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RAF Long Marston, in Warwickshire, opened during the war as a satellite station and became closely linked to training and specialised support flying. It was developed with the standard wartime emphasis on dispersal, perimeter tracks and hard standings – features designed to protect aircraft and to sustain flying through poor weather and heavy usage. Its relationship with nearby stations, notably RAF Honeybourne, reflects a common wartime pattern: a parent station supported by satellites that expanded capacity and reduced congestion.
A key wartime user was Bomber Command’s No. 24 Operational Training Unit (OTU), which began operating from Long Marston in March 1943 using the airfield as a satellite to Honeybourne. OTUs were critical: they were the stage where crews learned to fly and fight together before going operational. No. 24 OTU operated a mix of aircraft that included Armstrong Whitworth Whitleys (retired from front-line service but still useful for training), Avro Ansons and Vickers Wellingtons. This combination allowed crews to practise multi-engine handling, navigation, bombing routines and defensive procedure without placing scarce front-line aircraft at risk.
Long Marston also hosted specialist threat simulation through No. 1681 Bomber (Defence) Flight, flying fighters such as Hawker Hurricanes and Curtiss Tomahawks to provide simulated attacks on OTU aircraft. This training was not theatrical; it was practical. Crews needed to experience the pressure of interception, to practise evasive manoeuvres, and to coordinate turret fire and lookout procedures. The ‘opposition’ aircraft helped turn classroom knowledge into live habit, preparing crews for the stress and confusion of combat conditions.
The airfield also intersects with airborne and glider activity. Long Marston’s records include incidents involving an Armstrong Whitworth Albemarle of No. 296 Squadron towing an Airspeed Horsa glider, illustrating how training and movement work connected the station to the wider airborne build-up. Even where glider work was not the station’s core identity, the presence of tow operations demonstrates the flexible way wartime airfields were used, shifting between training, support and operational requirements as demand changed.
- Key wartime units: No. 24 OTU (Whitley/Anson/Wellington) and No. 1681 Bomber (Defence) Flight (Hurricane/Tomahawk threat simulation).
- Associated activity included airborne-related tow movements (e.g., No. 296 Squadron towing Horsa gliders).
- Why it mattered: increased crew readiness through realistic training, expanding operational capacity while reducing risk to front-line units.
Long Marston’s wartime significance lies in how it supported the RAF’s output at scale. It was one of the places where crews learned to operate as a team and where the RAF engineered realism into training – two factors that translated directly into operational survival and effectiveness.
Operational training units were the bridge between learning to fly and learning to fight. They created crews who could operate as a team – pilot, navigator, wireless operator and gunners – under realistic pressure. Long Marston’s combination of OTU flying and simulated fighter attack training shows how the RAF deliberately increased realism so that the first ‘real’ interception did not happen over enemy territory.
A final point is the legacy of skills. Whether the work was operational, training, maintenance or transport, the station produced experienced personnel who carried techniques to other units. That movement of expertise – pilots, engineers, controllers, armourers – was one of the RAF’s strongest wartime advantages, and this airfield contributed to it.