RAF Biggin Hill Wing

Location County: - Kent 5.5 miles SSE of Bromley Lat /Long:  51:19:30N  00:02:00E Grid ref:  TQ415606 Height above sea level:  600ft Operational Control: - Opened - 1917 Fighting Area No 11 Group 1936 - Notes Main units: - Wireless Testing Park (1 Jan 1917 - 14 Dec 1917) Wireless Experimental Establishment (14 Dec 1917 - 1 Nov 1919) Wireless Telephony School (2 - 16 Apr 1918) 37 Sqn (17 Mar - 1 Jul 1919) 39 Sqn (1 Jul - 20 Dec 1919) Instrument Design Establishment (1 Nov 1919 - Mar 1920) Instrument Design Establishment (Home) (Mar 1920 - xxx 1922) Navigation Flt (xxx 1920 - xxx xxxx) Signals Co-operation Flt (1 Apr 1921 - 15 Dec 1922) HQ, No 5 Wing (1 Apr 1923 - xxx 1924) 56 Sqn (7 May 1923 - 12 Oct 1927) Night Flying Flt (1 Jul 1923 - 22 Oct 1931) Anti-Aircraft Co-operation Flt (22 Oct 1931 - 14 Apr 1936) 23 Sqn (17 Sep 1932 - 21 Dec 1936) 32 Sqn (21 Sep 1932 - 3 Jan 1940, 27 Mar - 26 May 1940, 4 Jun - 27 Aug 1940) Anti-Aircraft Co-operation Unit (14 Apr 1936 - 10 Feb 1937) No 1 Anti-Aircraft Co-operation Unit (10 Feb 1937 - 24 May 1937, 16 Sep 1937 - 11 Apr 1938) 'C' Flt, No 1 Anti-Aircraft Co-operation Unit (15 Mar - 10 May 1937) 79 Sqn (22 Mar 1937 - 12 Nov 1939, 8 Mar - 10 May 1940, 21 - 27 May 1940, 5 Jun - 1 Jul 1940, 27 Aug - 8 Sep 1940) 'D' Flt, No 1 Anti-Aircraft Co-operation Unit (16 Sep 1937 - 11 Apr 1938) 'H' Flt, No 1 Anti-Aircraft Co-operation Unit (1 Apr - 25 Sep 1939) 3 Sqn (1 May - 2 Sep 1939) 601 Sqn (2 Sep - 30 Dec 1939) 610 Sqn (10 - 27 May 1940, 8 Jul - 31 Aug 1941) 242 Sqn (21 May - 8 Jun 1940) 213 Sqn (9 - 18 Jun 1940) No 6 Radio Maintenance Unit (1 Jul - 31 Aug 1940) 72 Sqn (31 Aug - 1 Sep 1940, 12 Sep - 13 Oct 1940, 22 Mar - 30 Jun 1942, 7 Jul - 4 Aug 1942) 92 Sqn (8 Sep 1940 - 9 Jan 1941, 20 Feb - 24 Sep 1941) 64 Sqn (13 - 15 Oct 1940) 74 Sqn (15 Oct 1940 - 20 Feb 1941) No 421 Flt (6 - 15 Nov 1940) 66 Sqn (7 Nov 1940 - 24 Feb 1941) 264 Sqn (11 Jan - 14 Apr 1941) 609 Sqn (24 Feb - 28 Jul 1941, 24 Sep - 19 Nov 1941, 18 Sep - 2 Nov 1942)

Main units (continued): - 401 Sqn (20 Oct 1941 - 19 Mar 1942, 3 - 14 Aug 1942, 21 Aug - 24 Sep 1942, 13 Oct 1943 - 8 Apr 1944) No 609 (AAF) Servicing Echelon (14 - 19 Nov 1941, 18 Sep - 9 Nov 1942) No 3045 (RCAF) Servicing Echelon (14 Nov 1941 - 10 Aug 1942) 124 Sqn (17 Nov 1941 - 3 May 1942) No 3034 Servicing Echelon (17 Nov 1941 - xxx xxxx, 12 Aug - 23 Sep 1942) 133 Sqn (3 May - 30 Jun 1942, 12 - 31 Jul 1942, 31 Aug - 23 Sep 1942) No 2824 Sqn RAF Regiment No 2709 Sqn RAF Regiment 19 Sqn (1 - 7 Jul 1942, 10 - 16 Sep 1946) No 3026 Servicing Echelon (9 Aug - 9 Sep 1942) 222 Sqn (15 - 21 Aug 1942) 602 Sqn (16 - 20 Aug 1942) 340 Sqn (23 Sep 1942 - 21 Mar 1943) 611 Sqn (23 Sep 1942 - 1 Jul 1943) No 611 (AAF) Servicing Echelon (23 Sep 1942 - 11 Oct 1943) No 3017 (Eagle) Servicing Echelon (8 Feb - 15 Mar 1943) 1 Sqn (9 Feb - 15 Mar 1943) 341 Sqn (21 Mar - 11 Oct 1943) No 2745 Sqn RAF Regiment 41 Sqn (21- 28 May 1943, 29 Mar 1951 31 Jan 1958) 485 Sqn (1 Jul - 18 Oct 1943) HQ, No 126 Airfield (13 Oct 1943 - 12 May 1944) 411 Sqn (13 Oct 1943 - 24 Feb 1944, 29 Feb - 16 Apr 1944) 412 Sqn (14 Oct 1943 - 5 Jan 1944, 20 Jan - 30 Mar 1944) No 6401 (RCAF) Servicing Echelon (22 Mar - 8 Apr 1944) No 6411 (RCAF) Servicing Echelon (22 Mar - 15 May 1944) No 6412 (RCAF) Servicing Echelon (22 Mar - 15 May 1944) 91 Sqn ( 7 - 29 Oct 1944) No 6091 Servicing Echelon (17 - 29 Oct 1944) No 6322 (Dutch) Servicing Echelon (17 Oct 1944 - 2 Jan 1945) HQ No 141 Wing (18 Oct - 5 Nov 1944) No 6131 Servicing Echelon (29 Oct - 7 Nov 1944) 154 Sqn (5 Nov 1944 - 1 Mar 1945) No 6154 Servicing Echelon (7 Nov 1944 - 3 Mar 1945) No 403 Repair and Salvage Unit (Oct - Dec 1943) No 410 Repair and Salvage Unit (26 Jan - 16 Apr 1944) 345 Sqn (28 Oct - 1 Nov 1944) 322 Sqn (31 Oct 1944 - 3 Jan 1945) No 1 Fighter Command Servicing Unit (Jun - Nov 1945) No 2 Fighter Command Servicing Unit (Jun - Nov 1945) HQ, South Eastern Sector (Nov 1945 - Jun 1946) No 8 Fighter Command Servicing Unit (Nov - Dec 1945) 600 Sqn (10 May 1946 - 10 Mar 1957) 615 Sqn (10 May 1946 - 10 Mar 1957) London University Air Sqn (Oct 1946 - 15 Dec 1947) No 162 Gliding School (xxx 194x - 31 Aug 1950) Historic Aircraft Flt (Jul 1957 - 21 Feb 1958) Battle of Britain Flt (21 - 28 Feb 1958) No 61 Group Communications Flt (1 Mar 1958 - 15 Jan 1959) University of London Air Sqn (1 Apr 1957 - 12 Jan 1959) No 1 Air Experience Flt (8 Sep 1958 - 7 Feb 1959) Officer and Aircrew Selection Centre (9 Apr 1962 - Sep 1992) Detachments: 39 Sqn (Jun 1916 - Dec 1917) 56 Sqn (Feb - May 1940) 78 Sqn (Sep 1917 - Jul 1919) 141 Sqn (Jul 1940, Aug - Oct 1940) 213 Sqn (May - Jun 1940) 229 Sqn (Oct 1939 - Jun 1940) 287 Sqn (Nov 1941 - Jul 1944) 436 Sqn (Aug 1945 - Apr 1946)

Probably one of the most well known RAF Stations, it began its career on 14 February 1917 as a RFC Signals Unit and a year later it became part of the London Air Defence Zone, with the arrival of No 141 Squadron.  This squadron remained for the rest of the war, eventually leaving in March 1919.  Other squadrons came and went, including No 140, No 37 and No 39, before No 56 Squadron arrived in May 1923.  Also arriving at the same time was the Night Flying Flight.  No 56 left for North Weald in October 1927, leaving the Night Flying Flight as sole occupants until they left in 1929.

A major building programme now began lasting three years, following which Nos 23 and 32 Squadrons arrived, equipped with Demons and Bulldogs respectively.  At the same time the Anti-Aircraft Co-operation Flight was formed and this provided training to the increasing number of anti-aircraft guns being set up in the London area.  At some point before the outbreak of war an Air Defence training school was established at Biggin Hill, although it is likely that this was an Army unit, as they were tasked with all anti-aircraft artillery defence at that time.

23 Squadron moved to Northolt in 1936 and were replaced by No 79 Squadron, which formed from ‘B’ Flight of No 32, both equipped with Gloster Gauntlets.  During the Munich crisis of 1938, No 601 Squadron of the Auxiliary Air Force arrived, to bolster the defences but they returned to Hendon, once the crisis was over.  The two resident squadrons converted to Hurricanes in late 1938 and in late 1939 a tarmac runway of 4,800 ft x 150 ft was laid.

Once the war began the movement of units took place at a pace and a number of units moved in and out of Biggin Hill.  Its squadrons were operating over the Channel and Dunkirk and by the start of the Battle of Britain, it was home to Nos 72, 79 and 610 Squadrons.  During this period and the night Blitz which followed, Biggin Hill was a major target of the Luftwaffe, being attacked 12 times between August 1940 and January 1941.

With the coming of the New Year in 1941, Fighter Command went over to the offensive and the squadrons at Biggin Hill were in the fore front of these operations.  These operations took the form of ‘Circus’ missions, were a small force of bombers were escorted by up to six squadrons of fighters in the hope of bringing the Luftwaffe’s fighters up to fight.  At other times small groups of fighters, usually pairs, would undertake ‘Rhubarbs’ over the French country side, looking for targets of opportunity.  In August 1942, the squadrons at Biggin Hill, took part in Operation Jubilee, the abortive raid on Dieppe and shortly after this the Biggin Hill Wing, received the Spitfire IX, which was more than a match for the German’s Focke Wulf Fw190.

In May 1943, the station celebrated the destruction of 1,000 enemy aircraft, a record which remained unbroken by the end of the war.  Operations continued from Biggin Hill until the week after D-Day in June 1944, when all flying ceased and the station was taken over by Balloon Command in order to combat the V-1 flying bombs being unleashed against the South of England.  The station was inside the London defence zone and six V-1s actually fell within the airfield boundary.  Balloon Command left in September 1944, once the threat from the V-1s had diminished due to their launch sites being over-run by the advancing Allied armies.

Fighter squadrons now returned to Biggin Hill, but the pace and tempo of the mid war operations was now gone and the squadrons were now involved in escorting Bomber Command operations on daylight raids over the continent and Germany.  By early March 1945, the station was also being used by Transport Command, which was operating services from to and from the UK and the liberated areas of Europe and by June 1945, the station had been transferred from No 11 Group, Fighter Command to No 46 Group, Transport Command.  Various RAF RCAF and USAAF units now used Biggin Hill as the Uk terminal for their services and the station was probably now busier then it was when it had been a fighter station.

On 10 May 1946, two squadrons of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force were reformed at Biggin Hill, Nos 600 (City of London) and 615 (County of Surrey) and three months later the headquarters of Reserve Command moved into the Station.  In November 1949, the station reverted to Fighter Command and in 1950 the two RAuxAF units received Meteors and in early 1951, were joined by No 41 Squadron, similarly equipped.  In 1955, No 41 Squadron was re-equipped with the Hawker Hunter and two years later the runway at Biggin Hill was extended, but the end was in sight for the station.  In March 1957, all the RAuxAF flying squadrons were disbanded and as the airspace around Biggin Hill got more and more congested, the station closed as a fighter station, the airfield being leased to Surrey Aviation who developed the airfield as a general aviation centre, the only military flying being by the Chipmunks of No 1 Air Experience Flight, formed to fly cadets of the Air Training Corps and Combined Cadet Force.  The RAF retained the North Camp which became home to the Officers’ and Aircrew Selection Centre from April 1959 and this remained until it re-located to Cranwell in around 2001.  The only remaining RAF element is now St George’s Chapel, which houses the Books of Remembrance for the personnel who lost their lives whilst serving at this famous station.

Web References: http://www.rafweb.org/Stations/Stations-B.htm#Biggin