Royal Air Force Akeman Street or more simply RAF Akeman Street is a former
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...
Relief Landing Ground located north east of
Minster Lovell
Minster Lovell is a village and civil parish on the River Windrush about west of Witney in Oxfordshire. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 1,409. Minster Lovell village has three parts: Old Minster, Little Minster and New ...
,
Oxfordshire,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. It was named after the
Roman road which crosses the airfield.
The airfield was a Relief Landing Ground (RLG) for
RAF Brize Norton
Royal Air Force Brize Norton or RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, about west north-west of London, is the largest station of the Royal Air Force. It is close to the village of Brize Norton, and the towns of Carterton and Witney.
The statio ...
, with building starting in 1939 and opening on 10 July 1940. Active flying stopped on 15 August 1945, and the site was closed on 1 February 1947.
Based units
Units that used the airfield were
No. 2 Service Flying Training School RAF (2 SFTS)
from Brize Norton with
Airspeed Oxford
The Airspeed AS.10 Oxford is a twin-engine monoplane aircraft developed and manufactured by Airspeed. It saw widespread use for training British Commonwealth aircrews in navigation, radio-operating, bombing and gunnery roles throughout the Seco ...
aircraft and then
No. 6 (Pilots) Advanced Flying Unit RAF
No. 6 Flying Training School RAF is a Flying Training School (FTS) within No. 22 (Training) Group of the Royal Air Force that delivers flying training to University Air Squadrons and Air Experience Flights.
History
The school was formed by renam ...
based at
RAF Little Rissington
RAF Little Rissington is an RAF aerodrome and RAF station in Gloucestershire, England. It was once home to the Central Flying School, the Vintage Pair and the Red Arrows.
Built during the 1930s, the station was opened in 1938 and closed in ...
(later became 6 SFTS) between 1942 and 1945.
Other unit posted to the site included a sub site of
No. 3 Maintenance Unit RAF between 9 April 1938 and January 1947 and a sub site of
No. 21 Heavy Glider Conversion Unit RAF.
A German bombing raid on Brize Norton on 16 August 1940 forced the Advanced Training Squadron to move to Akeman Street.
Current use
Little of the 10 Blister hangars and single large
Bellman hangar remain today.
See also
*
List of former Royal Air Force stations
This list of former RAF stations includes most of the stations, airfields and administrative headquarters previously used by the Royal Air Force.
The stations are listed under any former county or country name which was appropriate for the du ...
References
External links
Photographs from Airfields of Oxfordshire (2005)
Royal Air Force stations in Oxfordshire
Defunct airports in England
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