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 Calveley, near the village of Wardle and close to Nantwich in Cheshire, is a classic example of a wartime airfield whose purpose changed as the threat evolved. In December 1940, with the industrial north-west under attack and the defence of Merseyside a priority, the decision was taken to build a new airfield with proper concrete runways. Construction followed in 1941-42 and produced a substantial station layout with three hard runways – an expensive investment that shows how seriously the RAF viewed the need for extra operational capacity.
By the time Calveley was ready, the strategic picture had shifted. The most urgent fighter-defence requirement in the region had eased, and Calveley was re-tasked into the flying training system. The station opened on 14 March 1942 as a Relief Landing Ground for No. 5 Service Flying Training School based at RAF Ternhill. Within a month the parent unit became No. 5 (Pilot) Advanced Flying Unit, and Calveley’s hard runways immediately made it valuable: unlike many satellites that relied on grass surfaces, Calveley could keep aircraft moving in poorer weather and cope with heavier training loads.
Advanced Flying Units were the bridge between basic instruction and operational conversion. At Calveley, trainees worked up to more demanding handling, practiced instrument procedures, sharpened navigation and built the confidence needed to progress to frontline types. Miles Master advanced trainers were central to this work, and Calveley became known for an intense circuit-and-landing routine that turned out pilots in volume. Night flying was also part of the wartime training requirement, and the station’s infrastructure supported that progression from daylight circuits to more complex after-dark procedures.
In May 1943 Calveley became the main base for No. 17 (Pilot) Advanced Flying Unit, which moved from RAF Watton. The scale was striking: the unit operated a very large fleet (with Masters at the core), and managing that number demanded disciplined organisation on the ground – dispersal planning, maintenance scheduling, fuel and oil supply, and the constant inspection and repair cycle that kept training losses down while maintaining throughput. To support the operation, RAF Wrexham served as a satellite for overflow aircraft and activity, illustrating how training ‘airfields’ often worked as networks rather than single locations.
Training roles continued to change as the war moved into its later phases. Calveley later hosted further flying training elements and aircrew holding functions in 1945, and it saw post-war transitional activity as the RAF rebalanced from wartime expansion towards peacetime needs. By 1946, as the flying training system contracted and demobilisation gathered pace, Calveley’s role came to an end and the station closed.
Although Calveley did not become a famous combat base, its importance was fundamental: every operational squadron depended on pilots produced by places like this. Calveley’s concrete runways, its status as a hard-surface satellite in the north-west, and its intensive advanced training programme made it a vital link in the wartime pilot pipeline. Today the airfield has largely returned to civilian use, but its story remains a strong reminder that victory in the air was built as much on training capacity and infrastructure as on frontline operations.