RAF Watnall

RAF Watnall
Near Watnall, Nottinghamshire in England
RAF Watnall Shown within Nottinghamshire
Coordinates	53°01′N 1°16′W / 53.01°N 1.26°W / 53.01; -1.26Coordinates: 53°01′N 1°16′W / 53.01°N 1.26°W / 53.01; -1.26
Type	Royal Air Force station
Site information
Owner	Air Ministry
Operator	Royal Air Force
Site history
Built	1939 (1939)
In use	1939-1945 (1945)
Battles/wars	Battle of Britain No.12 Group Fighter Command, Europe December 1939 - May 1945

RAF Watnall was the operational headquarters of No. 12 Group, RAF Fighter Command in Nottinghamshire.

The station was established in Spring 1940 to act as headquarters for No. 12 Group whose area encompassed the Midlands, Norfolk, Lincolnshire and North Wales. The operations room, whose staff were responsible for directing RAF aircraft in the No. 12 Group area, was located in a bunker which is now flooded. It was fully operational by 1940 and closed in 1946.

The filter room, where large quantities of intelligence on enemy activity were filtered before being passed to the operations room, was located in a separate block and did not open until 1943. After the war it continued to be used as an early warning centre until it closed in 1961.

The filter block was sold by auction in 2008 and is now being redeveloped as a hotel. An episode of The Restoration Man presented by George Clarke, which was aired on Channel 4 on 12 February 2014, described the progress of the development.