Training
Figure 1: Leading Aircraftman Ernie Hulstone of the RAF Regiment washes his feet in a biscuit tin while other members of his squadron man a 40mm Bofors anti-aircraft gun © IWM (CL 406) . Unconfirmed, but based on the uncommon name, probably a railway worker from Stockport, Cheshire, born 1920 died in 2005.
The Air Ministry Order of 1942 details the function, organisation and constitution of the Regiment. The Regiment selected men from the those registering for the RAF, but gave initial training similar to that of an infantry soldier, before more specialist instruction (The Times, January 12, 1942). Of the 273 RAF Regiment Squadrons 2700 - 2972 formed around the world in WW2, 43 passed through the Depot. There were depots elsewhere such as that established at Secunderabad, India.
Permanent Staff
In June 1944 as an example, permanent staff consisted of 92 officers and 1,088 other ranks, including 200 WAAF. Based on Air Ministry August 1945 release arrangements for ground staff, the RAF Regiment employed among others, women medical and dental officers and both married and single WAAF accountants and meteorologists. Seventy-five years on, women are to be allowed to serve in the ground close combat roles in the RAF Regiment for the first time from September 2017.
Instruction
Courses for the June 1944, 940 trainee personnel took place for the following 'lodger units' as they were called,
RAF Regiment Instructors (refresher)
RAF Regiment Instructors
RAF Regiment Warrant Officers
Recruit Centre Instructors
Weapons Training Instructors
RAF Regiment Officer Corps Training Unit
Three anti-aircraft Squadrons
Allied Expeditionary Air Force ( AEAF, a tactical air arm for the invasion of Europe composed of the RAF & USAF to bomb German forward positions, air fields and transport)
How big was a squadron? One example attending the depot was No.2849 Anti-Aircraft squadron and comprised 6 officers and 188 other ranks.
No. 2871 to 2874 Squadrons were specifically formed at the Depot and equipped with vehicle mounted Browning machine guns, to combat the Luftwaffe's 'tip and run' raids. These often deadly raids were random, sporadic strafing and bombing attacks done without apparent strategic intent. According to interrogated prisoners, done purely for fun.
Recruit Activities
Clearly, Anti-Aircraft squadrons went elsewhere for practice firing, like Gibraltar Point and RAF Hunmanby, but even without written records we can surmise what practical activities went on at the Depot based on post-war ordnance clearance and newspaper reports.
Figure 2: Winston Churchill takes aim with a Sten gun during a visit to the Royal Artillery experimental station at Shoeburyness in Essex, 13 June 1941.)
Aircraft recognition
Recruits would have used the cinema for aircraft recognition training using the "WEFT system", identification of silhouettes from their wings, engines, fuselage and tail.
Small Weapons Training
The Depot had two miniature ranges, 230 & 231 on the 1944 map used for small bore, .22 rifle training. The larger of these was 37 yards long, 10 yards more than the minimum range for a rifle of this calibre.
As late as 1951, the Bomb Disposal Squad were clearing 9mm ammunition picked up by children, some from by the footbridge over Witham Brook. The Regiment would have used this calibre bullet in the Sten, Thompson or later Sterling sub-machine guns for close-quarters combat. The 200 yard ranges at the Depot would cope with training on these weapons. It seems unlikely that the troops trained with another weapon that used 9 mm ammo, the Welrod Bolt-Action Silenced Pistol intended as an assassin's weapon!
Arthur Batten (oral history, reel 5) provides a detailed description of RAF Regiment training in 1942 on infantry weapons while training at Douglas, Isle of Man.
Figure 3: The Projector, Infantry, Anti Tank (PIAT) Mk I was a 1942, British man-portable anti-tank weapon developed during WWII.
The PIAT had an effective direct fire range of approximately 115 yards (110 m) and a maximum indirect fire range of 350 yards (320 m), easily contained within the 750-yard Peascliffe range. Lord Brownlow owned the Peascliffe land and had leased it on a 7-year term renewable from 1937 to the Lincolnshire Territorial Army and Air Force Association for a rent of £100 ( £36,200 in 2016), £50 deemed rent and £50 deemed compensation for disturbance and damage to sporting rights (game shooting). The Armoury ( anti-tank gun repair workshop) is building 118 on the 1944 map.
A working party in 1948 collected in the following ordnance from the site,
2" mortar bombs (smoke) (the nearest mortar ranges were at Lincoln & Melton Mowbray)
PIAT shells
Dummy grenades
.303 rounds
white phosphorous grenades (used as an anti-tank weapon, could be thrown or fired from Northover projectors)
British booby traps
Bayonet
Figure 4: WWII booby trap
From this we can deduce the aircraftmen trained with the Lee-Enfield rifle, mortars, grenade throwing, bayonet practice and booby traps (Field training manuals likely used at the Depot).
Somewhere on the site was a battle obstacle course. Former Aircraftman Kenneth Thorndale recalls having to clamber over a rope bridge over a pond or lake. The nearest such site would have been Villa Pond within Belton Park. We know that Lord Brownlow allowed use of Belton Park for WW2 military use, and so this could have been the site for the assault course. The National Trust owned Villa Pond is now entombed within Belton park golf course and rarely visited. No site survey has taken place.
Belton Park Golf Course has yielded 9mm rounds, a smoke mortar fin, WWII bayonet and hang grenade plug. All confirming use of Belton Park itself for training (figure 5).
Figure 5 a selection of WW1 & WW2 items retrieved from the grounds of Belton Park Golf Club.
Figure 6 Barkston Heath airfield 1944 (USAAF), north to the right. The route from the Depot enters the airfield from its top left. The village to the right is Ancaster. The airfield cuts off the original road from Belton to Ancaster. It is still an active RAF airfield with much original WW2 groundwork intact. A public right of way along its west perimeter permits inspection.
The Depot redeployed to RAF Barkston Heath airfield as 2 RAF Regiment Sub-Depot from September 1945 to July 1946 (figure 6). Other units there were 7 Equipment Disposal Depot, formed at Barkston Heath June 1945; became 256 Maintenance Unit, June 1945; disbanded December 1948.
RAF Barkston Heath was designed as a heavy bomber station. However the USAAF moved in instead (USAAF Station 483) and the airfield became home to a variety of troop carrying units, taking part in the parachute drops supporting both D-Day and the ill-fated Arnhem operation.
What did the troops do when not training? Some idea is provided via a series of news-clippings from the Grantham Journal detailing the interaction of the Regiment with the local community during their time at Belton. What did Grantham look like to the recruits uring wartime. This colour film from August 1939 shows the Great North Road starting in London and passing through Grantham at 8:03 (Paten L. 1939).
Figure 6 RAF Barkston Heath 2018, SW corner showing WW2 spectacle loops & one frying pan dispersal areas. MOM or WOW is an unusual example of satellite gaffiti! The hexagonal bases are launch sites for the Bristol Bloodhound, a British ramjet powered surface-to-air missile developed during the 1950s. Designed to protect Vulcan Bomber airfields aganst nuclear armed enemy bombers.
RAF Regiment Amphibious Training 1943
This video gives some idea of the vehicles and weapons used in this training.
Number 4 RAF Regiment Depot used RAF North Witham from October 1945 to January 1946 for returning Regimental personnel from overseas. It also hosted new recruits and training courses. This airfield particpated in the D-Day landings.
Aerial photograph of North Witham airfield looking south, the technical site and barrack sites are at the top left, the bomb dump is bottom left, 17 January 1947. Photograph taken by No. 58 Squadron, sortie number RAF/CPE/UK/1932.