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 Seighford, north-west of Stafford, was built as a satellite and relief landing ground for RAF Hixon during the war. Like many satellite fields, its purpose was practical: to provide additional runway capacity, disperse aircraft, and give training units space to fly without overwhelming a single parent station. Although Seighford never became a household name, its wartime contribution was typical of the thousands of smaller stations that quietly sustained Britain’s air effort.
Only a handful of flying units are closely associated with Seighford, but each reflects a distinct aspect of the RAF’s wartime training machine. No. 21 (Pilots) Advanced Flying Unit operated as a satellite flight from Hixon. Advanced Flying Units were designed to polish skills before operational posting – instrument flying, formation work, navigation and emergency handling – often using trainers such as the Airspeed Oxford or North American Harvard, depending on the syllabus. Meanwhile No. 30 Operational Training Unit had a presence as a satellite element, representing the OTU system that converted trainees into combat-ready aircrew for particular aircraft types and roles.
Seighford’s most distinctive wartime association is with No. 23 Heavy Glider Conversion Unit. As Britain prepared for large airborne operations, specialised units were required to train pilots in towing and handling heavy troop-carrying gliders such as the Airspeed Horsa. Glider conversion was demanding: tug pilots had to fly precisely at low speed with a large aerodynamic load behind them, often at night, while glider pilots had to master close formation, release procedures, and steep, accurate landings into confined ‘landing zones’. Training at satellite fields like Seighford allowed this work to be carried out away from the congestion of main bases.
The physical layout of Seighford also tells a story. Its main hangars were built across the B5405 road from the runways, a quirk that later limited the airfield’s long-term viability but in wartime reflected the urgency of construction and the need to fit airfields into existing landscapes. As with many RAF stations, Seighford would have had a perimeter track, dispersed parking, and a mix of permanent and temporary buildings – operations blocks, control facilities, workshops and accommodation – built to standard patterns but adapted to local conditions.
After the war Seighford passed into other uses, including post-war aircraft company activity, and later became associated with civilian gliding. That is fitting: while its wartime work supported pilot training and glider operations, its peacetime life has continued that flying tradition. The remnants of runways and buildings, alongside the continued aviation use, make Seighford a good example of how a modest wartime satellite station can still echo with the purpose for which it was built.
For researchers and visitors, RAF Seighford can often be understood through the surviving pattern of its runways, perimeter track and dispersal points. Even where buildings have vanished, aerial photographs and ground traces can reveal the technical site, the former station entrance, and the ‘domestic’ camps where personnel lived. These physical clues help connect the local landscape to the wider wartime system of aircrew generation, logistics and operations.