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RAF Cranfield, in Bedfordshire, offers a rare view of an airfield that moved through multiple wartime identities: from pre-war bomber station to training base, and finally to a specialist centre for night-fighter crew preparation. Work began in the mid-1930s and the station opened before the war, initially associated with Bomber Command and light bomber types such as the Hawker Hind and, later, the Bristol Blenheim as the RAF modernised rapidly.
As the war began, Cranfield’s importance shifted from operational bombing to the production of trained aircrew. In 1939-40 its runways were upgraded and by 1940 the station had three tarmac runways – an early example of the RAF recognising that training and operational tempo demanded more reliable surfaces than grass could provide. In April 1940 a Service Flying Training School arrived and Cranfield moved into the expanding structure of Flying Training Command, becoming part of the huge national effort to turn civilians into military aircrew at speed.
The summer of 1941 marked Cranfield’s most distinctive wartime chapter: the arrival of No. 51 Operational Training Unit, which remained at Cranfield for the rest of the war. OTUs were the critical bridge between basic training and front-line squadrons. No. 51 OTU specialised in preparing night-fighter crews – typically two-man teams of pilot and radar operator/navigator – who had to master instrument flying, airborne interception procedures, radio discipline and the demanding teamwork required to locate and destroy targets in darkness.
Training at Cranfield reflected the changing technology of night combat. Crews learned on aircraft types suited to the role and the period, including twin-engine platforms such as the Bristol Beaufighter and, later in the war, the de Havilland Mosquito in night-fighter variants. The Mosquito’s speed and versatility made it one of the defining aircraft of late-war night operations, and training crews to exploit its capabilities was a serious undertaking. The presence of senior and highly regarded airmen associated with No. 51 OTU underlines that training units were not backwaters; they contained experience, discipline and hard-won knowledge that had to be transmitted to the next wave of crews.
Operational Training Units also carried risk. Night flying, radar practice and simulated interceptions were hazardous, and accidents were an accepted part of the training cost. The workload could be relentless: training syllabi, aircraft serviceability, instructor availability and weather all had to align to keep crews flowing to front-line squadrons at the rate the war demanded.
Cranfield’s wartime legacy extends beyond the air war itself. After 1945, the station became associated with test pilot training and aeronautical education, eventually evolving into the institution known today for aerospace research and engineering. That post-war transformation makes Cranfield particularly notable: a site that supported the war by training night-fighter crews, and then helped shape the future of British aviation in peacetime.
The airfield’s later fame in aeronautical education can sometimes eclipse this wartime training chapter, but the continuity is real: Cranfield’s culture of technical precision was forged in the pressure of wartime flying.