Royal Air Force Gaydon or more simply RAF Gaydon is a former Royal Air Force station located east of Wellesbourne, Warwickshire and north west of Banbury, Oxfordshire, England. RAF Gaydon opened in 1942 and is known for its role during the Cold War, when it was under the control of RAF Bomber Command as it was the first Royal Air Force (RAF) station to receive the Vickers Valiant when No. 138 Squadron RAF re-formed here in 1955. In 1978, the site passed into civilian ownership and today contains the British Motor Museum, the headquarters and factory of automobile manufacturer Aston Martin, and the Jaguar Land Rover Gaydon Centre. History Second World War The airfield was used extensively during the Second World War, being opened in July 1942 and was immediately occupied by No. 12 Operational Training Unit (OTU) as a satellite of RAF Chipping Warden operating Vickers Wellingtons and Avro Ansons training pilots from a number of Allied nations, but mainly Canadian, Czech and New Zealanders. The OTU took newly qualified crew members and taught them how to fly on operations, including small courses about navigation. The airfield was also used by No. 22 OTU from July 1943 as a satellite from the main base of RAF Wellesbourne Mountford using Wellingtons and Ansons. No. 22 OTU while at Gaydon conducted bombing and air sea rescue operations helping to aid the allied war effort. A small unit the No. 312 Ferry Training Unit RAF (FTU) was deployed there training pilots to be employed in ferrying aircraft overseas. Working on an airfield where the training of pilots was taking place was extremely dangerous because of the inexperience of the crews and the worn condition of their aircraft. The OTU Wellingtons were subject to hard use and this resulted in many accidents. The aircraft were often flown in harsh weather conditions both on UK training sorties and on operations over Northern Europe. The airfield was based upon the standard Class A airfield for wartime operations with pan dispersals and concrete runways. The runway pattern was aligned with prevailing winds to assist take-offs and landings. The airfield originally had a standard bomber type control tower which was demolished sometime before 1955. Postwar Immediately after the war, training bomber crews ceased on 1 July 1945 with No. 3 Glider Training School RAF moving in shortly from RAF Exeter with General Aircraft Hotspurs, Tiger Moths, Airspeed