RAF Hunmanby Moor

RAF Hunmanby Moor, (also known as RAF Filey), was a Royal Air Force training camp during the Second World War in Hunmanby, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The site was commandeered at the outbreak of war and returned to civilian use as a holiday camp in 1945. From 1942, many RAF Regiment training courses were run at the site.

RAF Hunmanby Moor
Hunmanby, Filey, East Riding of Yorkshire[note 1] in England
Billy Butlin at Filey (RAF Hunmanby Moor) in 1945
RAF Hunmanby Moor is located in North Yorkshire
RAF Hunmanby Moor
RAF Hunmanby Moor
Coordinates54.183°N 0.279°W / 54.183; -0.279
Site history
Built1939 (1939)
In use1945 (1945)

History

The Butlin's holiday camp at Filey was requisitioned at the outbreak of the Second World War to act as a training camp for recruits.[2][3] Although located near the village of Hunmanby, it was intended to be known as, and post-war was called, Butlin's Filey. On initial commencement of military activity, the site was called RAF Filey.[4] In 1942, it became an RAF Regiment training depot, and during the next three years, until 1945, several RAF Regiment squadrons and training schools were allocated here. The RAF depot at Filey was the first of its type in the RAF, and so instructors from the Brigade of Guards and the Royal Marines were drafted in to help with training. The depot moved soon afterwards to RAF Belton Park in Lincolnshire, although Regiment training continued at Hunmanby Moor.[5]

In 1944, The Times reported on the 2,000 men from the West Indies who had arrived at Hunmanby Moor for their 12-week basic training.[6] A fictionalised account of West Indian recruits at RAF Hunmanby Moor features in Andrea Levy's book Small Island.[7] A plaque to commemorate the Caribbean air crew who trained at the base, was unveiled in Filey, in April of 2023. The BBC reporting that 4,000 men completed military exercises at the camp.

One of the last units to leave Hunmanby Moor was the RAF Regiment's LAA Gunnery School, which was posted to Nethertown in August 1945.[8] Thereafter, the whole of the site was returned to the Butlin's company and civilian use.[9]

Based units
Unit Dates Notes Ref
No. 1 RAF Regiment School February 1942 – February 1944 Moved from RAF Melksham as No. 6 Recruit Training Wing [10][11]
No. 2 Wing Aircrew Officers School 8 February – 9 May 1944 [12]
No. 3 RAF Regiment School February 1943 – 1945 [10]
No. 5 Anti-Aircraft Practice Camp [10]
No. 21 Air Crew Holding Unit January – February 1944 [10]
No. 2707 RAF Regiment Squadron 1 January 1945 – 6 February 1945 Arrived from Merston, moved to North Weald [13]
No. 2723 RAF Regiment Squadron 21 November 1944 – 30 December 1944 Arrived from West Malling, moved to Lympne [14]
No. 2749 RAF Regiment Squadron 15 February 1942 – 6 April 1942 Formed at Hunmanby Moor, posted to Wick [15]

Notable personnel

Notes
  1. During the Second World War, Hunmanby, and a large part of the town of Filey, were in the East Riding of Yorkshire. The boundary changes to the Yorkshire counties in 1974, moved the site into North Yorkshire.[1]

References
  1. Chrystal, Paul (2017). The Place Names of Yorkshire; Cities, Towns, Villages, Rivers and Dales, some Pubs too, in Praise of Yorkshire Ales (1 ed.). Catrine: Stenlake. p. 100. ISBN 9781840337532.
  2. Penfold, Phil (30 May 2020). "How stunning seaside town of Filey reinvented itself after Butlin's closure". The Yorkshire Post. Retrieved 15 April 2021.
  3. Filfield, Nicola (30 January 2009). "RAF Regiment marks its anniversary this weekend". York Press. Retrieved 15 April 2021.
  4. "Butlins Camp, also known as RAF Filey and RAF Hunmanby Moor, Filey". www.heritagegateway.org.uk. Retrieved 15 April 2021.
  5. Oliver 1997, pp. 50–52.
  6. "RAF Hunmanby Moor". African Stories in Hull & East Yorkshire. Retrieved 15 April 2021.
  7. James, Cynthia (1 January 2007). ""You'll Soon Get Used to Our Language": Language, Parody and West Indian Identity in Andrea Levy's Small Island". Anthurium: A Caribbean Studies Journal. 5 (1): 3. doi:10.33596/anth.89.
  8. Oliver 1997, p. 176.
  9. "The Dinosaur Coast". infoweb.newsbank.com. 25 July 2015. Retrieved 15 April 2021.
  10. "Stations-F". www.rafweb.org. Retrieved 15 April 2021.
  11. Oliver 1997, p. 51.
  12. "Stations-H". www.rafweb.org. Retrieved 15 April 2021.
  13. "723 Defence Squadron, formed Oakington 11 August 1941; became 2723 Defence Squadron, RAF..." discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk. Retrieved 15 April 2021.
  14. "2707 Squadron, RAF Regiment. Formed at Ballykelly (UK) 1 February 1942; moved to..." discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk. Retrieved 15 April 2021.
  15. "2749 Squadron RAF Regiment, formed at Filey (UK) 15 February 1942. Moved to Wick 6 April..." discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk. Retrieved 15 April 2021.
  16. Jacobs, Peter (2011). Stay the distance : the life and times of Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Michael Beetham. London: Frontline Books. p. 20. ISBN 978-1-84832-552-4.

Sources
  • Oliver, Kingsley (1997). Through Adversity. Rushden: Forces & Corporate. ISBN 0-9529597-0-4.
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