RAF Tilshead

51.2318, -1.9703 — view on OpenStreetMap ↗

About

RAF Tilshead was a grass airfield on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, in use from 1925. During the war it was an army-cooperation station — the Westland Lysanders of Nos. 16 and 225 Squadrons flew reconnaissance from it — and it provided early flying training for the Glider Pilot Regiment. Flying ended during the war and the land was absorbed into the Salisbury Plain training area, where nothing of the airfield now remains.

Sources: This page was compiled from publicly available historical sources, including RAF Tilshead — Wikipedia and Tilshead — Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust. The text is original and has been written from factual source material; no source text has been copied unless specifically quoted and attributed.

Photographs

No. 22 (army Co-operation) Group, Royal Air Force, June-november 1940. Groundcrew pack a parachute into a supply dropper before fitting it to the stub winglets of a Westland Lysander Mark II of No. 225 Squadron RAF at Tilshead, Wiltshire.
ⓘ licence & creditStanley Devon / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Westland_Lysander_-_Tilshead_-_No._22_(army_Co-operation)_Group,_Royal_Air_Force,_June-november_1940._CH1315.jpgView source & full licence →
No. 22 (army Co-operation) Group, Royal Air Force, June-november 1940. Westland Lysander Mark II, R1999 'LX-P', of No. 225 Squadron RAF, undergoing maintenance at Tilshead, Wiltshire. Note the single Lewis Mark III machine gun on its Fairey mounting in the rear cockpit.
ⓘ licence & creditStanley Devon / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Westland_Lysander_-_Tilshead_-_No._22_(army_Co-operation)_Group,_Royal_Air_Force,_June-november_1940._CH1190.jpgView source & full licence →
No. 22 (army Co-operation) Group, Royal Air Force, June-november 1940. Westland Lysander Mark II, R2007 'LX-U', of No. 225 Squadron RAF deploys its ventral message hook for an in-flight pick-up during a training flight at Tilshead, Wiltshire. R2007 subsequently flew with a number of units, including Nos. 13 and 2 Squadrons RAF, No. 7 Anti-aircraft Cooperation Unit, No. 239 Squadron RAF, and in the Far East with both Nos. 1 and 2 Squadrons of the Indian Air Force. The aircraft was finally written off after a heavy landing at Risalpur on 16 March 1943, while serving with No, 151 (Fighter) Operational Training Unit.
ⓘ licence & creditStanley Devon / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Westland_Lysander_-_No._22_(army_Co-operation)_Group,_Royal_Air_Force,_June-november_1940._CH1183.jpgView source & full licence →
date = 1938-01-01/1945-12-31
ⓘ licence & creditGermany. Luftwaffe / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Target_Dossier_for_Tilshead,_Wiltshire,_England_-_DPLA_-_78e4b48d34910b69a9c42038493697dc_(page_10).jpgView source & full licence →
Groundcrew installing a Type F.24 camera into a Westland Lysander Mk II of No. 225 Squadron at RAF Tilshead, Wiltshire, September 1940. Groundcrew installing camera equipment into a Westland Lysander Mark II of No. 225 Squadron at RAF Tilshead, Wiltshire. The airman on the right loads a Type F.24 aerial camera into its position in the aircraft, while the airman on the left holds the camera motor unit.
ⓘ licence & creditStanley Devon / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Groundcrew_installing_a_Type_F.24_camera_into_a_Westland_Lysander_Mk_II_of_No._225_Squadron_at_RAF_Tilshead,_Wiltshire,_September_1940._CH1313.jpgView source & full licence →

No people are cross-referenced to this airfield yet. Links appear as squadron postings, crews and service records are added.