Royal Air Force Barford St John or RAF Barford St John is a

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) and ...

station just north of the village of

Barford St. John Barford St. John is a small village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Barford St. John and St. Michael, in the Cherwell district, in the county of Oxfordshire, England. It is on the north bank of the River Swere, about south of ...

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

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 is now a non-flying facility, operated by the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

as a communications centre with many large communications aerials, and is a satellite of

RAF Croughton Royal Air Force Croughton or more simply RAF Croughton is a Royal Air Force station which is currently a United States Air Force communications station in Northamptonshire, England. It is southeast of the village of Croughton. The station is ...

History

RAF use

RAF Barford St John was opened on 30 July 1941 as a training facility for

RAF Flying Training Command Flying Training Command was an organization of the Royal Air Force; it controlled flight training units. The command's headquarters were at Shinfield Park, Reading in Berkshire. History Flying Training Command was formed from the elements of ...

. It had three grass runways, used primarily by Airspeed Oxfords of

No. 15 Service Flying Training School RAF Fifteen or 15 may refer to: *15 (number), the natural number following 14 and preceding 16 *one of the years 15 BC, AD 15, 1915, 2015 Music *Fifteen (band), a punk rock band Albums * ''15'' (Buckcherry album), 2005 * ''15'' (Ani Lorak album ...

from RAF Kidlington. The airfield was rebuilt as an

RAF Bomber Command RAF Bomber Command controlled the Royal Air Force's bomber forces from 1936 to 1968. Along with the United States Army Air Forces, it played the central role in the strategic bombing of Germany in World War II. From 1942 onward, the British bo ...

airfield with paved runways and night operations equipment and reopened as a satellite for RAF Upper Heyford in December 1942. In 1943 the station served as flight test centre for its Gloster E.28/39 and Gloster Meteor jet aircraft. Bomber Command and No. 16 Operational Training Unit was stationed there with

Vickers Wellington The Vickers Wellington was a British twin-engined, long-range medium bomber. It was designed during the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey. Led by Vickers-Armstrongs' chief designer Rex Pierson; a key feature of the aircraft is its g ...

s until December 1944. No. 1655 Mosquito Training Unit RAF replaced the Wellingtons at that time. After the war the airfield was closed in 1946 and placed into care and maintenance. The site was used for some background filming for the 1949 film ''

Twelve O'Clock High ''Twelve O'Clock High'' is a 1949 American war film about aircrews in the United States Army's Eighth Air Force, who flew daylight bombing missions against Germany and Occupied France during the early days of American involvement in World War II ...

''. The following units were also there at some point: * No. 4 Squadron RAF * Satellite for

No. 21 Heavy Glider Conversion Unit RAF Conversion units and operational conversion units (OCUs) were training units of the Royal Air Force (RAF). History With the introduction of new heavy bombers, the four-engined Short Stirling, Avro Lancaster, and Handley Page Halifax, the Roya ...

(December 1944) *

No. 169 Squadron RAF No. 169 Squadron RAF was a tactical reconnaissance and later a night intruder squadron of the Royal Air Force during World War II. History No. 169 squadron was formed on 15 June 1942 at RAF Twinwood Farm as a tactical reconnaissance squadron f ...

No. 170 Squadron RAF No. 170 Squadron RAF was a Second World War Royal Air Force squadron that operated the North American Mustang in the fighter-reconnaissance role and later the Avro Lancaster as part of Bomber Command. History The squadron was formed at RAF We ...

USAF use

In 1951 the

opened a communications (transmitter) centre on the airfield. The site has a Scope Signal III installation which was used to modernize "Giant Talk",

Strategic Air Command Strategic Air Command (SAC) was both a United States Department of Defense Specified Command and a United States Air Force (USAF) Major Command responsible for command and control of the strategic bomber and intercontinental ballistic missile ...

's world-wide command and controls network, which operates from

References

Citations

Bibliography