Royal Air Force Blackbushe or more simply RAF Blackbushe is a former Royal Air Force station in

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...

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 ...

, 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 opposi ...

. It is now

Blackbushe Airport Blackbushe Airport is an operational general aviation airport in the civil parish of Yateley in the north-east corner of the English county of Hampshire. Built during the Second World War, Blackbushe is north of the A30 road between Camberley ...

History

The station was opened on 1 November 1942 as RAF Hartford Bridge and it was used throughout the remainder of

for reconnaissance, defence and strike operations using Supermarine Spitfires,

Douglas Boston The Douglas A-20 Havoc (company designation DB-7) is an American medium bomber, attack aircraft, night intruder, night fighter, and reconnaissance aircraft of World War II. Designed to meet an Army Air Corps requirement for a bomber, it was or ...

s and de Havilland Mosquitoes. It was also the home of the Free French Squadron (Lorraine). During the construction of the airfield, the already built runways were used for glider testing, including the massive

General Aircraft Hamilcar The General Aircraft Limited GAL. 49 Hamilcar or Hamilcar Mark I was a large British military glider produced during the Second World War, which was designed to carry heavy cargo, such as the Tetrarch or M22 Locust light tank. When the Britis ...

. A number of important people used the airfield including King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, Supreme Allied Commander U.S. General

Dwight D Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...

and British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery. Due to its geographical proximity to RAE Farnborough Royal Aircraft Establishment the airfield was used to develop the

Fog Investigation and Dispersal Operation (FIDO) Fog Investigation and Dispersal Operation (FIDO) (which was sometimes referred to as "Fog Intense Dispersal Operation" or "Fog, Intense Dispersal Of") was a system used for dispersing fog and pea soup fog (dense smog) from an airfield so that a ...

system to enable aircraft operations in heavy fog. The station was renamed to RAF Blackbushe on 18 November 1944 and it became an airfield for 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 ...

s of RAF Transport Command during the 1948 airlift during the

Berlin Blockade The Berlin Blockade (24 June 1948 – 12 May 1949) was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War. During the multinational occupation of post–World War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway, ro ...

. The RAF Station was closed on 15 November 1946 and in February 1947 the airfield became

under the control of the Ministry of Civil Aviation. During the 1950s the airfield saw increased used as a base for US Navy transport aircraft. Blackbushe was also considered during WWII in consultations to decide the site of London's post-war principal civil airport. It was only narrowly beaten by Heathrow; the winner was announced in 1944.

Units and aircraft (RAF Hartford Bridge)

Units and aircraft (RAF Blackbushe)

;Units:

American Aircraft in Royal Air Force Service 1939-1945- Consolidated Model 32 Liberator

Accidents and incidents

On 8 October 1945 a Consolidated B-24 Liberator GR.VI aircraft of

No. 311 (Czechoslovak) Squadron RAF No. 311 (Czechoslovak) Squadron RAF was a Czechoslovak-manned bomber squadron of the Royal Air Force in the Second World War. It was the RAF's only Czechoslovak-manned medium and heavy bomber squadron. It suffered the heaviest losses of any Cze ...

took off from Blackbushe on a flight to Ruzyně Airport, Prague. Five minutes later it crashed and burst into flames in a field at Elvetham, near

Hartley Wintney Hartley Wintney is a large village and civil parish in the Hart district of Hampshire, England. It lies about northwest of Fleet and east of Basingstoke. The parish includes the smaller contiguous village of Phoenix Green as well as the ham ...

, southwest of Blackbush. All 23 people aboard were Czechoslovak, and all were killed: five crew, 17 passengers and one stowaway. The passengers included nine women and five young children, the latter ranging from 18 months to three years old.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * Sturtivant, Ray,

ISO ISO is the most common abbreviation for the International Organization for Standardization. ISO or Iso may also refer to: Business and finance * Iso (supermarket), a chain of Danish supermarkets incorporated into the SuperBest chain in 2007 * Iso ...

and John Hamlin. ''RAF Flying Training And Support Units since 1912''. Tonbridge, Kent, UK: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd., 2007. . *

External links

RAF Blackbushe at controltowers.co.uk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blackbushe Royal Air Force stations in Hampshire Royal Air Force stations of World War II in the United Kingdom Military airbases established in 1942 Military installations closed in 1946 1942 establishments in England 1946 disestablishments in England