HM Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother visits Stafford

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Date:27th of October 1953

Description:The Queen Mother is pictured in the Market Square, Stafford watching the Royal Guard of Honour which was mounted by RAF Stafford outside the Guildhall. The Guard was honoured to parade the Queen’s Colour for the occasion. Also during the day she officially opened Blithfield Reservoir and then she went on to have lunch at Blithfield Hall. Later in the same visit she opened a new conveyor system at the Lotus shoe factory in Stafford.

RAF Stafford was formed 1 December 1939 following the purchase by the Treasury of 362 acres of land near Stafford. The main site was at Beaconside and originally known as No. 16 Maintenance Unit or more often as 16 MU and there were outlying sites around the area. The Unit's motto was ‘Instumenta Fundamenta’ which translates as 'Supplies are the Foundations'.

Apart from helicopters, the site was a non-flying base which formed part of a large and complex RAF logistics organisation. There were many enormous stores and warehouse buildings with facilities for the maintenance of equipment and storage of parts needed by the Ministry of Defence in order to keep front line aircraft flying worldwide. Later the site also became involved in supporting military aircraft for NATO partners in Europe and for India and New Zealand.

The site celebrated 50 years in 1989 and at that time stood on 670 acres with seven dispersed sites. There were around 1600 personnel of which half were service and half civilian. The stores held around 617,000 different items of equipment including airframes, aero-engine spares, complete engines (e.g. for the Tornado), guided missile spares, right down to nuts and bolts.

On 1 April 1999 the name 16 MU disappeared and two new agencies were created with the site renamed as RAF Stafford and DSDC (Defence Storage and Distribution Centre) Stafford, subsequently known as DSDC North. In later years, due to Government policy, there were many changes for RAF Stafford and airmen and airwomen began to relocate to other sites. On 17 December 2004 the Mountain Rescue Team relocated to RAF Valley after 42 years with RAF Stafford. During September 2005 DSDC North was closed and on 31 March 2006 RAF Stafford closed after 67 years.

The site was given a new future by the Ministry of Defence who required the Army to occupy the base and it was given a new name: Beacon Barracks, MOD Stafford. A major redevelopment of the site took place with new buildings and facilities for troops transferring to Stafford. Additionally a new estate of over 340 houses was created on one of the former Storage sites opposite to the Beacon Barracks main entrance.

Copyright for this image belongs to MOD Stafford (Ministry of Defence) and it may not be used for resale or commercial purposes without MOD Stafford’s express permission.


Timeline

The timeline shows resources around this location over a number of years.

1940s
Battle of Britain Parade by RAF Stafford
Battle of Britain Parade by RAF Stafford

The Mayor of Stafford, Alderman Mrs Ruth Turney (Mayor in 1946, 1947 and 1948) is ...

1970s
Battle of Britain Parade by RAF Stafford
Battle of Britain Parade by RAF Stafford

Pictured during a Battle of Britain Parade are RAF Stafford personnel marching from ...

2000s
Freedom of Entry into the Borough Parade with RAF Stafford
Freedom of Entry into the Borough Parade with RAF Stafford

On a sunny winter's day RAF Stafford service personnel march from Gaolgate Street ...

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Creators: MOD Stafford (The Ministry of Defence) - Contributor

Donor ref:The-Queen-Mother-1953--(2) (198/27785)

Copyright information: Copyrights to all resources are retained by the individual rights holders. They have kindly made their collections available for non-commercial private study & educational use. Re-distribution of resources in any form is only permitted subject to strict adherence to the usage guidelines.