RAF Cosford

 military airbase, museum, military, engineering, aerospace industry

RAF Cosford (previously DCAE Cosford (Defence College of Aeronautical Engineering Cosford) (IATA: N/A, ICAO: EGWC) is a Royal Air Force station in Cosford, Shropshire, just to the northwest of Wolverhampton and next to Albrighton.

Order of battle

Defence College of Aeronautical Engineering Cosford (HQ DCAE)
--- Aerosystems Training Wing
---- Military Training Wing

Lodger Units

-- No 1 Radio School (Part of the Defence College of Communication and Information Systems (DCCIS).
-- Defence School of Photography (Part of the Defence Intelligence and Security Centre (DISC)).
-- RAF School of Physical Training.
-- HQ Wales and Western Region Air Training Corps.
-- Headquarters West Mercia West Wing Air Training Corps.
-- The RAF Museum Cosford.
-- University of Birmingham Air Squadron
-- No 8 Air Experience Flight,
-- No 633 Volunteer Gliding Squadron
-- 2497 Squadron (Air Training Corps)

History
RAF Cosford opened in 1938 as a joint aircraft maintenance, storage and technical training unit. It has remained mainly a training unit to this day. The Fulton Mess barrack block was constructed just before WW2 as the largest single building barrack block in the UK. It is now used for technical training.

A substantial PMRAFNS hospital was established at RAF Cosford, the most westerly such RAF hospital in the UK. Constructed of wooden spurred hutting the hospital closed in 1976 and was demolished in 1980. For the three summers between 1977 and 1979 the empty hospital formed the venue for annual training camps for the Royal Observer Corps, with wards and theatres converted into barrack accommodation and training rooms.

The extensive sports facilities at Cosford, based around a banked indoor running track, became well known nationally through televised annual indoor championships that featured top athletes from all over the world.

Cosford today
Schools currently stationed there include: No. 1 School of Technical Training, No 1 Radio School, the Defence School of Photography and the RAF School of Physical Training. Flying units include the University of Birmingham Air Squadron, No 8 Air Experience Flight and No 633 Volunteer Gliding Squadron. The Wales and West regional headquarters and West Mercian Wing headquarters of the Air Training Corps are based there.

Cosford became part of the Defence College of Aeronautical Engineering (DCAE), which was formed on 1 April 2004. Other units located at Cosford include elements of the Defence College of Communications and Information Systems (DCCIS), the Defence School of Photography (DSOP) and the RAF School of Physical Training.

Aerospace museum
There is also the Aerospace Museum at the site, which is a branch of the Royal Air Force Museum. Amongst the large collection of military aircraft is a unique collection of research and development aircraft, including one of two existing examples of the TSR2, a multi-role combat aircraft, controversially scrapped by the Wilson Government and still a point of discussion within the RAF. There are also collections of missiles and airliners.

The Cold War Exhibition opened in early 2007 by former prime minister Baroness Margaret Thatcher and HRH Princess Anne. Exhibits include the only collection of three V bombers (Valiant, Victor and Vulcan) in the same place in the world.

Future plans
Following the UK Government's 2001 Defence Training Review (DTR), the Ministry of Defence proposed handing over armed forces skills training to a private sector bidder for a 25-year term, and it was announced on 17 Jan 2007 that the Metrix consortium had been awarded Preferred Bidder status for Package 1 of this programme. As a consequence, it is anticipated that all technical training will move from Cosford to Metrix's main campus to be built on the RAF St Athan site over a 5-year period from 2008.

On 31 January 2008, the Government announced that when 1 Signal Brigade and 102 Logistics Brigade withdraw from Germany they will move to Cosford. It was also noted that Metrix propose to establish a Learning Centre and Design facility at the Cosford site.