Raf Little Rissington: the Central Flying School 1946-76

In the three decades between 1946 and 1976, the Central Flying School which was based at Little Rissington, produced over 6000 fledgling Qualified Flying Instructors and continually endeavored to monitor and improve the wider Royal Air Force's standards of flying, based on its sound, proven instructional methods and a wealth of tradition extending back to Upavon in 1912.

With the cessation of hostilities in 1945, the station's role took on a new dimension with the arrival of the Central Flying School (CFS) from RAF Upavon in the following year. The main function of CFS was to fulfill RAF requirements and assist some Commonwealth air force requirements for flying instructors. RAF Little Rissington became CFS's important focal base for the next thirty years.

The book covers the 1946 to 1976 period and has been drawn from the records at the National Archives, the RAF Museum, the Central Flying School Archive, and from published sources. Anecdotes and recollections from over 100 service and civilian personnel, ranging from Air Marshals to AC2s, who were once based at Little Rissington bring these unfolding years to life.

Ray Deacon was born in Farnborough, Kent, in 1942, grew up in South-East London and went on to study at William Penn Technical School before joining the Royal Air Force. On passing out in December 1959, he was posted to the Central Flying School (CFS), before arranging an exchange with a fellow radio mechanic on the DH Vampire T.11 line. Much to Ray’s delight, the squadron was also responsible for handling Hawker Hunters the CFS Type Flight whenever they paid visits from their operating base at RAF Kemble. The opportunity to work on the ‘queen of the skies’ kindled a passion that has remained with him ever since.

His career in the Royal Air Force involved service in Aden, where he lived for two years, working on a busy front-line operational squadron equipped with the more potent ground attack and fighter reconnaissance versions of Hawkers impeccable aircraft. He also worked at RAF Little Rissington on the Varsity squadron, a posting that was followed by time spent at the CFS Gnat Base Engineering Team, where he became familiar with the Gnats operating with the Red Arrows Aerobatic Team and 4 Squadron CFS.

He left the RAF in May 1967. A year with the RAE at Farnborough was followed by a 25-year career in computing with IBM. Early retirement enabled Ray to dedicate his free time to carrying out in-depth studies of his favorite subjects; RAF Little Rissington during the CFS years and Hawker Hunter operations in the Middle East.