Royal Air Force Windrush or more simply RAF Windrush 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 station near

Windrush Windrush may refer to: Places in England * Windrush Square, precinct in south London * River Windrush, a river in Gloucestershire * Windrush, Gloucestershire, a village in Gloucestershire ** RAF Windrush, a Royal Air Force station in World War II ...

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 ...

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 ...

. It was opened in 1940 and closed on 12 July 1945. Initially it was a Relief Landing Ground for

RAF Chipping Norton Royal Air Force Chipping Norton or more simply RAF Chipping Norton is a former Royal Air Force satellite station located near Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, England. It was operational from 10 July 1940 to 1945 and returned to agricultural use ...

, later coming under the control of

RAF Little Rissington RAF Little Rissington is an RAF aerodrome and RAF station in Gloucestershire, England. It was once home to the Central Flying School, the Vintage Pair and the Red Arrows. Built during the 1930s, the station was opened in 1938 and closed in ...

History

The airfield consisted of two Sommerfeld tracking runways, a concrete perimeter track, 1 T1 building and 8 Blister Hangars amongst many others. Most of this infrastructure was added in 1942. Some of the original buildings remain in situ though the site has been returned to agricultural use. The Watch Tower was restored in the 1990s. The airfield is partly in the ownership of the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

. The following units were here at some point: *

No. 6 (Pilots) Advanced Flying Unit RAF No. 6 Flying Training School RAF is a Flying Training School (FTS) within No. 22 (Training) Group of the Royal Air Force that delivers flying training to University Air Squadrons and Air Experience Flights. History The school was formed by renam ...

No. 6 Service Flying Training School RAF 06 may refer to: * 6 (number) * The month of June, commonly referred to as 06 * The years 1906 and 2006, both commonly referred to as '06 * Lynk & Co 06, a Chinese subcompact SUV * ''Sonic '06'', a 2006 game of the ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' series * O- ...

No. 15 Service Flying Training School RAF Fifteen or 15 may refer to: *15 (number), the natural number following 14 and preceding 16 *one of the years 15 BC, AD 15, 1915, 2015 Music *Fifteen (band), a punk rock band Albums * ''15'' (Buckcherry album), 2005 * ''15'' (Ani Lorak album ...

Memorial

A memorial at the church in Windrush village describes Sgt Pilot Bruce Hancock RAFVR who died on 18 August 1940 when downing a German

Heinkel Heinkel Flugzeugwerke () was a German aircraft manufacturing company founded by and named after Ernst Heinkel. It is noted for producing bomber aircraft for the Luftwaffe in World War II and for important contributions to high-speed flight, with ...

bomber by ramming it with his unarmed training

Avro Anson The Avro Anson is a British twin-engined, multi-role aircraft built by the aircraft manufacturer Avro. Large numbers of the type served in a variety of roles for the Royal Air Force (RAF), Fleet Air Arm (FAA), Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) a ...

aircraft.

Postwar

Following closure in 1945 the airfield history has not been fully recorded but the then landowner Lord Sherborne purchased the airfield in 1969 back from the

MOD Mod, MOD or mods may refer to: Places * Modesto City–County Airport, Stanislaus County, California, US Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Mods (band), a Norwegian rock band * M.O.D. (Method of Destruction), a band from New York City, US ...

and over time either demolished many of the hundred or so RAF buildings, or else established conifer plantations around them seeking to hide them from view. Many bomb shelters, ancillary buildings and concrete access tracks remain in these plantations. The Midland Parachuting Club was granted a lease of a strip of grass for use as a runway from 1992 until 1997 and used the Watch Tower as their base for Parachuting during that period.

Current Ownership

The western portion of the airfield came under the ownership of the

in March 1987 as part of the bequest of the Lodge Park and Sherborne Estate by the 7th

Baron Sherborne Lord Sherborne, Baron of Sherborne, in the County of Gloucester, was a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1784 for James Dutton, who had earlier represented Gloucestershire in Parliament. He was the son of James Dutton ...

. It is currently part of a let agricultural holding on the estate. Apart from two public

bridleway A bridle path, also bridleway, equestrian trail, horse riding path, ride, bridle road, or horse trail, is a trail or a thoroughfare that is used by people riding horses, riding on horses. Trails originally created for use by horses often now s ...

s there is currently no public access to the site. The National Trust Estate Office is in the nearby village of

Sherborne, Gloucestershire Sherborne is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish almost east of Northleach in Gloucestershire. Sherborne is a linear village, extending more than a mile along the valley of Sherborne Brook, a tributary of the River Windrush. ...

References

Citations

External links

Wartime Memories description
Royal Air Force stations in Gloucestershire Royal Air Force stations of World War II in the United Kingdom {{RAF-stub