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In May 1942, the Radio Mechanic
Branch of the Royal Navy was created to meet the needs of
the service for the maintenance and operation of its radio
equipment. This newly formed branch was divided into two
categories, General Service and Air.
A new establishment was opened
at Culcheth, near Warrington, Lancashire, to train Fleet Air
Arm officers and ratings in air radio maintenance and it;
work began in the spring of 1942 and the establishment was
commissioned as HMS ARIEL on October 8th 1942.
Rapid expansion and a mock airfield
AS the need for trained Radio and Radar mechanics increased
the base opened two farther sites in the area, the original
site at Culcheth became 'ARIEL West', while the site at Newchurch
was 'ARIEL East' , and the third at Warrington, ARIEL South'.
The ARIEL South site was
completed with hangars - several pairs of Dutch Barns and a
single 'T3' type - and hardstandings to provide as realistic
as possible environment for practical aircraft training
under 'airfield' conditions [there was no landing area or
runways]. A collection of non-flying instructional
airframes, and some fuselages, were held at Culcheth,
including Fairey Albacore, Fairey Barracuda, Fairey
Swordfish, Fairey Firefly, Supermarine Seafire, Supermarine
Sea Otter, Grumman Avenger and Vought-Chance Corsair. Thee
aircraft were ranged on the hardstandings for practical
instruction on installing and diagnosing faults on radio and
radar sets, aerials and wiring, being housed in the hangars
when not in use. Air Radar instruction was carried out at
the Newchurch site with practical work on aircraft at
Culcheth. It is not clear what instruction was carried out
at the Warrington site.
Further expansion
In November 1944 the Radio
Mechanics (Air) Pool transferred from RNAS Lee-on-Solent,
Hampshire, to take up residence as part of ARIEL, and the
following month a new Air Radio Repair and Test Centre was
formed to help with the serious shortage at home of repair
facilities for air radio sets; this unit gave employment to
ratings from the pool and also utilised trainees when
necessary. The importance of HMS ARIEL as a centre for all
maters concerning Air Radio was further increased from July
1945 when the new Naval Air Radio Maintenance Group
organisation HQ was formed. The N.A.R.M.G. organization was
to oversee and to provide expert advice and assistance to
squadrons, stations, carriers on the installation and
maintenance of new types of air radio equipment during the
familiarization stages. In addition to giving advice
and assistance to the Naval Air Signals Schools on new types
of air radio equipment, including "first aid", fault
finding, and maintenance "in the field". Fourteen man
Naval Air Radio Maintenance Parties were formed, each party
being equipped to deal with one particular set of air radio
equipment,.
Post war use
On 1st January 1946 the
Electrical Branch was formed and HMS ARIEL became the Air
Electrical School. It is unclear when the Air Radio training
ceased, or were the task transferred to.
HMS ARIEL continued to operate
all three sites until July 1952 when the Air Electrical
school transferred to RNAS Worthy Down, the East and
West sites were then closed. The south site was closed
sometime in December of 1952 when the relocation was
completed.
Click here for a list of
Primary sources
Additional sources:
Sturtivant, R. & Burdon, R.,
(1997) 'Royal Navy Instructional Airframes' (Second
Ed.) Tonbridge, British Aviation Research Group & Air
Britain (Historians)
"AIRWAVES": A WREN Radio
Mechanic in the Fleet Air Arm, 1941-46
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/14/a5354714.shtml
Admiralty Fleet Orders:
4470/42 Radio Mechanics Training Establishment at Risley
2010/43-”Air Radio Officers-”Training and Duties
6248/44 Naval Air Radio Maintenance Groups (Short Title
N.A.R.M.G.) Formation REPORT
6312/45 -Air Radio Repair and Test Centres at
Home-”Functions and Capabilities
2116/52 - Aviation - The Air Electrical School - "H.M.S.
ARIEL" - Transfer to Worthy Down
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