RAF Tealing

Royal Air Force Tealing or more simply RAF Tealing (aka Tealing Airfield) is a former Royal Air Force station located in Angus, Scotland

RAF Tealing
Summary
Airport typeMilitary
OperatorRoyal Air Force
LocationTealing, Angus, Scotland
Elevation AMSL400 ft / 123 m
Coordinates56°31′38″N 002°58′20″W
Map
RAF Tealing
Location in Angus
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
09/27 4,203 1,281 Concrete
03/21 3,174 967 Concrete
unknown unknown Wood Chip

Overview

During the Second World War, the Air Ministry built an aerodrome at Tealing and in March 1942 No. 56 Operational Training Unit (OTU) was relocated to RAF Tealing from RAF Sutton Bridge in south Lincolnshire,[2] equipped with Hawker Hurricane, Miles Master and Westland Lysander aircraft. The number of pilots training at the unit varied from about 35 to 40 in 1942, reaching a peak of 150 in 1943.

It was at the aerodrome that Tealing's most famous visitor arrived. On 20 May 1942, a strange four engined aircraft appeared in the circuit at Tealing, piloted by Endel Puusepp. It was one of the first Russian TB7s to visit Britain and it brought Vyacheslav Molotov, Soviet Foreign Minister and Deputy Chairman of the State Committee of Defence, on a military mission to meet with Sir Winston Churchill at Chequers. RAF Tealing was probably chosen to attract as little attention as possible and for security reasons, as there was a local news blackout at the time.

Molotov was given the choice of two aircraft in which to continue his journey to England. The aircraft he did not select—as was later revealed by Sir Archibald Hope, Senior Controller of RAF Fighter Command in Scotland in 1942—crashed in the Vale of York, killing various members of Molotov's staff and senior RAF personnel. Molotov arrived safely in London for the signing of the Anglo-Soviet Treaty on 26 May 1942.

Timeline

Operational units and aircraft
UnitFromToAircraftVersion
No. 63 Squadron RAF1 May 1939September 1939Hawker Hart
de Havilland Tiger Moth		?
?
No. 527 Squadron RAF28 April 19448 November 1945Supermarine SpitfireMk. Vb

Other units/wings

No. 56 Operational Training Unit (27 March 1942 – 5 October 1943)

Formed at RAF Sutton Bridge from No. 6 OTU on 1 November 1940 within No. 81 Group to train fighter pilots for RAF Fighter Command, using Hawker Hurricanes. In March 1942 it moved to RAF Tealing and in April 1943 it passed to the control of No. 9 Group. It disbanded on 5 October 1943. It was then redesignated No. 1 Combat Training Wing (changed to No. 1 Tactical Exercise Unit at a later date).

In the event of a German invasion the OTU's 'E' and 'F' Flights would have become No. 556 Squadron to operate within the Peterhead Sector.

The unit was reformed on 15 December 1944, at Milfield in No. 12 Group, equipped with both Hawker Typhoon and Hawker Tempest V's until disbanding on 14 February 1946.

No. 1 Combat Training Wing (5 October 1943 – 1 January 1944)

See No. 56 Operational Training Unit.

No. 1 Tactical Exercise Unit (1 January - 31 July 1944)

See No. 56 Operational Training Unit.

No. 9 (Pilots) Advanced Flying Unit (12 September 1944 – 21 June 1945)

Satellite Landing Ground for No. 9 (Pilot) Advanced Flying Unit (PAFU) based at RAF Errol.

HQ, No. 70 (Signal) Wing (25 August 1945 – 31 May 1946)

Satellite to RAF Inverness

References
  1. UK Airfields: Tain to Zeals - Bones Aviation Page: A Catalogue of UK Airfields
  2. Airfield Focus 65: Sutton Bridge, Alastair Goodrum, 1997, p. 31, ISBN 9781904514152
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