RAF little Rissington was the home to the Central Flying School (CFS) from 1946 to 1976 when the station closed down.

Patrick the Pelican was the school mascot (1962) and resided at Birdland, Bourton on the Water when not on official duty.

The RAF CFS Aerobatic Team was named the Red Pelicans and was a forerunner to the Red Arrows.

During the 1960s RAF Little Rissington had an active Amateur Radio Club which operated from a building adjacent to the Officers Mess; the picture above shows an impressive array of equipment being operated by Ron Tucker G3KTC, one of the founder members.

 

In 1997 the domestic site at RAF Little Rissington was sold to property developers; married quarters were modified and sold; and additional houses were built in what became Upper Rissington Village. The Officers Mess was derilict for a number of years but is now being developed into domestic housing.The former RAF Technical Site became a Business Park but following a lengthy planning battle, most of the former RAF buildings were demolished in 2013 to make way for a development of 364 houses. The former RAF hangars were removed one by one. The Aerodrome remains RAF Little Rissington and is operated by Air Cadets. New accommodation has recently been built for 637 Volunteer Gliding Squadron which is now equipped with Viking winch launched gliders but is totally lacking in instructors!

In order to preserve some RAF Station history, an application to reactivate the Station Amateur Radio Club callsign G3NGZ was made to OFCOM. In April 2015 the licence was reissued in the name of the Pelican Radio Group comprising of G3TSO; G0NXA and G3YYH