Royal Air Force Station Grove or RAF Grove is a former Royal Air Force station near

Grove, Oxfordshire Grove is a village and civil parish in the ceremonial county of Oxfordshire, England. Historically, part of Berkshire, it has been administered as part of the Vale of White Horse district of Oxfordshire since 1974. The village is on Letcombe Br ...

. The airfield is located approximately northwest of

Wantage Wantage () is a historic market town and civil parish in Oxfordshire, England. Although within the boundaries of the historic county of Berkshire, it has been administered as part of the Vale of White Horse district of Oxfordshire since 1974. T ...

; about west-northwest of

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...

Opened in 1942, it was used by both the

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) an ...

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

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 opposi ...

, it was used primarily as a reconnaissance airfield. It was handed back to the RAF in 1947. From 1955, the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) used part of the airfield to serve the Atomic Energy Research Establishment at nearby Harwell. Today the remains of the airfield are located on private property being used as agricultural fields and for a housing development known as ''Wellington Gate'', after the RAF

Vickers Wellington The Vickers Wellington was a British twin-engined, long-range medium bomber. It was designed during the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey. Led by Vickers-Armstrongs' chief designer Rex Pierson; a key feature of the aircraft is its ...

, a British bomber which flew from Grove airfield during the

Construction and Royal Air Force use, 1941-1943

Grove was originally a training airfield for Royal Air Force (RAF) Bomber Command 91 Group, and satellite for the No. 15 Operational Training Unit RAF at nearby RAF Harwell. In May 1941, construction of the airfield began with a standard three concrete runway layout and in 1942, glider pilots from

Brize Norton Brize Norton is a village and civil parish east of Carterton in West Oxfordshire. The 2011 Census recorded the parish population as 938. The original part of RAF Brize Norton is in the parish. Toponym Around the time of the Domesday Book ...

trained there, mainly using Whitleys and Horsas.

United States Army Air Forces use, 1943-1946

10th Transport Group Douglas C-47B-25-DK Skytrain 44-76404

The RAF left Grove in September 1943 to allow the

(USAAF)

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 ...

to use the base as a staging ground for the planned

Normandy landings The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and ...

. Grove was known as USAAF Station AAF-519 for security reasons by the USAAF during the war, and by which it was referred to instead of location. Beginning in August 1943, Grove was used by the 3rd Tactical Air Depot of IX Air Service Command, repairing A-20 Havocs and

P-61 Black Widow The Northrop P-61 Black Widow is a twin-engine United States Army Air Forces fighter aircraft of World War II. It was the first operational U.S. warplane designed as a night fighter, and the first aircraft designed specifically as a night figh ...

s. Starting on 31 October, the 31st Transport Group, IX Air Service Command used the airfield with

C-47 Skytrain The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota (RAF, RAAF, RCAF, RNZAF, and SAAF designation) is a military transport aircraft developed from the civilian Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the Allies during World War II and remained in f ...

s with the mission of transporting cargo and personnel between IX Air Force airfields in the UK. The 31st TG consisted of the 87th, 313th and 314th Transport Squadrons.

Air Transport Command Air Transport Command (ATC) was a United States Air Force unit that was created during World War II as the strategic airlift component of the United States Army Air Forces. It had two main missions, the first being the delivery of supplies and ...

had the 310th and 325th Ferrying Squadrons also attached. After D-Day, the Group was impressed for air ambulance and general theatre transport duties until moving to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

in September 1944. In October and November 1945, the 13th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron (7th Reconnaissance Group) used the airfield before returning to the United States. In addition, the 36th Bombardment Squadron from

RAF Alconbury Royal Air Force Alconbury or more simply RAF Alconbury is an active Royal Air Force station near Huntingdon, England. The airfield is in the civil parish of The Stukeleys, close to the villages of Great Stukeley, Little Stukeley, and Alconbur ...

Huntingdonshire Huntingdonshire (; abbreviated Hunts) is a non-metropolitan district of Cambridgeshire and a historic county of England. The district council is based in Huntingdon. Other towns include St Ives, Godmanchester, St Neots and Ramsey. The popu ...

used the airfield after the closure of Alconbury in October 1945. The squadron flew occasional transport missions until they returned to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

in December 1945, ending American use of the station.

Postwar use, 1946-1990s

RAF Grove was returned to the RAF in 1946. After the war, the airfield was used for surplus aircraft disposal. In 1953, the RAF 431 Equipment Depot serving the 2nd Tactical air force in Germany was transferred from Hamburg to Grove. From 1955, the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) used part of the airfield to serve the Atomic Energy Research Establishment at nearby Harwell. In 1995, former UKAEA housing including that at Grove were sold in their entirety to the Welbeck Estate Group and, following extensive refurbishment, were sold to local buyers. In aerial photography, the airfield runways still are quite evident, even after their removal over 50 years ago. The wartime perimeter track is now gone. After the airfield was closed, the entire area has been taken over by agriculture or was used a grass pasture.

Wellington Gate

In 2017, Vale of White Horse District Council granted outline planning approval to

Persimmon Homes Persimmon plc is a British housebuilding company, headquartered in York, England. The company is named after a horse which won the 1896 Derby and St. Leger for the Prince of Wales (the future Edward VII). It is listed on the London Stock Ex ...

to develop the northeast part of the former airfield and build a large housing estate on the property, called ''Wellington Gate'' after the RAF

, a British twin-engined, long-range medium bomber which flew from Grove airfield during the

. In 2018, Grove Parish Council suggested as street names for the first phase of the development:

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...

Windsor Windsor may refer to: Places Australia * Windsor, New South Wales ** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area * Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland **Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Wi ...

, Whitley,

Horsa Hengist and Horsa are Germanic brothers said to have led the Angles, Saxons and Jutes in their invasion of Britain in the 5th century. Tradition lists Hengist as the first of the Jutish kings of Kent. Most modern scholarly consensus now rega ...

Dakota Dakota may refer to: * Dakota people, a sub-tribe of the Sioux ** Dakota language, their language Dakota may also refer to: Places United States * Dakota, Georgia, an unincorporated community * Dakota, Illinois, a town * Dakota, Minnesota, ...

, Liberator, Sentinel,

Mustang The mustang is a free-roaming horse of the Western United States, descended from horses brought to the Americas by the Spanish. Mustangs are often referred to as wild horses, but because they are descended from once- domesticated animals, the ...

and Norseman - all names associated with the aircraft, both British and American, that flew from Grove airfield during the Second World War.

Footnotes

References

Citations

Bibliography

* Freeman, Roger A. (1994) UK Airfields of the Ninth: Then and Now 1994. After the Battle *
Control Towers.UK - Grove

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grove Royal Air Force stations in Oxfordshire Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in the United Kingdom Royal Air Force stations of World War II in the United Kingdom