The RAF Station That Was Close to Queen Elizabeth II’s Heart
In 1989, RAF Benson marked its 50th anniversary with a visit from Queen Elizabeth II. The Monarch recognised the service the station and its staff had given over the previous five decades by presenting the Colour to the Royal Auxiliary Air Force.
The Royal Family had more reason than most to appreciate the efforts of the personnel at Benson. It was the home of the Queen’s Flight—and, prior to her accession in 1952, the King’s Flight—making it a location where many royal journeys across the globe began and ended.
RAF Benson badge
Today, the station’s primary focus is as a helicopter base, which is crucial for training to ensure aircrews are ready for deployment at home and abroad.
It was seven months before the start of WWII when the station opened at a site just east of Wallingford in Oxfordshire. Among its first arrivals were Nos. 103 and 150 Squadrons, operating Fairey Battle bombers.
Soon after the outbreak of war, the two squadrons departed for France, flying out to Challerange as part of the Advanced Air Striking Force. The King’s Flight relocated to Benson following their exit, operating aircraft for British royalty from the Oxfordshire site until the mid-1990s.
During the Second World War, the station was utilised for aircrew training as No. 12 Operational Training Unit (OTU), with pilots and gunners operating a range of aircraft, including Avro Ansons and Vickers Wellingtons.
In December 1940, the Photographic Reconnaissance Unit (PRU) moved to the station from Heston. It tested and developed methods using converted Spitfires, amongst other aircraft, to photograph sites across Germany and occupied Europe. One major success of the unit was discovering the location of V1 and V2 weapons facilities in the Netherlands.
The development of the thousands of photographs taken by No. 1 PRU was undertaken by a team based at locations near Benson. The workload increased as the war progressed, to the extent that the PRU was expanded into five separate squadrons—Nos. 540 to 544—flying Spitfires and Mosquitos.
Amongst the sites photographed during WWII were the battleship Tirpitz ahead of its sinking by Lancaster bombers, and the Möhne, Eder, and Sorpe dams following the Dambusters raid.
An aerial camera being loaded on to a Spitfire at RAF Benson WWII
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Post-war, the PRU was retained at Benson. This time, much of the work was of a more routine nature, photographing the British countryside for the creation of Ordnance maps. The King’s Flight became the Queen’s Flight in 1952 following the death of George VI and the accession of Queen Elizabeth II, remaining at Benson until 1995 when it moved to RAF Northolt.
The major change for the station came in the same year as the Coronation. The year 1953 saw Benson transferred to Transport Command, with Nos. 147 and 167 Squadrons creating the Ferry Wing, which handled the worldwide movement of aircraft within the RAF.
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The Ferry Wing was retained at Benson until 1960. The station then became home to the RAF’s medium-range tactical transport force, operating the Armstrong Whitworth Argosy. The first arrived in November 1961 when the Argosy Operational Conversion Unit (OCU) was formed, and No. 105 Squadron later became the first front-line Argosy unit.
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Two of the station’s Argosy units had departed by the end of 1963 on overseas duties. They were replaced by Nos. 114 and 267 Squadrons, who continued to operate from the station under Transport Command until the early 1970s, when the departure of the Argosys ended Benson’s front-line role with Transport Command.
For several years, the station focused primarily on its role as the home of the Queen’s Flight. The location was used for the repatriation of the Duke of Windsor from France aboard a VC10 on 31 May 1972, following his death at the age of 77. He had abdicated as King Edward VIII in December 1936 over his decision to marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson.
The site’s role expanded in the 1970s to become the HQ for No. 38 Group (RAF Support Command), which transferred from Odiham, and the home of the Tactical Communications Wing (TCW).
The rehoming of support units at Benson continued through the 1970s and 1980s with the arrival of Support Command Signals and the Radio Introduction Unit. Flying activity increased in the early 1980s when the Hawker Siddeley Andovers operated by No. 115 Squadron relocated from Brize Norton; the Andovers were used by No. 115 Squadron in a radio and navigation-aid role.
The arrival of helicopters at the station began in the early 1990s. No. 60 Squadron reformed at the site in 1992 operating Westland Wessexes, and 1993 saw the HQ for the Support Helicopter Force relocate from Gütersloh in Germany.
In 1997, the Westland Puma HC1s of No. 33 Squadron transferred from Odiham, with the Puma Operational Conversion Flight arriving shortly after. In 2001, No. 28 Squadron reformed at the station, operating the new AgustaWestland Merlin HC3.
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The arrival of the Merlin triggered a major investment programme, with the refurbishment of existing hangars coinciding with further investment at the station, appearing to secure Benson’s future. However, a review in the late 2000s indicated that one of the Joint Helicopter Command’s (JHC) airfields could be closed—a move that was thankfully abandoned in 2009. Benson then became the home of the Puma force, with No. 230 Squadron relocating from Aldergrove.
Runway at RAF Benson
Despite the Merlin force at the station eventually being transferred to Royal Navy control—with No. 28 Squadron being the last to operate the aircraft—the unit was immediately reformed as No. 28 Squadron (Reserve). It took responsibility for training aircrews on Pumas and Chinooks, with the first of the twin-rotor helicopters arriving from Odiham in October 2015.
Today, the station is home to a number of helicopter squadrons, including No. 33, which forms part of the RAF’s Support Helicopter Force; No. 28, which still operates as the Boeing Chinook HC6A OCU; and No. 22, the Operational Evaluation Unit for all helicopter types within Joint Aviation Command.
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