RAF Chailey was 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 ...

Advanced Landing Ground close to the village of

Chailey Chailey is a village and civil parish in the Lewes District of East Sussex, England. It is located 7 miles north of Lewes, on the A272 road from Winchester to Canterbury. The Prime Meridian passes just to the east of Chailey. The parish consists ...

near

Burgess Hill Burgess Hill is a town and civil parish in West Sussex, England, close to the border with East Sussex, on the edge of the South Downs National Park, south of London, north of Brighton and Hove, and northeast of the county town, Chichester. It ...

East Sussex East Sussex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England on the English Channel coast. It is bordered by Kent to the north and east, West Sussex to the west, and Surrey to the north-west. The largest settlement in East Su ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. It was an example of an

Advanced Landing Ground Advanced Landing Grounds (ALGs) were temporary advance airfields constructed by the Allies during World War II during the liberation of Europe. They were built in the UK prior to the invasion and thereafter in northwest Europe from 6 June 19 ...

(ALG), a type of simple, temporary airfield designed to support the invasion of continental Europe.

History

The airfield was on the site of Bower Farm, and was surveyed and commenced in 1942 by Fighter Command with the intention of creating a fighter station as part of the expansion following the

Battle of Britain The Battle of Britain, also known as the Air Battle for England (german: die Luftschlacht um England), was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defende ...

. It was not laid out until 1943, by which time the strategy was different and it was passed to the

RAF Second Tactical Air Force The RAF Second Tactical Air Force (2TAF) was one of three tactical air forces within the Royal Air Force (RAF) during and after the Second World War. It was made up of squadrons and personnel from the RAF, other British Commonwealth air forces, ...

to become an operating station for the invasion of continental Europe, codenamed

Operation Overlord Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allies of World War II, Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Front (World War II), Western Europe during World War II. The operat ...

. In order to construct the airfield, the RAF demolished the local pub, 'The Plough', which was at the end of the runway, and reconstructed it about half a mile away near Plumpton, and this is now the site of the RAF Chailey memorial. RAF Chailey hosted

No. 131 Airfield RAF No. 131 (Polish) (Fighter) Wing RAF is a former Royal Air Force Wing (military unit), wing that was operational during the World War II, Second World War, mainly staffed by Polish personnel as part of the Polish Air Forces in France and Great Br ...

which became No. 131 (Polish) Wing, with three squadrons:

302 __NOTOC__ Year 302 (CCCII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Constantius and Valerius or, less frequently, year 1055 ''Ab urbe condita''. The denomination ...

, 308 and 317.) The station's officer commanding was the highest ranking Pole in the RAF, Group Captain Aleksander Gabszewicz. The airfield was also host to No. 1312 Mobile Wing RAF Regiment The airfield was de-requisitioned in 1945 and returned to farm use.

References

Citations

Bibliography

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External links

Wikimapia map of RAF Chailey
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chailey Royal Air Force stations in West Sussex Battle of Britain Royal Air Force stations of World War II in the United Kingdom Plumpton, East Sussex