82 M.U. under the Command of 53 Wing at Andover was formed on 4^th April 1941 as a Packing Depot to crate aircraft for dispatch to overseas Units. The first C.O. was Fl/Lt F.M. Milling who came from 47 M.U. at Sealand and the work force expanded to 300 who were mainly women civilians from the local area. The first arrivals were Hurricanes, Albacores and by December 41 Spitfires. In December of 42 there was a visit by a USSR delegation and there was much activity in 1943 with the export of crated Spitfires and Hurricanes, and this continued up to September 44 with these aircraft also going to India and Australia. By December Typhoons were being sent to Russia, followed by Mustangs and Tempests, plus Albacores to Egypt. The Unit was gradually run down and eventually closed in October 45.

104 Flying Refresher School was formed in June 1951 under the command of Group Captain Rainsford who controlled some 2000 men and reserve Officers.  This Unit had on its strength Wellingtons Mk T.10, and Oxfords Mk T.2. The flying schedule was continually disrupted by fog in the Autumn and the Unit was reformed as 6 A.N.S on the 15th February 1952.

6 AIR NAVIGATION SCHOOL

6 A.N.S. was formed on the 15^th February 1952 and operated in addition to the above aircraft  Ansons Mk T.20 and T21, and Valettas Mk T.3. The Unit was disbanded on 1^st December 1953.

5003 Airfield Construction Sqdn

5003 Sqdn was formed in 1953 with a Unit strength of 200 personnel. Plant was transported to airfields all over the U.K. so that repairs could be carried out to runways, taxiways and buildings. In 1954 work was carried out at St Eval, St Mawgan, Leconfield, Tain, Harpur Hill, and North Weald. See Web Site for the Airfield Construction Branch 

Allan Brown of the RAF Regiment arrived at RAF Lichfield from RAF Thornaby in 1955 along with 19 other personnel - they were a part of 533 field squadron which was later later disbanded. “Demonstrating and teaching the use of weapons was part of our job and my main role was to teach RAF personnel how to react to a gas attack in a specially constructed chamber. We did not spend a great deal of time at Lichfield as we were touring parts of the country testing the security of radar stations and I can remember one night we blew up a TV mast - well that's what we wrote on it (this mast is not working) but it's still there.”

Contribution from Allan Brown