Newly formed RAF Regiment takes over Alma Park

GUARDING airfields in early wartime Britain had been a bit of an amateurish affair.
There was little in the way of anti-aircraft weaponry, it was run by an administration department and generally run by NCOs.
The big leap forward came in February 1942 when the RAF Regiment was formed with a training school at Alma Park. There was a separate school for officer cadets.
There were already some 200 permanent military buildings there, from the First World War, being part of Belton Camp.
Put in charge was Major General Claude Liardet, already the Army’s Inspector of Aerodrome Defence.
Instructors from the Marines and Guards were drafted in to lick the recruits into shape.
The regiment moved to a new home at Catterick at the end of 1946.
The town council was given the use the former depot to house civilians.