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 Bratton was a small but busy wartime landing ground in Shropshire, laid out on open farmland a couple of miles north-east of Wellington and within sight of the Wrekin. Opening in October 1940 as a grass Satellite Landing Ground for RAF Shawbury, it existed for a very specific purpose: to absorb overflow training traffic and provide a safer, less congested place for circuits, approaches and emergency drills away from the parent station.
Like many ‘satellite’ fields, Bratton’s facilities were deliberately modest. It had grass operating surfaces, basic tracks and dispersal, and a handful of small hangars and hardstandings rather than the full spread you’d expect at a front-line bomber base. This simplicity was a strength: pilots could focus on handling and procedure, and the station could be brought into use quickly with relatively light construction.
During the war Bratton remained tied into the training pipeline. Various RAF flying training units used the airfield at different times, and by January 1944 it served as a satellite to RAF Tern Hill. In practice, that meant a steady flow of routine flying – take-offs, landings and local training details – carried out to a timetable, in all weathers, as pupil pilots built the habits that would later keep them safe on operations.
A distinctive chapter began when the Admiralty was granted use of the station from April 1944. For the Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm, Bratton functioned as a Relief Landing Ground and satellite to RNAS Hinstock for advanced instrument work. Aircraft from 758 Naval Air Squadron (the Naval Advanced Instrument Flying School at Hinstock) used Bratton to expand capacity for blind-flying training at a time when instrument competence was vital – especially for naval aviators who might later be flying at night, in poor visibility, or over sea where reliable instruments and disciplined procedures were life-saving.
The training mix reflected the Fleet Air Arm’s needs. The mainstay was the Airspeed Oxford, a versatile twin-engine trainer well suited to navigation, radio, and instrument instruction. Other types appeared in smaller numbers to support specific training requirements, and aircraft rotated through as syllabi evolved and wartime priorities shifted.
Although Bratton did not generate headline-grabbing combat sorties, its wartime value was real. Every safe instrument approach, every competent diversion, and every crew trained to a consistent standard strengthened operational squadrons across the RAF and Fleet Air Arm. In this way, Bratton belonged to the vast, mostly unseen infrastructure that kept Britain’s air effort supplied with trained people.
The Admiralty’s need for Bratton as a satellite ended in February 1945 when another nearby airfield took over the role, and the RAF closed Bratton by July 1945. Today the land is largely rural again, but the story of RAF Bratton remains a reminder that victory depended not only on famous combat stations, but also on small grass fields where skill was built – quietly, repetitively, and to an exacting standard.