Royal Air Force Little Horwood or more simply RAF Little Horwood 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 Station may refer to: Agriculture * Station (Australian agriculture), a large Australian landholding used for livestock production * Station (New Zealand agriculture), a large New Zealand farm used for grazing by sheep and cattle ** Cattle statio ...

. It was established 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 ...

, and is located on the site of Greenway Farm in Aylesbury Vale, north east

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

. The airfield sits within a triangle formed by

Little Horwood Little Horwood is a village and civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England, within the Buckinghamshire Council unitary authority area. The village is about four miles east-south-east of Buckingham and two miles north-east of Winslow. Heritage T ...

Great Horwood Great Horwood is a small village and is also a civil parish within the unitary authority area of Buckinghamshire, England with a population of about 1025 people (2001 Census). It is about five miles ESE of Buckingham, six miles WSW of Milton ...

, and

Winslow Winslow may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Winslow, Buckinghamshire, England, a market town and civil parish * Winslow Rural District, Buckinghamshire, a rural district from 1894 to 1974 United States and Canada * Rural Municipality of Winslo ...

. It was in operation from September 1942 until January 1946. It is now mostly returned to agricultural use.

History

The airfield was established as a base for Operational - Replacement Training Units to train recruits for combat and also for "nickelling", the dropping of propaganda leaflets. The airfield went operational on 2 September 1942 and served as a satellite for

RAF Wing Royal Air Force Wing or more simply RAF Wing is a former Royal Air Force Bomber Command Operational Training Unit station, situated just west of the village of Wing, in the Aylesbury Vale district of Buckinghamshire. History Construction RAF ...

. The runway was built of rubble from bomb damaged London.

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 ...

Bombers from

No. 26 OTU Royal Air Force Operational Training Units (OTUs) were training units that prepared aircrew for operations on a particular type or types of aircraft or roles. OTUs ; No. 1 (Coastal) Operational Training Unit RAF (1 OTU): The Unit was formed in ...

arrived along with OTU Gunnery section and the 92 Group Communications flight to commence the basic training of recruits. No. 1684 OTU Bomber Defence Training Flight moved to Little Horwood on 5 June 1943 and simulation battles were undertaken using

Curtiss Tomahawk The Curtiss P-40 Warhawk is an American single-engined, single-seat, all-metal fighter and ground-attack aircraft that first flew in 1938. The P-40 design was a modification of the previous Curtiss P-36 Hawk which reduced development time an ...

aircraft. Flying ended at Little Horwood on 30 November 1945 with the remnants of No. 26 OTU remaining until January 1946. On 7 August 1943, a Wellington Bomber X3790 from the airfield crashed into Winslow town centre killing four crew and 13 civilians. The site has been subject to several major development proposals in recent years, but these have not been well received locally and have all been rejected.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Little Horwood Royal Air Force stations in Buckinghamshire Royal Air Force stations of World War II in the United Kingdom