Royal Flying Corps & Royal Air Force

Wiltshire and the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) & Royal Air Force (RAF)

Wiltshire played a key role in the early days of powered flight. Early experiments on flying at Larkhill around 1908/9 saw the opening of a flying school there in 1910. On 13 May 1912, The Royal Flying Corps (RFC) was formed, with both naval and military wings plus a Central Flying School at Upavon on Salisbury Plain.

The Royal Air Force (RAF) was formed on 1 April 1918 through the amalgamation of the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS). Many Wiltshire men served in either the RFC or RNAS (and subsequently served in the RAF) during the First World War. By 1918, there were 9 flying training establishments in Wiltshire, but the end of the First World War saw a scaling back of numbers of aircraft and supporting Wiltshire locations and employment.

The inter-war years did see a revival in flying in general, and also from a military point of view. For example, in 1930, Boscombe Down re-opened as a bomber station. During the Second World War, no less than 35 airfields across the county of Wiltshire were being used on a regular basis and there were several more temporary and training airfields. Also, from late 1940, Salisbury and Trowbridge were two of the sites in Southern England which manufactured, assembled and flight-tested the iconic Spitfire fighter aeroplane.

The high level of activity associated with flying in Wiltshire will have encouraged many people to get involved with the RAF in a variety of roles, whether flying or ground crew. Various parish pages on this website contain more information and photographs about flying in the county. For example, see the Durrington webpage.

One unit of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force has been named after the county of Wiltshire. In 1983, No. 4626 (County of Wiltshire) Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron was formed, based at RAF Wroughton. With successive closures of RAF bases in Wiltshire, the squadron moved to RAF Hullavington in 1986, then to RAF Lyneham in 1995 and finally to RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire in 2012 where it continues to be based. 4626 Squadron provides additional air evacuation (patient care pathway) services for military and civilian personnel from many front-line locations around the world and is the only Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron in the Auxiliary Air Force.

4626 (County of Wiltshire) Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron

Information related to Wiltshire and the RFC & RAF

The following documents have been transcribed and contributed by our members:

We currently do not have any transcribed documents related to Wiltshire and the RFC & RAF. Please let us know if you would like to submit any historical information or interesting personal articles about the RFC/RAF and Wiltshire.

RFC & RAF – Memorials

As of June 2025, the WOPC had identified over 1,100 personnel associated with Wiltshire who served and fell whilst serving in the Royal Flying Corps, Royal Naval Air Service, Royal Air Force, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, Women’s Auxiliary Air Force, Women’s Royal Air Force or Commonwealth air forces, mostly during the First and Second World Wars. It is an ongoing project to identify the units/squadrons in which they served. These casualties are included in the We Will Remember Them listing described in the Remembrance section.

The Air Forces Memorial at Runnymede, Surrey, which is managed and maintained by The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC), commemorates by name over 20,000 men and women of the air forces, who were lost in the Second World War during operations from bases in the United Kingdom and North and Western Europe, and who have no known graves. The WOPC has thus far identified over 90 Wiltshire men who are remembered on this memorial.

The CWGC website provides information about the location and background of the Runneymede memorial together with details of all those commemorated.

Runnymede Memorial | Cemetery Details | CWGC

The remaining Wiltshire air force personnel we have identified, who lost their lives in service, are buried in cemeteries in the United Kingdom, or buried or remembered on memorials in one of many countries around the world.

Images we have received of a grave or memorial, of the air force personnel associated with Wiltshire, may be found via the Military Gallery link on the relevant parish page on the website.

RFC & RAF – Gallery

The link below holds images, provided by members, which refer generally to Wiltshire and the RFC and RAF. These include any county-wide Wiltshire-related air force memorials, historical photographs, postcards and other artefacts.

Royal Flying Corps & Royal Air Force Gallery

RFC & RAF – Useful Links

Wiltshire and the RFC & RAF – Related Books

These are books that the WOPC has found useful in researching information about the air force in Wiltshire.