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 Ronaldsway on the Isle of Man offers a different angle on wartime airfield history: it became a home for airfield defence and gunnery training rather than an operational combat base in the conventional sense. Requisitioned by the RAF in June 1940, Ronaldsway was adapted to support the training of ground defence gunners at a time when the threat of air attack and airborne assault made airfield defence a national priority. The station’s wartime development therefore reflects a specific need of the early war – hardening air power by ensuring airfields could protect themselves.
The principal unit associated with wartime Ronaldsway was No. 1 Ground Defence Gunners School, later known as No. 3 RAF Regiment School. This was part of the wider story of how the RAF Regiment and associated ground defence organisations were built up to protect airfields at home and overseas. Training involved weapons handling, tactics, airfield perimeter security and, importantly, live firing and target towing. For target towing in the first half of the war, Ronaldsway used a range of older and often obsolete biplane types that were suitable for the task and available in numbers, including Gloster Gauntlets, Hawker Harts and Westland Wallaces. These aircraft towed targets so gunners could practise tracking and firing, converting theoretical training into practical skill.
Ronaldsway’s island location shaped its wartime character. The Isle of Man was relatively sheltered from the direct pressure experienced in southern England, yet it remained integrated into the UK’s wider air defence and training system. Isolation and sea crossings affected logistics and personnel movement, but the island also offered airspace and facilities well suited to training. Ronaldsway’s grass landing area was enlarged and adapted to meet RAF needs, and the station’s infrastructure supported a steady flow of trainees, instructors and maintenance staff.
The unit’s presence lasted until February 1943, when the school transferred to Hutton Cranswick in Yorkshire. After that, Ronaldsway’s wartime role evolved again, and the Isle of Man as a whole hosted other RAF airfields (such as Jurby and Andreas) used for different functions including operational cover and later training. Ronaldsway’s wartime legacy is therefore tied to the ground side of air power – how air forces protected their bases and trained personnel to respond under attack.
For visitors and researchers, Ronaldsway reminds us that airfield history is not only about squadrons flying combat sorties. It is also about the systems that sustained those sorties: training, defence, and the practical work of turning recruits into capable specialists. In that sense, Ronaldsway is an important piece of the wartime aviation mosaic of the Irish Sea region.
WW2 units, roles and aircraft:
- No. 1 Ground Defence Gunners School (later No. 3 RAF Regiment School) – airfield defence training
- Target-towing aircraft recorded in early war: Gloster Gauntlet, Hawker Hart, Westland Wallace
- Role: training RAF ground defence gunners/RAF Regiment-style airfield protection skills
Ronaldsway’s role is a reminder that airfields were targets, and therefore required trained defenders. Gunnery schools on the home front helped create that defensive layer, which then travelled overseas with air forces. The station’s wartime value lies in skills – discipline, range practice and perimeter tactics – that protected air power wherever it operated.