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RAF Abingdon’s Second World War story is dominated by one essential job: turning civilians and partly-trained airmen into effective bomber crews for operations. From April 1940, the station became home to No. 10 Operational Training Unit (10 OTU), created on 8 April 1940 by bringing together Nos. 97 and 166 Squadrons with Armstrong Whitworth Whitleys. The Whitley, already a veteran type by mid-war standards, was still perfectly suited to the hard realities of OTU work: night flying, cross-country navigation, instrument practice, bombing exercises, wireless procedure, and the crew co-ordination that mattered just as much as raw flying skill. Day after day, Abingdon’s runways and surrounding Oxfordshire skies became a classroom where mistakes were costly and standards were unforgiving.
Training for night bombing was dangerous even without an enemy in sight. OTU sorties took place in all seasons and conditions, and the learning curve was steep: new crews had to master blacked-out take-offs and landings, dead-reckoning navigation, the rhythm of a multi-crew cockpit, and the discipline of routine checks. Abingdon’s role was therefore both unglamorous and vital: every operational squadron needed trained crews, and Bomber Command’s expansion meant the demand never stopped. Abingdon also supported detached flying, including an anti-submarine flight operating from St Eval, showing how training units were sometimes leaned on to meet wider needs when aircraft and crews were available.
The unit’s wartime timeline captures the way airfields adapted as requirements changed. In 1943 Abingdon’s operations included a notable anti-submarine episode linked to the Bay of Biscay, where a Whitley from the detached flight was shot down while attacking a submarine and the entire crew was lost. Later, as the war intensified and heavier flying loads became routine, the station underwent significant airfield works: between March and November 1944, 10 OTU moved to RAF Stanton Harcourt while runways were laid at Abingdon. This was not just an engineering upgrade; it reflected the RAF’s drive to improve reliability and safety and to support higher-tempo flying in poor weather. When the unit returned, Vickers Wellingtons arrived from June 1944 and the last Whitleys departed by September, marking the end of an era and a transition to aircraft that better matched mid-war training demands.
Abingdon continued to host specialist elements within the training system. In late 1944 it took on a Polish Flight from No. 18 OTU (until June 1945), reflecting the RAF’s increasingly international character and the integration of Allied personnel into Britain’s training pipeline. 10 OTU remained at work through the end of the war, disbanding in September 1946. For visitors today, it is worth remembering that stations like Abingdon were the quiet engine room of the air war: thousands of sorties, countless crews, and a steady output of trained men who would go on to the front line – often within weeks of completing their course.
- Wartime headline role: night bomber crew training (No. 10 OTU)
- Main OTU aircraft: Whitley, later Wellington
- Key 1944 change: runway works and temporary move to Stanton Harcourt