‘We were all briefed at 1200 hrs, to coincide with the announcement in the House Of Commons by Des Browne, the Secretary of State for Defence.

The whole thing had leaked out, or been drip-fed over many months, so it came as no surprise to be told the Preferred Bidder was from the Metrix Consortium, who would build a new Defence Training Academy at the former RAF St Athan Site, so displacing Cosford.

Having said this, about the expected announcement, a gloom descended over the assembled audience of civilian and service personnel receiving the briefing. RAF Cosford (now called properly the Defence College Of Aeronautical Engineering) first opened on 15 July 1938, when an ‘Opening Up’ party, commanded by Sqn Ldr A C Francis AFC, arrived from RAF Halton. Equipment packed into trains, lorries and private furniture vans flooded in at the same time.

The contractors were still far from finished. Irish painters and labourers were dashing around like flies in and on the roofs of the Cosford buildings and, it was said, one had to keep on the move to avoid getting painted too. The windows were not fitted, the éclair doors of the large workshops had still to be fitted.

Because the Cosford Halt railway Station was not yet complete, practically everything that came with the ‘Opening Up’ party was manhandled off the lorries that came by road from Halton. All the trains stopped at Albrighton where an unloading party transferred equipment that came by rail to lorries for the short trip to Cosford. Strangely, it was said, the locals at the time were most apprehensive about the influx of servicemen and what it would mean for the community. Contrast this to the great sadness now felt about the demise of RAF Cosford!

The first Commanding Officer, Group Captain W J Y Guilfoyle OBE MC, arrived on 2 July 1938. Training commenced at No 2 School of Technical Training on 4 August. At this time, contractors were sleeping where they could, including in culverts and workshops. Trees, which there were many, were being removed from the ground by dynamite and it was reported the Station Commander rushed out of the wooden SHQ building when he heard an outside explosion, thinking his Station was under attack!

The next big milestone was on the 15 May 1950, when an advance party of 2 officers, 18 NCOs and the first Boy Entrants (65) arrived from RAF Locking. This was quickly followed by other boys, which brought the total strength of 1 Wing to 806 boys. The first entry at Cosford was the 10th Entry.

The last Boy Entrant Entry to leave RAF Cosford was the 51st in July 1965, just 140 of them! RAF Cosford saw just over 13,000 Boy Entrants go through the gates.

It is expected that relocation of training to St Athan will take place during the Summer of 2010-12. The School of Physical Training could possibly move to a RAF Station, although it is expected that Joint School Of Photography will also move to St Athan. It is thought some token training will be created at Cosford, which could be
industry based, but another view prevails.

It is all very sad, gloomy and depressing news for all of us who proudly did our training at RAF Cosford. However, on a more cheery note, provisional plans are already in place to ensure we get our 50th Anniversary of joining (26th May, 2010) the RAF Boy Entrants 40th Entry in the Cosford area, with a final visit (and Parade) to the Site before, as we suspect, Army Units move in from Germany to make it a so-called super Garrison.

Leaving work today, when coming out of my building, which is built adjacent to Fulton Block. I purposely looked back at Fulton Block and it had a real look of dejection about it. It was then I got into my car, parked on what was once the Parade Square, and was compelled to drive down the length of the Square and back again. It just seemed for a moment I saw the old Boy Entrants marching in review order towards me with their heads bowed and SD hats under their arms. Finally, the large black crows, that normally hop and skip happily around the edges of the square, said by some old locals to be returning Boy Entrants, seemed sullen and were gathering in small groups around the old saluting rostrum area..........

R.I.P RAF Cosford

Dave Stinson
40th

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