Halton Park was part of the Rothschild Estate, near Wendover, Buckinghamshire. It was first used by the Army for summer manoeuvres in September 1913.

The School of Technical Training (Men) was set up at Halton Camp on 10th. September 1917 as part of the Royal Flying Corps (RFC), this had previously been located at Coley Park, Reading.

Halton became an RAF Airfield at the birth of the Royal Air Force on 1st April 1918

After demobilisation it was decide that the Royal Air Force would keep a training centre at Halton and on 9th. October 1919 the School of Technical Training(Boys) was formed, although it was not called this until 23rd December 1919.

Under the original offer from Alfred Rothschild the services would have to vacate the facilities within six months of the end of hostilities. On 31st January 1918, Alfred died and was succeeded by Major Lionel Nathan de Rothschild who agreed to sell the estate to the Air Ministry, who took over Halton House on 29th September 1919.

Temporary Bessoneaux Hangars were erected on the airfield before commencing the erection of permanent hangars in 1924. These were two “F Type Sheds,” as they were known and were Admiralty Seaplane Hangars, not needed for their original use. These two Hangars, now known as Hangar 2 and 3 remain to date (2024) and are occupied by three RAF Flying Clubs, Hangar 2 by the RAF Gliding and Soaring Association (Chilterns Gliding Club) and Hangar 3 by Halton Aeroplane Club( whose origins date back to 1925) and Halton Microlight Club. Similar Hangars survive at Calshot (base of the Schneider Trophy Teams) and Plymouth.

The first entries to the Technical School were accepted and trained at RAF Cranwell, with the 5th entry arriving at Halton in January 1922.

This was essentially the vision of Trenchard, that well educated boys would be recruited and go on to form 40% of the groundcrew for the RAF and 60% of it`s skilled tradesmen.

Halton Aeroplane Club designed and built an aeroplane, the HAC 1″Mayfly”, biplane powered by a 32 hp Bristol Cherub, it first flew on 1st February 1927 at Bicester.

Originally  designed for air racing, the performance was not as hoped for and it was re-designed as a Parasol Monoplane and renamed the HAC 2 “Minus.” A futher design for the HAC 3 “Meteor” but was never built. Flying Officer C.H. Latimer-Needham was the driving force behind these designs and later went on to form the Luton Aeroplane Company designing and building the Luton Minor, several of which are still airworthy.

A full size replica of the HAC 1 “Mayfly” has been built and can be seen at the Trenchard Museum.This museum (on the main camp site at RAF Halton) has a detailed history of  the station and in particular of the Apprentice Scheme.

The airfield and associated workshops became the hub of the facility to train apprentices and over the years huge numbers of aircraft (see listing below) have been brought in to provide training, many having flown in. This has remarkably included huge aeroplanes landing on Halton`s relatively small grass airfield, including three Vulcan Bombers and two de Havilland Comets.

Apprentice training ceased in 1993

A detailed history is available in “Halton and the Apprentice Scheme” by Bill Taylor.

Altogether a remarkably proud history as possibly one of the oldest RAF Airfields in continuous use to date (as of 2024)

Dave Scott

Historical Listing of Military Aircraft at RAF Halton Associated with the Apprentice Training Scheme

Those listed are all primarily connected with the Apprentice School that survived until 1993, but includes some types from the very early days of Halton.

There are some very rare types and some of the largest aeroplanes to land on Halton`s grass airfield including three Avro Vulcans and two de Havilland Comets.

Known types are listed in alphabetical order with (H) denoting helicopter and does include a few more recent arrivals :-

AIRCO DH9A, Armstrong Whitworth Argosy, Siskin, Airspeed Oxford, Auster, Avro 504, 621 Andover, Anson, Lancaster, Lincoln, Manchester, Rotor (Autogiro), Tutor, Vulcan, BAC Jaguar, Beagle 206, Bleriot X1, Boeing B17, Boulton Paul Balliol, Bristol Beaufighter, Blenheim, Bulldog, F.2 Fighter, Cierva Autogiro, de Havilland DH53 Humming Bird, DH87B Hornet Moth, DH89 Dominie, DH98 Mosquito, DH100 Vampire, DH103 Hornet, DH106 Comet, DH110 Sea Vixen, DH112 Venom, English Electric Canberra, P1, Fairey 111, Battle, Gordon,Long Range Monoplane (Napier), Folland Gnat, Gloster Gamecock, Grebe, Javelin, Meteor, Gotha (WW1 German Bomber),  Handley Page Halifax, Hereford, Harvard, Hawker Harrier, Hart, Hurricane,Typhoon, P1052, Hunter, Sea Hawk, Henry Farman F20, Hunting Percival Provost, Jet Provost.

Maurice Farman Longhorn, McDonnel Douglas Phantom,Messerschmidt Me 163, Miles Magister, N. A. Mustang, Panavia Tornado, Percival Prentice, Proctor, Sea Prince, R.A.F. BE2, BE2a, BE2c, BE3, BE4, FE2b, RE8, SE5, Scottish Aviation Twin Pioneer, Short Mussel, Sopwith Dolphin, Snipe,  Vickers Valetta, Vildebeest, Vincent, Vickers Supermarine 510,  Spitfire, Swift, Walrus, Westland Wallace, Wapiti.

Picture in the workshops is a real rarity, a WW1 German Gotha (courtesy of Francis Hanford, Curator of the Trenchard Museum at RAF Halton)

Click on the image to see a larger version.

Map showing RAF Halton Boundaries and the airfield marked with a red boundary. Click on the image to see a larger version in PDF format. Close the window to return to here.

Map from the Trenchard Museum courtesy Francis Hanford. Click on the image to see a larger version. Date unknown but possibly 1920 – 1930.

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