Royal Air Force Station Mount Farm or more simply RAF Mount Farm 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 north of Dorchester,

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 ...

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 ...

History

USAAF use

Mount Farm was originally a satellite airfield for the RAF Photographic Reconnaissance Unit at

RAF Benson Royal Air Force Benson or RAF Benson is a Royal Air Force (RAF) station located at Benson, near Wallingford, in South Oxfordshire, England. It is a front-line station and home to the RAF's fleet of Westland Puma HC2 support helicopters, use ...

. The airfield was originally a grass field, but concrete was laid for runway and aircraft parking purposes and for taxiways. All hangars were the blister type. The airfield became associated with the

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 ...

(USAAF) when, in February 1943 it was used by the

Eighth Air Force The Eighth Air Force (Air Forces Strategic) is a numbered air force (NAF) of the United States Air Force's Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC). It is headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. The command serves as Air Force ...

as a photo recon station. Mount Farm was given USAAF designation Station 234 (MF).

7th Photographic Group (Reconnaissance)

The first USAAF unit to use the airfield was the 13th Photographic Squadron of Lockheed F-5 (P-38) Lightning photographic aircraft which moved in for training in March 1943 under the experienced RAF establishment. This was the 13th Photographic Squadron. The need for more photographic reconnaissance of targets by the Eighth Air Force led to other American photo/recon squadrons being assigned to the station and on 7 July 1943, the

7th Photographic Group The United States Air Force's 373d Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Group is a Twenty-Fifth Air Force unit located at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska. Mission The 373 ISRG is the Department of Defense host service organizati ...

was established at Mount Farm, the group being transferred from Peterson AAF

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

and absorbing the assets of the 13th photo squadron. The group consisted of the following: * 13th Photographic Squadron (red rudder) * 14th Photographic Squadron (green rudder) * 22nd Photographic Squadron (white rudder) * 27th Photographic Squadron (blue rudder) The group flew a combination of F-5 (P-38),

P-51 The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang is an American long-range, single-seat fighter and fighter-bomber used during World War II and the Korean War, among other conflicts. The Mustang was designed in April 1940 by a team headed by James ...

and

Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Griff ...

XI photo/recon aircraft to obtain information about bombardment targets and damage inflicted by bombardment operations. The group also provided mapping service for air and ground units; observed and reported on enemy transportation, installations, and positions; and obtained data on weather conditions. 7pr-f5

Ace RAF reconnaissance pilot

Adrian Warburton Adrian "Warby" Warburton, (10 March 1918 – 12 April 1944) was a Royal Air Force (RAF) pilot and flying ace of the Second World War. He became legendary in the RAF for his role in the defence of Malta and was described by the then Air Officer C ...

, attached to the USAAF reconnaissance operations at Mount Farm, and under the command of Elliott Roosevelt, took off from here on April 12, 1944, in an F-5B Lightning for a reconnaissance flight to Schweinfurt, on which he was shot down and killed by flak. Prior to June 1944, the group photographed airfields, cities, industrial establishments, and ports in

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 ...

, the

Low Countries The term Low Countries, also known as the Low Lands ( nl, de Lage Landen, french: les Pays-Bas, lb, déi Niddereg Lännereien) and historically called the Netherlands ( nl, de Nederlanden), Flanders, or Belgica, is a coastal lowland region in N ...

, and

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. Following the

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

raid in March 1944, Major Walter L Weitner flew the first Eighth Spitfire photo sortie to Berlin on 6 March and by 11 April the Group had chalked up its 1,000th sortie. The 7th received a

Distinguished Unit Citation The Presidential Unit Citation (PUC), originally called the Distinguished Unit Citation, is awarded to units of the uniformed services of the United States, and those of allied countries, for extraordinary heroism in action against an armed enem ...

for operations during the period, 31 May - 30 June 1944, when its coverage of bridges, marshalling yards, canals, highways, rivers, and other targets contributed much to the success of the

Normandy campaign Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 (D-Day) with the Norma ...

. The group covered missile sites in France during July, and in August carried out photographic mapping missions for ground forces advancing across France. Provided reconnaissance support for the airborne attack on the Netherlands in September and for the

Battle of the Bulge The Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Ardennes Offensive, was the last major German offensive (military), offensive military campaign, campaign on the Western Front (World War II), Western Front during World War II. The battle lasted fr ...

, December 1944-January 1945. On September 12, 1944, a USAAF photo-reconnaissance flight over Germany, flown by pilot John Blyth, ended in a wheels-up landing at Mount Farm. Despite Blyth’s repeated efforts, his Spitfire's landing gear had failed to extend. The landing was filmed by a USAAF flight surgeon and amateur photographer, Jim (“Doc”) Savage. The film clip, along with related material, including Blyth's recollections about the use of Spitfires by the USAAF at Mount Farm, was included in a 2006 documentary entitled “ Spitfire 944.” The documentary received an honourable mention at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival.Internet Movie Database (IMDB). "Spitfire 944." (2006).https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0823692/ The 7th used P-51's to escort its own reconnaissance planes during the last months of the war as the group supported the Allied drive across the Rhine and into

. Took part in the final

bomb damage assessment Bomb damage assessment (BDA), also known as battle damage assessment, is the practice of assessing damage inflicted on a target from a Standoff missile, stand-off weapon, most typically a bomb or air launched missile. It is part of the larger disc ...

following

V-E Day Victory in Europe Day is the day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces on Tuesday, 8 May 1945, marking the official end of World War II in Europe in the Easte ...

. The 7th Recon Group took over three million photographs during the course of its 4,251 sorties. It was transferred to

RAF Chalgrove Chalgrove is a village and civil parish in South Oxfordshire about southeast of Oxford. The parish includes the hamlet of Rofford and the former parish of Warpsgrove with which it merged in 1932. The 2011 Census recorded the parish populatio ...

in March 1945, and was later inactivated at the 4th Strategic Air Depot (Hitcham) on 21 November 1945. From here stars including

Bob Hope Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was a British-American comedian, vaudevillian, actor, singer and dancer. With a career that spanned nearly 80 years, Hope appeared in more than 70 short and feature films, with 5 ...

Dorothy Lamour Dorothy Lamour (born Mary Leta Dorothy Slaton; December 10, 1914 – September 22, 1996) was an American actress and singer. She is best remembered for having appeared in the '' Road to...'' movies, a series of successful comedies starring Bing ...

and

Glenn Miller Alton Glen Miller (March 1, 1904 – December 15, 1944) was an American big band founder, owner, conductor, composer, arranger, trombone player and recording artist before and during World War II, when he was an officer in the United States Arm ...

took off to entertain the troops in Europe. Miller performed for the US service personnel at the base in December 1944. From there he went to RAF Twinwood, boarded a

Noorduyn Norseman The Noorduyn Norseman, also known as the C-64 Norseman, is a Canadian single-engine bush plane designed to operate from unimproved surfaces. Distinctive stubby landing gear protrusions from the lower fuselage make it easily recognizable. Intro ...

single-engined aircraft, took off for Paris - and was never seen again. His plane is believed to have ditched in the Channel - although 20 years ago there was a belief he may have crash-landed in the dense Chilterns woodlands. Searches found no trace of the aircraft.

Post-war governmental use

The airfield was transferred back to the RAF on 1 May 1945, and became inactive. After being used for a time by the

Ministry of Supply The Ministry of Supply (MoS) was a department of the UK government formed in 1939 to co-ordinate the supply of equipment to all three British armed forces, headed by the Minister of Supply. A separate ministry, however, was responsible for aircr ...

for ex-

War Department War Department may refer to: * War Department (United Kingdom) * United States Department of War (1789–1947) See also * War Office, a former department of the British Government * Ministry of defence * Ministry of War * Ministry of Defence * Dep ...

vehicle sales, it was sold by the

Air Ministry The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the Secretary of State ...

in 1957.

Current use

After the end of military control the then Bullingdon Rural District Council redeveloped the site of the RAF and USAAF buildings to build the new village of

Berinsfield Berinsfield is an English village and civil parish in South Oxfordshire, about southeast of Oxford. The 2011 Census recorded the parish population as 2,806. History Palaeolithic and Roman artefacts were found during 20th century excavations t ...

. The rest of the airfield was almost completely restored to agricultural use, with little evidence of its wartime past.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * Freeman, Roger A. (1991) The Mighty Eighth The Colour Record. Cassell & Co. *
mighty8thaf.preller.us Mount Farm

External links

World War II Airfields Of Oxfordshire - Mount Farm

7th Recon Group Aircraft Photo Gallery

Video Footage and Story of Crashed US Pilot Lorton at RAF Mount Farm
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mount Farm Airfields of the VIII Air Service Command in the United Kingdom Royal Air Force stations in Oxfordshire Military installations closed in 1957 Military airbases established in 1940 1940 establishments in England 1957 disestablishments in England