RAF Cranage

RAF Cranage was a Royal Air Force station in Cheshire, on the Cheshire Plain near Middlewich and the village of Byley. It opened in 1940 with grass landing surfaces and, despite lying in a region better known for its training role, it began life with a defensive function during the night Blitz on the industrial North West.

In its early period the station sat within No. 9 Group, Fighter Command, providing night air defence over Merseyside and the Liverpool docks. No. 96 Squadron formed here and flew Hawker Hurricanes and Boulton Paul Defiants, while a detachment of the Polish-manned No. 307 Squadron also operated Defiants from the field. From 1940 the airfield’s main purpose shifted to training: No. 2 School of Air Navigation flew Avro Ansons, later succeeded by the Central Navigation School using Ansons and Wellingtons, and a Beam Approach Training flight operated Airspeed Oxfords. Several pilot advanced flying units and a USAAF liaison detachment also passed through.

Flying continued after the war on a reduced basis before the station was wound down in the mid-1950s. Much of the former airfield has since reverted to farmland and industrial use, with the M6 motorway crossing part of the site and an underground gas-storage facility later developed nearby.