Silverstone- From RAF Bombers to Formula One cars.

Silverstone. Now home to British motorsport. But before all of that - it was home to the royal airforce.

In 1943 RAF Silverstone in Northamptonshire opened its runways for bomber command. Britain had already been at war 4 years. This base added to the network of Raf bases in the country

It was home to No. 17 Operational Training Unit. This is where pilots and crews were trained before heading to front line bases. The Pilots trained there mainly on Vickers Wellingtons, a medium bomber heavily used early in the war.

Like many bomber stations, Silverstone had the distinctive “A” shape runway pattern

Some of those runways still define the shape of the modern F1 track!

Perimeter tracks and dispersal areas (where bombers were parked) also influenced how the circuit developed.

Crews trained in day and night operations, including navigation and bombing runs.

As a training base, the station saw heavy use with a lot of young crews coming through the gates, but it also saw many accidents — training was dangerous, and the Wellingtons were often flown hard.

After the war the Raf left the base in 1946

The abandoned runways and perimeter tracks were spotted by locals, who in 1947 started racing cars around them in an unofficial event. Which they named the mutton Grand Prix- as the airfield was now home to sheep, and one got ran over in the race

By 1948, the RAC (Royal Automobile Club) officially organised the first Grand Prix there, and Silverstone went on to become the home of British motor racing.