RAF Shellingford 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 ...

station located approximately 4 miles east of the town of

Faringdon Faringdon is a historic market town in the Vale of White Horse, Oxfordshire, England, south-west of Oxford, north-west of Wantage and east-north-east of Swindon. It extends to the River Thames in the north; the highest ground is on the Rid ...

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 ...

. It occupied land adjacent to the

A417 road The A417 is a main road in England running from Streatley, Berkshire to Hope under Dinmore, Herefordshire. It is best known for its section between Cirencester and Gloucester where it has primary status and forms part of the link between the ma ...

, between the villages of

Shellingford Shellingford, historically also spelt Shillingford, is a village and civil parish about south-east of Faringdon in the Vale of White Horse in Oxfordshire, England. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 Local Government Act transferred it to ...

and Stanford-in-the-Vale. Much of the former aerodrome has now been given over to

quarrying A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to reduce their environ ...

activities, where significant sand and gravel deposits continue to be extracted to this day. Some of the original technical buildings still exist, and can be seen from the road. Other parts of the aerodrome are given over to

agricultural Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating Plant, plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of Sedentism, sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of Domestication, domesticated species created food ...

use, and a small industrial estate occupies the remainder of the site.

Military use

RAF Shellingford was opened for use as a practice landing field for Elementary Flying Training in 1931, the aerodrome being of grass. It opened for night flying 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 ...

on 25 September 1941. No. 3 Elementary Flying Training School RAF were located at RAF Shellingford with some 56

de Havilland Tiger Moth The de Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth is a 1930s British biplane designed by Geoffrey de Havilland and built by the de Havilland Aircraft Company. It was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and other operators as a primary trainer aircraft. ...

s and a communal site was established for all ranks at nearby Stanford-in-the-Vale. British Army pilots trained here as glider pilots from 1943, the base being one of many assisting in the training of

Airspeed Horsa 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 ...

Glider pilots in preparation for 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 ...

landings of 1944. No. 3 Maintenance Unit RAF was also here at some point.

Royal Netherlands Air Force , colours = , colours_label = , march = ''Parade March of the Royal Netherlands Air Force'' , mascot = , anniversaries = , equipment ...

pilots also received training at Shellingford in 1946. No. 3 EFTS departed in 1948, the aerodrome closing on 31 March 1948 as the RAF gradually wound down following the war. However, the airfield was re-opened briefly for use by the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

in the 1950s. USAF 7568 Material Squadron provided radar maintenance for the 32nd Antiaircraft Artillery Brigade whose task was to provide the air defence for all USAF SAC bases in the UK. RAF Shellingford closed to the USAF in early 1957 with the 7568 MS moving to

Denham Film Studios Denham Film Studios was a British film production studio operating from 1936 to 1952, founded by Alexander Korda. Notable films made at Denham include ''Brief Encounter'' and David Lean's '' Great Expectations''. From the 1950s to the 1970s t ...

, near

Uxbridge Uxbridge () is a suburban town in west London and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Hillingdon. Situated west-northwest of Charing Cross, it is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Uxbrid ...

, as the 7500 Air Base Group.

References

External links

World War II Airfields of OxfordshireStanford in the Vale Website
{{Vale of White Horse Shelling Military installations closed in 1957