Central Flying School and Related Topics

Station guard room and Harrier gate guardian.

RAF Wittering

Royal Air Force station within the unitary authority area of Peterborough, Cambridgeshire and the unitary authority area of North Northamptonshire.

Flight Lieutenant M H Brown and Pilot Officer Chatham of No. 1 Squadron standing by the nose of a Hawker Hurricane Mark I at Wittering,. CH1566

RAF Wittering after the attack on 14 March 1941. Bomb damage can be seen to the roof of the left-most hangar. The runway linking RAF Wittering to Collyweston Landing Ground had not yet been constructed. WWII IWM HU 91901

Aerial photograph of Wittering airfield, 9 May 1944

A Harrier is seen landing, at RAF Wittering, on a Forward Operating or MEXE Pad. The pad measures 100ft X 100ft and is made from prefabricated surface aluminium interlocking (PSAI) matting. The pads were used by novice pilots and veterans alike to practice the accuracy of their vertical landings.

RAF Wittering hosts a number of units operating the Grob Tutor T1 training aircraft.

The Central Flying School was at Wittering from 1926 until 1935 being replaced by No. 11 Flying Training School until 1938.

RAF Little Rissington

RAF aerodrome and RAF station in Gloucestershire, England.

Folland Gnat advanced trainer of the RAF Central Flying School at Little Rissington in 1967

CFS Watch Tower behind the Aerodrome Identifier

It was once home to the Central Flying School, the Vintage Pair and the Red Arrows.

RAF Upavon

Former RAF station in Wiltshire, England.

Central Flying School staff taken at Upavon, January 1913

Trenchard in the uniform of the Royal Flying Corps

A French Farman MF.7 biplane of No.2 Sqn Royal Flying Corps

Captured Fokker E.III 210/16 being flown at Upavon, Wiltshire in 1916

Upavon Airfield was originally created for pilots of the military and naval wings of the newly formed Royal Flying Corps (RFC), and became home to the Army Central Flying School.

BAC Jet Provost

British jet trainer aircraft that was in use with the Royal Air Force from 1955 to 1993.

The prototype Jet Provost T.1 with the initial longer undercarriage at the Farnborough Air Show in 1954

Preserved BAC Jet Provost T5a in formation with a Percival Provost T1

ex-RAF BAC Jet Provost T5 lands at RAF Fairford, England, in 2008

Operational Jet Provost T3 of No.6 Flying Training School, RAF, in 1967

Jet Provost T52 of the Iraq Air Force at the Farnborough Air Show in 1964

Operational Jet Provost T.5 of No.6 Flying Training School in 1977

Jet Provost training frame with cutaway sections at RAF Cosford, 2004

XW294 at the Everett Community College. Paine Field, WA

ex-RAF Jet Provost T3a on display at Kemble Air Day 2008, England

A BAC Jet Provost at Front Range Airport, Colorado, 2006

Underside of a preserved BAC Jet Provost in period RAF markings, 2013

ex-RAF BAC Jet Provost T3A in private ownership

XW312 Jet Provost, Located at the Everett Community College. Paine Field, Washington

Open cockpit and nose cone of a Jet Provost

In May 1955, three of the pre-production aircraft were assigned for the first stage of service trials with the Central Flying School (CFS) of the RAF to determine the value of the Jet Provost in the ab initio training role and to develop a syllabus for the training program.

College Hall at Royal Air Force College Cranwell

RAF Cranwell

Royal Air Force station in Lincolnshire, England, close to the village of Cranwell, near Sleaford.

An Embraer Phenom 100, operated by No. 45 Squadron's based at RAF Cranwell

Central Flying School

Upavon

Rural village and civil parish in the county of Wiltshire, England.

The site was originally constructed around 1912 as a Royal Flying Corps (RFC) base, and became the home of the RFC Central Flying School on 19 June 1912, later to be the RAF Central Flying School upon formation of the Royal Air Force.

A Canadian aeroplane flight instructor (left) and her student, next to a Cessna 172 with which they have just completed a lesson.

Flight training

Course of study used when learning to pilot an aircraft.

Level D simulator used for Type Conversions

The oldest flight training school still in existence is the Royal Air Force's (RAF's) Central Flying School formed in May 1912 at Upavon, United Kingdom.

Hugh Trenchard, 1st Viscount Trenchard

British officer who was instrumental in establishing the Royal Air Force.

After winning the Freshman and Novices' Cups for 1901

The Central Flying School staff at Upavon in January 1913. Trenchard is in the front row, shown third from the right.

Trenchard at the Flying Corps' general headquarters, May 1917, by William Orpen

Trenchard as Chief of the Air Staff in June 1919

Trenchard as a Marshal of the RAF wearing full dress with greatcoat

Trenchard as Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police

Trenchard with 12 Squadron personnel in France during April 1940.

Trenchard speaking informally with Sir Arthur Tedder during the Second World War.

A meeting, less than a month before the Normandy landings, of (from left to right) Brigadier General Richard C. Sanders, CG of the 100th Fighter Wing; Major General Ralph Royce, then Deputy Chief of Staff for the Ninth Air Force; Lord Trenchard, Marshal of the Royal Air Force; Brigadier General Otto P. Weyland, CG of the XIX TAC.

Trenchard's funeral in Westminster Abbey in 1956.

He was subsequently appointed as second in command of the Central Flying School.

A restored Sycamore flying during RIAT 2019.

Bristol Sycamore

Early helicopter developed and built by the helicopter division of the Bristol Aeroplane Company.

A sectioned Sycamore main gearbox, displayed in the Deutsches Museum, Munich, Germany

A West German air force Sycamore Mk.14 at the 1958 Farnborough Air Show

Sycamore of 103 Squadron RAF in Cyprus, 1961

British European Airways Bristol 171 Mk 3A at London Gatwick on the scheduled passenger service from Birmingham in 1955

Bristol 171 Sycamore in Royal Australian Navy service around 1960 taking off from the flight deck of HMAS Melbourne.

Sycamore HR.14 of the Royal Air Force Central Flying School (1977)

A German Sycamore on display at Hubschraubermuseum Bückeburg in 2010

Bristol Sycamore (OE-XSY) of the Flying Bulls departs the 2018 RIAT, England. Built 1957.

The type was used by the Royal Air Force Central Flying School for pilot training purposes.

RAF Scampton

Royal Air Force station located adjacent to the A15 road near to the village of Scampton, Lincolnshire, and 6 mi north west of the city, Lincoln, England.

An 83 Squadron Handley Page Hampden and crew, pictured at Scampton, October 1940

One of a series of iconic images of the members of 617 Squadron taken at RAF Scampton on 22 July 1943, and featuring (left to right) Wing Commander Guy Gibson; Pilot Officer P.M. Spafford; Flight Lieutenant R. E. G. Hutchinson; Pilot Officer G. A. Deering and Flying Officer H. T. Taerum.

A B-29 of the 28th Bombardment Group, 718th Bombardment Squadron at RAF Scampton

Aerial view of RAF Scampton, March 2016. The developments undertaken at the station during the Cold War are evident, including the alteration to the course of the A15 (Ermine Street).

Avro 698 Vulcan B.2 XH534 of 230 Operational Conversion Unit

Hawks of the Red Arrows pictured on the flight line at RAF Scampton

RAF Scampton: The Home of the Red Arrows

Wing Commander. Roderick Alastair Brook Learoyd VC

Operation Chastise (the Dambusters' Raid) 16–17 May 1943 MH6673

Lancaster R5868 during its tenure as gate guardian at RAF Scampton

Avro Lancaster Just Jane, former gate guardian at RAF Scampton, now the focal point of the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre

With disbandment of No. 230 Operational Conversion Unit and the cessation of No. 617 Squadron's Vulcan operations in 1981, followed by the cessation of Vulcan flying at Scampton by No. 27 Squadron and No. 35 Squadron in 1982, Scampton was transferred to RAF Support Command and became home to the Central Flying School (CFS) in 1983.