Nice to see Angus Ross today and Parvindar Batth who between them unveiled the new RAF training Command memorial on Shinfield Park, I was kindly invited by Doreen Couzens, the resident who was instrumental in getting the memorial moved from the ground to a plinth thanks also to David Wilson Homes who built the lovely plinth and refurbished the plaque.
I was asked for some more details on Shinfild Park RAF station
From what I can find out it was the HQ of Raf Flying Training command from 17/5/40 to 1/6/68 when it was reabsorbed into Training Command. From 1940 to 1945 it was also HQ of RAF Technical Training command.
Former Commanding Officers of Flight Training Command: include Air Marshal Sir Lawrence Pattinson, 1940-1, Air Marshal Sir Philip Babington, 1942-45, Air Marshal Sir Arthur Coningham, 1945-47 and Air Marshal Sir Lawrence Pendred, 1952-55.
One famous staff officer in Training Command from 1940-41 was Group Captain Prince George, Duke of Kent.
On 25 August 1942, George and 14 others took off in a RAF Short Sunderland flying boat W4026 from Invergordon, Ross and Cromarty, to fly to Iceland on non-operational duties. The aircraft crashed on Eagle's Rock, a hillside near Dunbeath, Caithness, Scotland. George and all but one of those on board were killed. He was 39 years old
His death in RAF service marked the first time in more than 450 years that a member of the royal family died on active service since the death of James IV of Scotland at the Battle of Flodden in 1513. The prince's body was transferred initially to St George's Chapel, Windsor, and he was buried in the Royal Burial Ground, Frogmore, directly behind Queen Victoria's mausoleum.
RAF housing can still be found off Whitley Wood Lane.
Pauline
