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The former airfield at High Ercall was built in the early stages of WWII, being officially opened in October 1940 to house an aircraft Maintenance Unit. It had 3 runways, all tarmacked to allow heavy bombers to land. The original intention was to assemble American aircraft, but few of these ever arrived, and it became a base for the Bristol Blenheim Nightfighters of No 68 Squadron in early 1941, as they were heavily occupied defending the industrial West Midlands from raids. These were soon joined by Beaufighters, and 68 Sqn continued to operate from here until mid 1942.
That squadron was replaced by 259 (Burma) Sqn flying Hurricanes, along with 1456 Flight who operated Douglas Havocs, equipped with a Turbinlite system which was intended to light up an enemy bomber from above, so that it could be shot down by a fighter. The system never really proved very successful, and was soon replaced by radar.
By summer 1942, the USAAF 31st Flight Group arrived with their Spitfires, whilst UK RAF forces trained on Mosquitoes under No 60 Operational Training Unit. A year later, the USAAF 27th Fighter Sqn turned up, equipped with P-38 Lightnings for a brief period, and the station was bursting at the seams with nearly 2200 people living and working there. Later that year, more Hurricanes flew, plus American P-39 Airocobras. By the early part of 1943, High Ercall was responsible for fitting a new radar system to Swordfish planes belonging to the Fleet Air Arm , and effectively became an extension of HMS Daedalus in Portsmouth, with Navy ratings stationed in Shropshire.
As plans were being drawn in late 1942 onwards for the D-Day and the Normandy landings, the airfield began working with Horsa gliders, towed by Lancaster bombers.

After the war ended, High Ercall was used as an Operational Training Unit for a while, then reverted to its original purpose of a Maintenance Unit and was used to cut up Halifax bombers and Spitfires. By the early 1950s, it was storing Percival Prentice trainers and eventually closed around 10 years later in the early 1960s. For about 30 years thereafter, it was known locally as MOTEC Multi-Occupational Training and Education Centre, providing training services for the road transport industry, and the remaining hangars are now mainly used for industrial storage and cars. A few of the original airfield buildings lie around the area in various states of decay.
(Info primarily from "Shropshire Airfields in the Second World War" by Robin J Brooks, pubd Countryside Books 2008)

Created: Mon, 14 Mar 2022, Updated: Tue, 15 Mar 2022