Coastal Command OTU in August 1944

Discussion in 'The War In The Air' started by archivist, Jul 14, 2019.

  1. archivist

    archivist Well-Known Member

    I have a record of crews transferring from 6 OTU (Coastal) to 304 Bomber Squadron at the end of August 1944 but all other records I have seen state that it was disbanded on 19th October 1943. My record is from the squadron ORB. Is this a mistake? If so, which OTU would feed Coastal Command Bomber Squadrons? And where was it based? I would be very grateful for any ideas.
     
  2. alieneyes

    alieneyes Senior Member

    OTUs 1 - 23

    No 6 Operational Training Unit

    This was originally formed from No 11 Group Pool in No 12 Group, Fighter Command on 9 March 1940 on moving from St Athan to Sutton Bridge, tasked with the operational training of fighter pilots. It was equipped with Hurricanes and Gladiators as well as small numbers of Harvards, Masters and Battles. Its first course was actually No 5 which began on 11 March, the first four having been conducted as No 11 Group Pool. However, to avoid confusion OTU in other commands it was disbanded on 1 November 1940 by being re-designated No 56 OTU.

    Officers Commanding: -

    xx xxx xxxx Sqn Ldr P C Pinkham

    3 Jun 1940 Sqn Ldr G C Tomlinson

    9 Jun 1940 Wg Cdr J H Edwardes-Jones

    Seven months later it was reformed as No 6 (Coastal) OTU when No 2 School of Army Co-operation at Andover was re-designated on 1 June 1941. It was now equipped with Blenheims and operated within No 17 Group, Coastal Command but was absorbed into No 42 OTU on 18 July 1941.

    The following day the unit reformed, again as No 6 (Coastal) OTU in No 17 Group, but was now located at Thornaby. Initially equipped with Hudson and a few Ansons and Oxfords, the unit specialised in the training of General Reconnaissance crews. In October 1942, the Hudsons were replaced by Wellingtons and around the same time it absorbed a Polish training flight from No 18 OTU, followed the next month by a Czech flight (No 1429). These two flights were to provide crews for the two Wellington squadrons in Coastal Command crewed by nationals of those two countries.

    On 10 March 1943, the unit moved to the west side of the country when it relocated to Silloth. The Czech flight disbanded in August 1943 and the Polish flight moved to No 3 OTU in October. In early 1944 the unit took over No 3 OTU's Leigh Light training and the Polish flight returned. On 18 July 1945 the unit moved north to Kinloss, taking over No 5 OTU's Warwick commitment in August. Control was transferred to No 18 Group of Coastal Command on 1 September 1945 and in July 1946 the unit took over Lancaster training. No 6 OTU was disbanded on 31 July 1947 by being re-designated No 236 OCU.

    Codes used: -

    OD Jul 1941 - Oct 1942
    K7 Jul 1945 - Jul 1947
    8V Allocated 1945 - 1947
     
  3. archivist

    archivist Well-Known Member

    Thank you, that is exactly what I wanted
     

Share This Page