No. 3 Stores Depot, RFC, Milton, Berkshire

[Pauline Cakebread]

I am researching and recording the history of the 'Milton Depot' in Berkshire and hoping to publish this in due course. It existed from 1916 to 1958 and played a key role in the early establishment of the RFC and its transition into the RAF.  All information relating to this gratefully received and any enquiries welcome.

[KizmeRD]

Didcot was well connected to the rail network and so offered easy access to all parts of the country, therefore, in 1915, the Army chose it as a location for a new Ordnance Depot (built out to the north-west of the town) in order to supply the Royal Flying Corps. It opened in April 1916 and originally took the name Milton (Steventon) servicing the needs of nearby flying training stations at Upper Heyford, Bicester, Witney, Weston-on-the-Green and Oxford (Port Meadow). 

By the end of WWI, it officially became ‘No. 3 Stores Depot, South-Eastern Area, RAF’, or simply ‘Milton Depot’. Rapid contraction of the RAF after the war led to a reduction in the number of depots required to support it; Milton was one of only three to survive - later in  1938 it was re-designated 3 MU.

MB

Edited 28 May by KizmeRD

[RobertBr]

Is that now the storage facility on the Steventon to East Hanny Road?

Bob

[Moonraker]

No, that was separate to the Milton facility and was a Home Office defence and supply store, at one time holding "Green Goddess" ambulances for use in a  national emergency. Between the two rows of huts there used to be a siding off the main railway line.

[KizmeRD]

The site of the former RAF Milton Depot is the area known today as Milton Park (the trading estate).

MB