Royal Air Force Northleach or more simply RAF Northleach 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 ...

satellite airfield near the Cotswold town of Northleach,

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

. Though named after the nearby town the land the airfield occupied was located in the nearby parishes of

Hampnett Hampnett is a small village and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England, just west of the Fosse Way. It is situated west of the junction of the A40 and A429 roads in the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. A number of springs in t ...

and Turkdean. Constructed during 1941 the airfield was designated an emergency landing ground until July 1942 when it was assigned to

No. 3 Glider Training School RAF This is a list of Royal Air Force glider units. Gliding Schools +data 1-100 100-200 200-700 Volunteer Gliding Schools +data Other Glider units +data * Home Command Gliding Instructors School became Home Command Gliding Centre became ...

from nearby

RAF Stoke Orchard Royal Air Force Stoke Orchard or more simply RAF Stoke Orchard is a former Royal Air Force station near the village of Stoke Orchard, north west of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire during the Second World War. History The airfield was developed in ...

which provided basic elementary training for pilots of the

Glider Pilot Regiment The Glider Pilot Regiment was a British airborne forces unit of the Second World War, which was responsible for crewing the British Army's military gliders and saw action in the European theatre in support of Allied airborne operations. Establish ...

. During September 1942 the airfield was used to train soldiers of the

RAF Regiment The Royal Air Force Regiment (RAF Regiment) is part of the Royal Air Force and functions as a specialist corps. Founded by royal warrant in 1942, the Corps carries out soldiering tasks relating to the delivery of air power. Examples of such ta ...

detachment from Stoke Orchard until they moved to Mythe Camp near

Tewkesbury Tewkesbury ( ) is a medieval market town and civil parish in the north of Gloucestershire, England. The town has significant history in the Wars of the Roses and grew since the building of Tewkesbury Abbey. It stands at the confluence of the Riv ...

. It then became a Relief Landing Ground (RLG) for RAF Stoke Orchard on 2 November 1942 with a flight of Miles Master II GT tug aircraft and Hotspur II gliders arriving on 16 November 1942. Flying training for men of the Glider Pilot Regiment began the very next day with the first course arriving by bus. During the winter of 1942 the flying surface of the airfield became so waterlogged that the airfield was unusable and all flying training returned to Stoke Orchard until February 1943. Flying continued at Northleach through the middle of 1943 but water-logging again became a problem resulting in an additional detachment being sent to

RAF Wanborough Royal Air Force Wanborough or more simply RAF Wanborough is a former Royal Air Force satellite airfield near Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The following units were here at some point: * No. 3 Elementary Flying Training School RAF * No. 3 Glider ...

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

to maintain the level of training. In May 1944 RAF Northleach was re-classified in status as a full satellite airfield but the planned upgrade to add additional hangars and services was not carried out. The winter of 1944 saw Northleach and Stoke Orchard yet again suffer from water-logging which resulted in the cessation of flying at Northleach and relocation to RAF Zeals,

on 21 October 1944. This would be the last time the airfield was used for flying. On 11 January 1945 No. 3 Glider Training School left RAF Stoke Orchard and RAF Northleach for good, relocating to

RAF Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

and its satellite of

RAF Culmhead Royal Air Force Culmhead or more simply RAF Culmhead is a former Royal Air Force station, situated at Churchstanton on the Blackdown Hills in Somerset, England. It had three tarmac runways that are now in poor condition and the control towers a ...

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

. RAF Northleach was placed under "Care and Maintenance" thereafter until the site was de-requisitioned and wholly abandoned by the RAF in May 1946.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Northleach Royal Air Force stations in Gloucestershire