Celebrating the proud history of RAF Cosford

So meticulous were the efforts to disguise the valuable planes in its care, that airmen would even string washing lines from the hangars.

"If there were Spitfires or Mosquito bombers out in the field, they would dig big holes around them and drop trees in," says Squadron Leader Graham Lee. "The idea was to make it look like a farm."

It certainly worked. Throughout the war, RAF Cosford was only bombed once, and it appears that was probably by accident.

"The Luftwaffe was trying to bomb the industry of the Midlands, particularly in Birmingham," says Graham, who is now the base's full-time media officer. We think that, because of bad weather, they overshot their intended target and just happened to spot Cosford by chance. Fortunately no-one was killed or injured."

Cosford, which was hastily knocked up amid growing tensions between Britain and Nazi Germany in the run-up to the Second World War, celebrates its 75th anniversary in July.

The milestone, along with a similar anniversary for the Supermarine Spitfire with which that station has a close association, will be recognised at Cosford Air Show on June 9.

The need for a new RAF base close to the industrial heartlands of the West Midlands was identified by the mid-1930s, following Hitler's rise to power and the earlier breakdown of disarmament talks between France and Germany.

"When it became evident that the Germans were not only reluctant to disarm, but actually looked to be building up their airforce, it was decided there was a need to step up aircraft production," says Graham.

"With all these extra aircraft being built, we needed somewhere to store them, and Cosford was one of several sites chosen."

It was also decided that the site would make an ideal location for an RAF technical training school, again to cope with the expansion of the air force.

Major building work, which included the construction of 38 hangars, began in February, 1938, and somehow it was officially declared open within five months. But, demonstrating the make-do-and-mend philosophy of the time, the camp was far from finished when it opened to the new trainees.

"In winter 1938 and 39, many of the new recruits would be sat at their desks with their coats and gloves on, because there wasn't any glass in the windows, or they hadn't yet put the doors on," says Graham.

No. 9 Maintenance Unit, which stored, serviced and repaired aircraft, as well as ultimately supplying them to squadrons serving in the front line, opened the following year. Spare parts for Spitfires were also produced on site

Indeed the base became so busy that Cosford's two new overspill landing grounds were opened at nearby Brocton and Weston Park. In 1942 the unit started producing gliders which would later play a crucial role in the invasion of France. By this time, there were 9,000 staff and trainees stationed at Cosford, most of them living in tents which had been pitched in surrounding fields. A major RAF hospital was added to the site in 1940, which had treated 45,000 patients by the end of the war.

From April, 1945 the station also served as a repatriation and rehabilitation centre for returning RAF prisoners of war. By 1948, a total of 13,000 PoWs had passed through the site, and the hospital continued to serve the RAF and the local community until it closed in 1977.

Predictably, the end of the war saw Cosford being scaled down somewhat in line with the reduction in the size of the RAF, and 9 Maintenance Unit focused mainly on the storage rather than the issuing of aircraft.

While during the war years the training school was turned over to providing short, intensive training for adult aircraft engineers, the outbreak of peace saw it return to the role for which it was originally intended, training young engineering apprentices.

Bernard Smith, now 87, served as a corporal at the base during the closing stages of the war.

"I had been at RAF Halton in Buckinghamshire, but we were moved a little further north in 1944 when all the doodlebugs started coming down," he says.

"We were housed in wooden huts dispersed outside the main camp perimeter. My intake completed training in December 1944 and we were sent to operational units."

He then returned as an engineering instructor in 1946, and this time the wooden huts were more permanent and within the main camp.

"I remember, during the big freeze of 1947, the corporal's club that I belonged to held a party, but the beer was frozen in the bottle."

He also recalls the airmen going around opening doors during the freeze, so the toilets would freeze and the men would be sent home.

"I always remember it as a happy camp," says Mr Smith, who now lives in Leicestershire.

"We used to invite the nurses from the local hospitals to events, and sometimes we ventured out to Brewood.

"One fellow corporal married a girl from Brewood, and we are still in touch."

Today the station focuses on technical training for RAF engineering officers, aero engineers and communication technicians. It is also home to the Defence School of Photography, the RAF School of Physical Training and the University of Birmingham Air Squadron is also based at the site.

The future of the Cosford has been in question ever since the previous government's decision to hand armed forces skills training to a private consortium. It was anticipated that all Cosford's technical training operations would move to RAF St Athan over a five-year period starting from 2008, and that eventually the Army would take over the site. However, the Coalition terminated the previous government's agreement with the privately owned Metrix Consortium, and says its preferred option would be to focus technical training at RAF Lyneham, subject to a value for money study.

Graham, who has served at bases all over Britain since joining the RAF in 1980, believes the site still has a great deal to offer the defence services.