Shropshire Star comment: Our debt of gratitude to RAF Cosford
The forthcoming RAF Cosford Air Show will give many the opportunity to both reflect and honour the work conducted from the county’s air base.
The base has been a part of the county’s landscape for 80 years, while the RAF is itself celebrating its 100th anniversary.
During that time, many brave men and women have given their all for Queen and country.
They have conducted acts of great valour and we ought to remember those who have served when the show takes place on June 10.
It will welcome 60,000 people and there will be six-hours of flying before activities wind down late in the evening.
RAF Cosford has had a profoundly positive effect on the region. Having initially opened in 1938 as a joint aircraft maintenance, storage and technical training unit, it played a bigger role in the Second World War, when the Fulton barrack block was built as the largest single building barrack block in the UK.
During the war, the No 2 School of Technical Training trained 70,000 airmen in engine, airframe and armament trades.
No 12 Ferry Pool of the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) was also highly active at that time, delivering Spitfires from the base and returning with bombers or fighters for No 9 Maintenance Unit. Men and women played their part, with women frequently flying ferry flights.
The site had a hospital unit on the site at one stage, which consisted of wooden huts. It was the most westerly such RAF hospital in the UK.
Cosford has also played its part in the community and the extensive sports facilities, including a banked indoor running track, shone the spotlight on the area when they were televised through annual indoor championships.
It is not simply the RAF that we think of when we consider the contribution that RAF Cosford makes to the life of Shropshire. The site is also the home of the Midlands Air Ambulance, which has saved many lives across the county and beyond.
It has been the base for countless successful missions for that charity, which is publicly funded at a cost of several millions of pounds per year. Its contribution has been to the health, welfare and culture of this region.
Through generations of pilots, engineers and experts, Cosford has left a lasting impact on the county, the country and the world.
