1948 to 1978
Following the disbanding of 29 EFTS, the airfield was closed, but it remained in Air Ministry ownership. The Technical/Domestic Site was fenced off and the barrack blocks were turned over for use as transit accommodation for passenger and troop transporting flights in and out of RAF Lyneham. At that time the reduced-size RAF Clyffe Pypard had a staff of 4 officers and 50 men.
In August 1949, Wg Cdr Turner was transferred to the Reserve and it is assumed that he stood down as Station Commander around this time.
It had been hoped to use Clyffe Pypard as the drop zone for two battalions of the Territorial Army on 25th August 1949, but in the event poor visibility prevented the event. Troops from the Fourth Parachute Brigade were to have dropped from RAF Dakota aircraft during the TA's annual training, but despite the weather, the event was not a total loss. 'Manny' Shinwell, the labour government's Secretary of State for War was in attendance, and with many press reporters kicking their heels, he used the occasion to do a bit of flag-waving, praising the quality of personnel going through the National Service system, and going on to say that, "The National Service system is working, and while there are some difficulties, that is quite natural at the inception of a system of this character." National Service had just been introduced (on 1st January 1949), and would exist in one form or other until the end of 1960.
During November 1950, Flight magazine correspondent John Yoxall took an RAF Hastings from Lyneham to the Far East and reported his journey in the magazine’s 11th January 1951 issue. It gave a brief picture of his stay at Clyffe Pypard whilst waiting for his aircraft,
“At the end of November life in England seems to be at its lowest ebb. The trees still have enough leaves to make them look untidy; the bare poles of deep winter are nothing like so depressing. And it was towards the end of November - to be precise, on the 20th - that, in pouring rain, we made a coach journey - preliminary to a very much longer trip - from the RAF air booking centre in London to Lyneham, near Swindon.
Formalities completed, in preparation for the early start the next morning, a further coach journey took the passengers on for an overnight stay at Cliffe Pypard [sic]. Here good meals, and a roaring fire in each bedroom, offset the tempestuous weather outside.
At 0515 hr the next morning it was still blowing and raining hard, and bitterly cold. A harassed flying officer chivvied the passengers to get ready and breakfast became rather a sketchy affair. In the coach, the torrential rain penetrated the roof at the point where the rear double-deck section began.”
Yoxall then boarded his aircraft at Lyneham and flew off eastwards to warmer climes.
Meanwhile, in November 1952 it had been decided to return the airfield site (as distinct from the domestic site) to agriculture. A loose minute from Miss Burgess (Air Ministry S.13) dated 12th November stated that,
“The main building site will remain in use by the RAF apart from the one remaining Bellman hangar, which houses the agricultural licensee’s [Mr HE Hibberd] grass drying plant and which may continue in use for this purpose. The agricultural category of the airfield is altered from 4B to 5 and agricultural management should be transferred from the Air Ministry to the Ministry of Agriculture at the earliest convenient date.”
Following further discussion, the land on the airfield side remained in Air Ministry charge for a while longer, awaiting formal transfer to the Agricultural Land Commission. It had been suggested that the RAF portion of the site could be fenced-off from the airfield, but the idea was dropped. At the end of 1953, the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (MAF) detailed their requirements in terms of transfer of the airfield (letter from D Worsley at MAF to Mr Bevan at the Air Ministry dated 16th December 1953),
“The Agricultural Land Commission have now considered recommendations for the long term management of the airfield and decided it would be desirable for the following buildings to be transferred with the airfield:
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Those housing two grain dryers [northwest of No.1 Hangar]
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A hangar at present used by the tenant for storing dried grass, implements etc, and
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Two huts situated near the hangar which could be converted for use as a cottage and for housing stock.
The proposal is to let these buildings to the present tenant of the land and it would be anomalous for him to hold land from us and buildings from your department.”
This arrangement was agreed in April 1954.
During 1953, the RAF transit camp at Clyffe Pypard handled 23,766 incoming and outgoing personnel, and by July 1954, the station was commanded by Flt Lt FJ Palmer, still with the same size staff. Some idea of how busy Clyffe Pypard was in its new role can be gauged from the fact that it handled 1910 outbound personnel and 443 inbound during that single month. Additionally, from 17th to 23rd July 1954, the unit housed two officers, one warrant officer and 51 cadets from 61 Group on Summer Camp at Lyneham. On the following week a further five officers and 75 youngsters of the Combined Cadet Force were also housed, though typically because of poor summer weather, they took refuge in the barrack blocks rather than tents as planned. For the year 1954 as a whole, Clyffe Pypard had handled 21,064 passengers.
Tony Cunnane was billeted at Clyffe Pypard in December 1954, awaiting a flight to Ceylon,
“On the day before our flight we were transported by road from Innsworth to RAF Clyffe Pypard, a tiny transit unit in a splendid location at the top of a hill. I remember my short visit to RAF Clyffe Pypard well. It was a beautiful, frosty afternoon when we arrived and we could see the airfield at Lyneham in the distance down on the plain. There was absolutely nothing to do at Clyffe Pypard. In my case I decided to use an airmail writing pad I had bought from the NAAFI at Innsworth to write a narrative while actually en route to Ceylon. I still have that pad to this day and the following paragraphs are reproduced as I wrote them at the time:
Friday 10th December 1954. No 43 Hut at Clyffe Pypard was longer than the standard RAF wooden hut: it had 30 beds in it rather than 22. I suppose there must at some time have been at least another 42 huts somewhere on the site but it was too cold to go exploring and, in any case, the winter day rapidly became a winter night. For some reason we were confined to camp - perhaps to ensure no-one suddenly decided to go absent without leave, or perhaps to ensure that we didn't contaminate any of the local population following our yellow fever inoculation!
A very grumpy sergeant put one of our group on a charge for being improperly dressed - he'd had the temerity to go past the Guardroom to have a better look at the view over the plain, but he either forgot, or didn't see the need, to put his uniform cap on in this isolated location. (In fact the F252 Charge Report, caught up with this airman in Ceylon about three months later and the flight commander tore it up in the airman's presence. Good decision!)
It was a long evening at Clyffe Pypard. We lit both the stoves in an
effort to keep warm but most of us retired to bed early. I shaved
before going to bed to save a bit of time in the morning. When we
woke, the fire at the far end of the hut was still burning strongly so
someone must have got out of bed during the night to feed it. The
fire at our end was quite cold. It was only necessary to have a rinse
this morning but, as there was plenty of hot water, that caused little
discomfort.
Saturday 11th December 1954. Just before 0900hrs we assembled
at Clyffe Pypard Reception and boarded a waiting coach for the s
hort journey to RAF Lyneham. As soon as we arrived a medical
orderly was waiting for Mick Harley, David 'Tombstone' Gaunt and
me. (David's nickname was Tombstone because of his stature and
his natural gloomy expression - which fitted his surname!) We had
to go to Sick Quarters for the cholera injection that someone at
Innsworth had forgotten to give us. In the Departure Lounge at
Lyneham we met up with the rest of the passengers on our flight. In
addition to our small bunch of wireless technicians there were 12
officers, half a dozen NCO aircrew and one solitary WRAF airwoman.
Coffee was served to us, actually served to us, while we waited. It
was very good coffee but spoilt rather by the taste of the cardboard
cups we drank it out of. At 0945hrs we were called forward, only
45 minutes after leaving Clyffe Pypard, so full marks to the
Movements staff.”
For March 1955, Flt Lt Palmer was able to announce that 944 passengers had been accommodated during the month, the lowest since June of 1951. The ending of the “Fayid slip” had resulted in the recent drop. The station’s football team won the Lyneham League during May and the following month, Sqn Ldr R Hewitt, AFC arrived from Cranwell to take up duties as Station Commander. He was able to accompany AVM Sir George Beamish, KCB, CBE, AOC-in-C Transport Command on his annual inspection on 6th July.
Despite the transfer of the airfield site for use as agricultural land, it still had another military task to perform. At the beginning of 1955, a Radar Bombing Target was installed midway along the western taxiway and trials began in March of that year. The target consisted of three aluminium structures about 12 feet high, laid out in a triangle with approximately 100 feet separating each structure. To install the equipment and complete the trial, it was estimated that access to the land would be required for six months. The target would be used for simulated bombing only, and about five flying hours were expected to be required, with flights onto the target mainly at high altitude, but some lower down at around 3000 feet. Clyffe Pypard was selected because the requirements of the test asked for, “…a site in a free and unrestricted area, away from all industrial and built-up areas.” These trials were completed in February 1956.
In a House of Lords debate on 15th November 1955, Lord Lucas of Chilworth asked the Government “…if they will state the locations of the seventy-one airfields which they stated, in a reply to a Question asked by the noble Lord, Lord Lucas of Chilworth, on October 25th, are to be disposed of.”
In reply, Lord Carrington the Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Defence provided a list, adding that, “Disposal of the land will be a long and complicated task, and we cannot rule out the possibility that changes may have to be made in the plan in order to meet later requirements.” Among the list, which included such famous wartime names as Boxted and Steeple Morden, was Clyffe Pypard.
By 1956 the accommodation comprised around twenty of the remaining wooden huts, and with regular VIPs in transit, some attempt was made to keep these in a reasonable condition. Some idea of the personnel being housed at this time can be gauged from the associated officers who were registered. For example, on 30th December 1956, Col Yusuf Aziz of the Iraqi Air Force was housed, awaiting a Bristol Freighter flight to the Middle East and on 21st February 1957, Gp Capt CG Fenton stayed overnight following the diversion of a Canadian North Star to Lyneham. The accommodation was not just reserved for service personnel either, with a number of government officials also using the camp. Assistant Under Secretary of State Mr F Wood was accommodated at Clyffe Pypard on 3rd October 1957, awaiting Flight UAC534. The permanent staff totalled four officers, approximately 50 airmen and 22 civilians during this time.
From 1st December 1957, Flt Lt JB Foden (500484) took over as Station Commander. By February 1958 his staff had fallen in overall numbers to 5 officers and 43 airmen and in the return for that month, the Station diarist noted that, “The principles of “Work Study” are being applied to this station. The first section to be re-organised has been the cookhouse, and the system has proved a great step forward in efficiency. However, in a transit unit with an unknown commitment, it is being found very difficult to apply the same methods to the rest of the camp.”
The Government’s 1958/59 Budget of April 1958 did not render the expected funds for building Lyneham’s new Air Trooping Centre, and so Clyffe Pypard was given an expected lifespan of a further two or more years. However, the Station’s Form 540 return for that month revealed that, “The poor state the accommodation and the equipment has been allowed to fall to, because the closing-down of the camp has been believed to be imminent, has now reached a serious level. If the camp is to continue even for such a limited period as two years, much renovation is urgently needed.” That same month, 907 passengers and crews transited through Clyffe Pypard.
In June of 1958 the Station hosted troops being sent to Cyprus to counter expected riots there, and to act as a stabilising influence in the Lebanon. Crews ferrying these troops arrived and departed at the camp at 30-minute intervals and the small staff of just six Movements personnel was severely stretched. For a two-week period, a 24-hour shift system was put in place and despite having more than a thousand soldiers to accommodate, somehow the station coped, though numbers fell to a more reasonable level (363 personnel movements) by August.
There was a further brief period of hectic operations during the last ten days of September of 1958, when No.19 Infantry Brigade Group returned from Cyprus and trooped through the camp. In just one night, 307 transient troops were housed (a record, up from the previous high of 169 on none night), and 2505 movements for the whole month were registered - another record. To cope with this temporary influx, an Army Liaison Party of one officer and three other ranks was attached to Clyffe Pypard, along with an MT Detachment of 21 troops. The following month, staff of HQ No.3 Division also passed through, and a record 1665 transients (mainly Cyprus returnees) were housed.
Flight Lieutenant GL Roberts took over as CO in March 1959.
One notable traveller to visit Clyffe Pypard in 1959 was Rear Admiral ACC Miers, VC, DSO, Flag Officer Eastern Mediterranean. He stayed the night on 6th April, waiting for Flight UCH04 with his wife and two children. Miers had been awarded his Victoria Cross following a naval action in Corfu harbor on 4th March 1942.
June 1961 is the last month for which official records exist regarding Clyffe Pypard, and in that month there were 664 outbound transient passengers housed for Transport Command, a further 53 inbound and 83 through-transients. Other RAF commands accounted for another 41 passengers housed in the transit accommodation. At this time the station, still commanded by Flt Lt Roberts, had two permanent staff officers, 36 airmen and 15 civilians employed.
RAF Lyneham’s Air Terminal building was opened in April 1961, and from this point RAF Clyffe Pypard ceased to be used as a permanently-manned site. It did however continue in military ownership until April 1978, when the domestic site was auctioned off for £4,950 and also returned to agricultural use, as had been the airfield several decades earlier.
(Above) - A 1975 photograph of No.1 Hangar and the CFI office alongside it: both survive as of 2016. Notable is Building 5 at right, which stood alongside Hangar 3 (removed by the time of this photograph), and used as a Flight office. It does not exist as of 2016 (Brian Buss).
