Following a successful submission to the Royal Aeronautical Society, RAF Halton has been awarded an Aeronautical Heritage Award for providing excellence of training within technical, medical and administrative fields.
The award is in the form of a plaque that will take pride of place on the exterior of the James McCudden Flight Heritage Centre. A group from the Royal Aeronautical Society awarded the plaque including Air Commodore (Retd) Bill Tyack, Chairman of the Awards Committee, Mr Scott Philips, Head of Regional affairs and Mr Peter Davidson, Head of Historical Group.
Image by: RAF Halton Photographic Section
This is the 20th plaque donated by the Society and Air Commodore Tack said how special it was to be presented to one of the three pillars of the RAF with such an important history.
Group Captain Wilson, Station Commander, thanked the Society for their donation on behalf of past Station Commander’s and commented on the importance of not only recognising Halton’s contribution to technical trades, but to medical and administration, too.
The application for the award was initiated by Min Larkin, Station Archivist, who has a close connection to RAF Halton as he joined the RAF in 1949 as an aircraft apprentice at the No 1 School of Technical Training. The School was established in 1920 and remained at Halton until 1993, training over 40,000 boys as aircraft engineering tradesmen.
During WWII RAF Halton trained thousands of men and women volunteers and conscripts in skills urgently needed by operational squadrons and maintenance units. Meanwhile, Princess Mary’s RAF Hospital was treating patients from all over the world and pioneering new treatments, playing a major role in research for treatments of burns, kidney failure and contributing to original work of flight safety and aviation medicine.
The history of the Station is impressive and it is something that the thousands of men and women who now come here for their Basic Recruit Training Course can appreciate daily. The rich heritage is evident and to recognise the input and impact that the last 99 years have had on aviation is important.
There are two museums at Halton, one celebrating the history of the station and one celebrating the history of flight. Every year hundreds of school children visit the station as well as thousands of other guests and families of service personnel to follow a very special journey.
