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RAF Pershore in Worcestershire is best remembered as a heavy training station rather than a front-line operational base. From 1941 it became home to No. 23 Operational Training Unit (OTU), one of the key organisations responsible for turning partially trained crews into cohesive, combat-ready bomber teams. OTUs were where pilots, navigators, wireless operators and gunners learned to work as a crew under simulated operational conditions – night navigation, formation procedures, bombing practice, air gunnery exercises and the discipline of long sorties in British weather.
The backbone aircraft for No. 23 OTU was the Vickers Wellington, a twin-engined bomber whose rugged geodetic construction made it a logical choice for training. At Pershore, trainees learned the Wellington’s systems and handling while developing the routines that would later be applied to heavy bombers such as the Halifax and Lancaster. Training flying was intensive and, as at all OTUs, dangerous. Accidents occurred during take-offs, overshoots and night landings; the operational tempo of training meant that Pershore, like many OTU stations, also had its own roll of wartime casualties.
Although Pershore’s principal role was training, some OTUs undertook limited operational tasks at certain periods, reflecting the strain on Bomber Command and the need to augment effort when possible. More broadly, Pershore’s contribution lies in its throughput: crews posted onward from OTUs formed the human engine of Bomber Command’s campaign. In practical terms, the station helped feed squadrons across several bomber groups, ensuring that losses could be replaced and operational pressure maintained.
The station environment was a microcosm of the bomber war. The airfield would have included hangars, dispersals and perimeter track layouts, but also the living infrastructure required to sustain hundreds of trainees and staff: billets, briefing rooms, navigation classrooms and workshops. Ground crew maintained aircraft that were flown hard and often returned with training-related damage. Instructors – many with operational experience – had to balance realism with safety, teaching crews to handle emergencies, instrument failures and engine issues in conditions that were frequently poor.
Pershore’s wartime identity also connects to the broader training network in the Midlands and West Country. OTUs, Advanced Flying Units and specialist schools formed a pipeline that created bomber crews at scale. Pershore stood firmly within that pipeline, producing aircrew who would later fly against targets in Germany, the Low Countries and occupied France, and, in the later war, support the invasion and liberation of Europe through attacks on transport and communication nodes.
WW2 units, roles and aircraft:
- No. 23 Operational Training Unit (OTU) – night bomber crew training
- Primary aircraft: Vickers Wellington (notably Wellington I/IC and later marks)
- Training focus: navigation, bombing, air gunnery, night circuits and crew coordination
Pershore also highlights how training stations were operational communities in their own right. They maintained strict procedures for night flying, handled aircraft emergencies, and kept crews progressing through a syllabus despite weather and losses. The station’s work was therefore a continuous battle against attrition – producing competence safely and repeatedly, week after week, until victory.