Apologies for such a late reply but I just came across this online:
The sheds were originally intended to form part of an Aircraft Acceptance Park (AAP) where aircraft sent from America were to be assembled and accommodated but instead, a Royal Flying Corps training station – known after June 1918 as the No. 4 Training Depot Station (TDS)20 – was established at Hooton on 19th September 1917, replacing one at Tern Hill, Shropshire. The station was intended to be used to train Canadian and American pilots for the Royal Flying Corps following America’s entry into the war in April 1917. Three training squadrons, equipped with 36 Sopwith Dolphins and 36 Avro 504s, were stationed at No. 4 TDS, each unit accommodated in one of the three GS sheds.22 The 1918 RAF Quarterly Survey report gives a total of 839 personnel at the station.
The TDS was one of 63 established during the course of the war. It encompassed a total
of 200 acres, 70 of which were covered by station buildings while the former racecourse
was used as an airfield. Like all TDSs, the site was split into two areas: the regimental
buildings which included the officers’ mess, women’s room and hostel, and the technical
buildings. The technical side was separated into sections for aircraft, ground instruction,
motor vehicles and services and included a wide range of support buildings, including
the aircraft sheds. The officers’ mess was accommodated in Hooton Hall while the
women’s rest room and hostel were built in another part of the station. Unfortunately,
none of these domestic buildings survive at Hooton today.
An aerial photograph taken on 18th May 1918, showing the southern part of the
aerodrome with aeroplanes on the airfield, suggests that the station was in use by this
date .
