Royal Air Force Broadwell or more simply RAF Broadwell 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) and ...

station located 2 miles north of Broadwell and 3 miles southeast of

Burford Burford () is a town on the River Windrush, in the Cotswolds, Cotswold hills, in the West Oxfordshire district of Oxfordshire, England. It is often referred to as the 'gateway' to the Cotswolds. Burford is located west of Oxford and southeas ...

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 ...

, and within 2 miles of

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 station ...

. It opened on 15 November 1943, operating under

RAF Transport Command RAF Transport Command was a Royal Air Force command that controlled all transport aircraft of the RAF. It was established on 25 March 1943 by the renaming of the RAF Ferry Command, and was subsequently renamed RAF Air Support Command in 1967. ...

, and closed on 31 March 1947. It had three concrete runways in a triangular configuration.

History

No. 512 Squadron and No. 575 Squadron were based here, flying the

Douglas Dakota The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota ( RAF, RAAF, RCAF, RNZAF, and SAAF designation) is a military transport aircraft developed from the civilian Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the Allies during World War II and remained in ...

. In February 1944, No. 512 Squadron was transferred to No. 46 Group at RAF Broadwell. It was a tactical Dakota squadron and started training glider towing and parachute dropping. Its first operation in the new role was a leaflet drop on 17 April 1944 over France; this was followed by intensive flying in and out of France, including dropping parachutists at

Arnhem Arnhem ( or ; german: Arnheim; South Guelderish: ''Èrnem'') is a city and municipality situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands about 55 km south east of Utrecht. It is the capital of the province of Gelderland, located on both banks of ...

. In fact, 512 Squadron can claim that they were the first planes over on D Day as 3 Dakotas piloted by Fl Lt Hyde, W.O. James Proctor and a C Flight Flying Officer dropped a specialist team at 00.02 on 6 June to try and disrupt the Merville Battery before the main assault. Broadwell took part in the

D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D ...

assaults alongside nearby

RAF Down Ampney Royal Air Force Down Ampney or more simply RAF Down Ampney is a former Royal Air Force station located north east of Cricklade, Wiltshire and south west of RAF Fairford, Gloucestershire. The airfield operated during the Second World War from F ...

and

RAF Blakehill Farm Royal Air Force Blakehill Farm or more simply RAF Blakehill Farm is a former Royal Air Force station southwest of Cricklade in Wiltshire, England, operational between 1944 and 1952. History The station was originally allocated to the United S ...

. On the eve of D-Day, No. 575 Squadron dropped 5 Para into the invasion drop zone. On 6 June, it towed 21

Horsa glider The Airspeed AS.51 Horsa was a British troop-carrying glider used during the Second World War. It was developed and manufactured by Airspeed Limited, alongside various subcontractors; the type was named after Horsa, the legendary 5th-century c ...

s into France. In the next few weeks it started a casualty evacuation service from France back to England. In September 1944, it was involved in operations at Arnhem where the squadron suffered severe casualties. The airfield continued to be a terminus for long-range transport operations to Europe, the Middle East and India. The following units were here at some point: * No. 6 (RCAF) Casualty Air Evacuation Unit * No. 10 Squadron RAF * No. 21 Heavy Glider Conversion Unit RAF *

No. 76 Squadron RAF Number 76 Squadron was a squadron of the Royal Air Force. It was formed during World War I as a home defence fighter squadron and in its second incarnation during World War II flew as a bomber squadron, first as an operational training unit and ...

No. 77 Squadron RAF No. 77 Squadron RAF was a squadron of the Royal Air Force which was active in various incarnations between 1916 and 1963. History No. 77 Squadron was formed on 1 October 1916 at Edinburgh, and was equipped with B.E.2 and B.E.12 aircraft. The squ ...

* No. 91 (Forward) Staging Post * No. 92 (Forward) Staging Post * No. 94 (Forward) Staging Post * No. 104 Terminal Staging Post * No. 105 (Major) Staging Post * No. 126 Staging Post *

No. 271 Squadron RAF No. 271 Squadron of the Royal Air Force was operational for two periods; a few brief months between 27 September 1918 and 9 December 1918 operating flying boats to protect shipping from German U-boats, and between 28 March 1940 and 1 December 19 ...

No. 512 Squadron RAF No. 512 Squadron was a Second World War Royal Air Force transport squadron. History No. 512 Squadron was formed on 18 June 1943 from the Dakota element of 24 Squadron at RAF Hendon. It operated on supply routes from the United Kingdom to Gibral ...

No. 575 Squadron RAF No. 575 Squadron RAF was a transport squadron of the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. History The squadron was formed at RAF Hendon on 1 February 1944 from elements of 512 Squadron. Just two weeks later it moved to RAF Broadwell to ...

No. 2792 Squadron RAF Regiment This is a list of units of the Royal Air Force Regiment. The RAF Regiment is the ground fighting force of the Royal Air Force and is charged mainly with protecting military airfields, among other duties. First formed in 1942 to protect the airfi ...

No. 2807 Squadron RAF Regiment This is a list of units of the Royal Air Force Regiment. The RAF Regiment is the ground fighting force of the Royal Air Force and is charged mainly with protecting military airfields, among other duties. First formed in 1942 to protect the airfi ...

Current use

The site has returned to farmland and has a large solar farm covering it.

References

External links

''D-Day on the Cotswolds''

History at aeroresource.co.uk
{{Commons category-inline, RAF Broadwell Broadwell