RAF Milfield
RAF airbase in England, UK
Royal Air Force Milfield or more simply RAF Milfield is a former Royal Air Force station which operated during the Second World War, located near Milfield, Northumberland, England.
History
The airfield opened on 26 January 1942, hosting No. 59 Operational Training Unit RAF, a fighter training unit, later joined by the Specialised Low Attack Instructors School RAF. The OTU trained ground-attack pilots for the Hawker Typhoon.
In January 1944, both units were disbanded and merged to become the Fighter Leaders School RAF. That specialised in training officers in commanding ground attack units, with a focus on the skills which would be needed to lead close support operations from front-line airfields in Europe.
No. 56 Operational Training Unit RAF operated from Milfield from January 1945 onwards, training replacement Hawker Tempest pilots for Second Tactical Air Force in Europe. That continued to operate until 14 February 1946, when it was disbanded and RAF Milfield closed.
The following units were based at RAF Milfield at some point:
No. 77 Squadron RAF
No. 183 Squadron RAF
No.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “RAF Milfield” is rAF airbase in England, UK. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Milfield, airbase and England, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “rAF airbase in England, UK” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q15270926. Authority coordinates are 55.592, -2.088. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1942, 1944, 1945 and 1946.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
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The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “RAF Milfield”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow RAF Milfield primary sources, RAF Milfield archive and Milfield research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “RAF Milfield” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.