Royal Air Force Thruxton or more simply RAF Thruxton 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 located west of

Andover Andover may refer to: Places Australia * Andover, Tasmania Canada * Andover Parish, New Brunswick * Perth-Andover, New Brunswick United Kingdom * Andover, Hampshire, England ** RAF Andover, a former Royal Air Force station United States * Ando ...

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

and about southwest of

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. Opened in 1942, it was used by both the

and

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

. During the war Thruxton was used primarily as a combat fighter airfield. However, paratroops who participated in the Bruneval raid (

Operation Biting Operation Biting, also known as the Bruneval Raid, was a British Combined Operations raid on a German coastal radar installation at Bruneval in northern France, during the Second World War, on the night . Several of these installations were id ...

) in which German radar technology was captured took off from here in

Armstrong Whitworth Whitley The Armstrong Whitworth A.W.38 Whitley was a British medium bomber aircraft of the 1930s. It was one of three twin-engined, front line medium bomber types that were in service with the Royal Air Force (RAF) at the outbreak of the Second World ...

bombers on the evening of 27 February 1942. Also, gliders used in the

D-day landings 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 ...

operated from here. After the war it was closed in 1946. Today the site is occupied by the

Thruxton Circuit The Thruxton Circuit is a motor-racing circuit located near the village of Thruxton in Hampshire, England, United Kingdom, about 30 miles north of Southampton. It has hosted motorsport events including the British Touring Car Championship, B ...

. It remains an active aerodrome at the same time, now named

Thruxton Aerodrome Thruxton Aerodrome is located in Thruxton, west of Andover, in Hampshire, England. The airfield was opened in 1942 as RAF Thruxton. Postwar, it was reopened by the Wiltshire School of Flying in 1947, and private and club flying operations co ...

History

While under

(USAAF) control, it was known as USAAF Station AAF-407 for security reasons, and by which it was referred to instead of location. Its station-ID was "TX". Thruxton was transferred to the USAAF Ninth Air Force on 3 January 1944. On 1 March the

366th Fighter Group 366th may refer to: *366th Bombardment Squadron, inactive United States Air Force unit *366th Division (IDF), also known as the "Path of Fire" Division, a reserve armored division of the IDF *366th Fighter Squadron, inactive United States Air Force ...

with

Republic P-47 Thunderbolt The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt is a World War II-era fighter aircraft produced by the American company Republic Aviation from 1941 through 1945. It was a successful high-altitude fighter and it also served as the foremost American fighter-bombe ...

s were transferred to the airfield from

RAF Membury Royal Air Force Membury or more simply RAF Membury is a former Royal Air Force station built in the civil parish of Lambourn in Berkshire, England. The airfield is located approximately north-northwest of Hungerford, at the Membury services s ...

. Operational squadrons of the group were: *

389th Fighter Squadron The 389th Fighter Squadron is part of the 366th Fighter Wing at Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho. It operates McDonnell Douglas F-15E Strike Eagle aircraft conducting close air support. Mission Perform close air support, interdiction, s ...

(A6) *

390th Fighter Squadron 39 may refer to: * 39 (number), the natural number following 38 and preceding 40 * one of the years: ** 39 BC ** AD 39 ** 1939 ** 2039 * ''39'' (album), a 2000 studio album by Mikuni Shimokawa * "'39", a 1975 song by Queen * "Thirty Nine", a ...

(B2) *

391st Fighter Squadron The 391st Fighter Squadron is part of the 366th Fighter Wing at Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho. The squadron participated in combat missions in World War II and the Vietnam War, provided air defense in Korea and Japan from 1968 to 1971, an ...

(A8) The 366th was a group of

Ninth Air Force The Ninth Air Force (Air Forces Central) is a Numbered Air Force of the United States Air Force headquartered at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina. It is the Air Force Service Component of United States Central Command (USCENTCOM), a joint De ...

71st Fighter Wing The 71st Fighter Wing (71 FW) is a disbanded unit of the United States Air Force, last stationed at Lambert Field, St. Louis, Missouri. It was withdrawn from the Missouri Air National Guard (MO ANG) and inactivated on 31 October 1950. This win ...

IX Tactical Air Command The IX Tactical Air Command was a formation of the United States Army Air Forces. It fought in the European theater of World War II. Its last assignment was at Camp Shanks, New York, where it was inactivated on 25 October 1945. History Formed ...

. The group moved to its

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) at St. Pierre du Mont,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

(ALG A-1) on 17 June 1944 .

Units

The following units were here at some point:

Current use

Upon its release from military use, in 1947 the field was leased by the Wiltshire School of Flying, whose engineering arm designed and built numbers of the Thruxton Jackeroo - a four-seat conversion of the DH82 Tiger Moth. Over the next few years their training fleet was joined at Thruxton by substantial numbers of light aircraft. Flight training at the airfield is now provided by Western Air (Thruxton) Ltd at what is now known as Thruxton Airport. The southwest end of the former 02/20 secondary runway is now used as an aircraft parking ramp with the airport facilities also being built on the former runway. The northeast end of the runway still exists, but is largely abandoned, with parts of it also used for aircraft parking. The airport uses part of the former main 07/25 wartime runway for takeoffs/ landings. A grass runway was built parallel to the 12/30 secondary runway, the wartime concreted runway being in a deteriorating state and unused. Thruxton airfield is also the operational airfield for Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance service.

Motorcycle racing Motorcycle racing (also called moto racing and motorbike racing) is the motorcycle sport of racing motorcycles. Major varieties include motorcycle road racing and off-road racing, both either on circuits or open courses, and track racing. Ot ...

started in 1950 with the famous

Thruxton 500 The Thruxton 500 was a motorcycle endurance race for production based road machines, covering 500 miles and ridden by a team of two riders per machine. The first event was a 9-hour race which took place in 1955, organized by the Southampton and Dist ...

motorcycle endurance race, followed by

cars A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded as t ...

in 1952. The runway and perimeter roads formed the original circuit until a new track was laid in 1968 utilizing the former airfield perimeter track At 2.356 miles (3.792 km), the new circuit uses only the perimeter road with the addition of a chicane called Club and a series of three tight corners called Campbell, Cobb and Seagrave. All of the loop and pan dispersal areas have been removed. There is no flying on race days but the airfield is used for flying during practice and test days on the motor circuit.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* Freeman, Roger A. (1994) UK Airfields of the Ninth: Then and Now 1994. After the Battle * Freeman, Roger A. (1996) The Ninth Air Force in Colour: UK and the Continent-World War Two. After the Battle * Maurer, Maurer (1983). Air Force Combat Units Of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. .
Thruxton Airfield
at www.controltowers.co.uk

External links

Photographs of RAF Thruxton from the Geograph British Isles project
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thruxton Airfields of the IX Fighter Command in the United Kingdom Military units and formations established in 1941 Military units and formations disestablished in 1946 Parachuting in the United Kingdom Royal Air Force stations in Hampshire Royal Air Force stations of World War II in the United Kingdom