Page 20 - Dennis Ovenden

RAF Hixon was a Royal Air Force station located on the north western edge of the village of Hixon
in Staffordshire, England. The airfield was 7.5 miles east of Stafford and bounded at the west and
north by railways. After opening in 1942, it served as a base for No. 30 Operational Training Unit
(30 OTU) and after this unit left until the airfields closure in 1957, it served as a satellite site for
No. 16 Maintenance Unit based at RAF Stafford.

Permission was granted to build a base at Hixon in August 1941 with opening coming on 13 May
th
1942. The base was to be used for operational flying, but instead it was used as a training
environment for Bomber aircrew’s flying Vickers Wellington aircraft on No. 30 OTU, Curtiss
Tomahawks and Hawker Hurricanes on 1686 Bomber (Defence) Training Flight (BDTF) and
Bristol Blenheims flown by No. 12 (Pilots) Advanced Flying Unit ((P)AFU). It was originally
intended to be a No. 7 Group asset, but when it was handed over to the Royal Air Force from the
contractors in June 1942, No.92 Group became its owner. Even then there was another change; it
became a No.93 Group asset six weeks later.

As a night bomber training unit, crew’s from Hixon were often sent on missions to France and
sometimes even Germany to drop propaganda leaflets (Psy Ops). These missions were often
called after their codename, 'Nickel Raids'. These night-time raids were just as dangerous as
actual bombing runs as the enemy had no way of determining that they were
only dropping leaflets.

In early 1943, No. 25 OTU based at RAF Finningley was disbanded and the Wellington aircraft
and groundcrew’s were sent to Hixon. The personnel and assets were shared out with RAF
Seighford. In June of the same year, No. 1686 Bomber (Defence) Training Flight (BDTF) was
formed at Hixon for 'Bullseye' training. No.1686 was equipped with P-40 Tomahawk aircraft which
were formally used by No. 112 Squadron in North Africa and still retained their distinctive sharks