft could be routed for repair.
By 1944-45 Colerne’s wartime story linked to the dawn of a new era. The airfield is associated with the RAF’s earliest operational jet activity in Britain: No. 616 Squadron, the first operational Meteor unit, used Colerne for a short period in early 1945. Shortly after, the station became home to an early jet conversion unit, helping pilots and ground crews adapt to the radically different handling, maintenance routines and performance of turbojet aircraft. That transition is part of Colerne’s historical value: it sits at the seam between the piston-engine war and the jet age that followed immediately after victory.
The human experience at Colerne would have combined industrial tempo with the rhythms of a flying station: engine runs, acceptance flights, delivery departures and constant pressure to reduce delays. Unlike a front-line squadron base, success here was counted in aircraft processed and dispatched – quiet achievements that enabled operations elsewhere. Colerne’s wartime identity, therefore, is best understood as a workhorse airfield: a place where assembly, maintenance and delivery turned Britain’s aircraft production into usable combat strength and where, right at the end of the war, the first jets hinted at the future.
Physically, Colerne’s wartime layout reflected its purpose: ample hangar space, hardstandings and workshops were more important than defensive fighter pens. The airfield’s value was in throughput and reliability – making sure aircraft left Colerne ready, correctly fitted and properly documented. That logistical discipline is one of the less celebrated foundations of RAF success.