Royal Air Force Membury or more simply RAF Membury is a former

Royal Air Force station The Royal Air Force (RAF) operates several stations throughout the United Kingdom and overseas. This includes front-line and training air bases, support, administrative and training stations with no flying activity, unmanned airfields used fo ...

built in the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

of Lambourn in Berkshire, England. The airfield is located approximately north-northwest of Hungerford, at the Membury services stop of the

M4 motorway The M4, originally the London-South Wales Motorway, is a motorway in the United Kingdom running from west London to southwest Wales. The English section to the Severn Bridge was constructed between 1961 and 1971; the Welsh element was largely ...

; about west-southwest of London. The airfield also lies immediately next to the

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly ...

hill fort A hillfort is a type of earthwork used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze Age or Iron Age. Some were used in the post-Roma ...

of Membury Camp. 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 ...

(RAF) 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 ...

(USAAF). During the war it was used by several combat units with varying missions. It was also a major supply and maintenance depot. After the war, it was a private airport until the construction of the

in the 1960s when it was closed. Today the remains of the airfield are located on private property with the former technical site now being an industrial estate (Membury Business Park).

History

USAAF use

Membury was known as USAAF Station AAF-466 for security reasons by the USAAF during the war, and by which it was referred to instead of location. Its USAAF Station Code was "ME".

3rd Photographic and 67th Observation/Reconnaissance Groups

Meanwhile, 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 Forc ...

VIII Ground Air Support Command, the forebear of the reborn Ninth Air Force had designated Membury for use by its reconnaissance units. These were the men of the 3rd Photographic and the

67th Observation Group 67 may refer to: * 67 (number) * one of the years 67 BC, AD 67, 1967, 2067 * ''67'', a 1992 song by Love Battery from the album ''Between the Eyes'' * 67 (rap group), a drill music group from London See also * 67th Regiment (disambiguation) * 67th ...

s, who arrived at Membury on 7 and 8 September 1942. The 3rd consisted of the 5th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th and 23d squadrons, however the group's air echelons were still in the United States at Colorado Springs 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 the ...

. Whilst at RAF Membury, the group was reassigned to the Twelfth Air Force and moved to RAF Steeple Morden in Cambridgeshire during October prior to its movement to North Africa. The

arrived at Membury from Esler AAF

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is bord ...

and consisted of the following operational squadrons: * 12th Observation/Reconnaissance Squadron * 107th Observation/Reconnaissance Squadron * 109th Observation/Reconnaissance Squadron * 153rd Observation/Reconnaissance Squadron Memb-f6-67rg

At the time of the transfer to Ninth Air Force, the group was redesignated the 67th Reconnaissance Group. At the time, the 107th and 109th Squadrons were converting to North American P-51A Mustangs. However before this was completed, the 107th Squadron was moved to nearby

RAF Aldermaston Royal Air Force Aldermaston or more simply RAF Aldermaston is a former Royal Air Force station located east of Newbury, Berkshire and southwest of Reading, Berkshire, England. Originally built as an RAF Bomber Command airfield during 194 ...

6th Tactical Air Depot

During the winter of 1942/1943, the Air Depot site was occupied by the 7th and 16th Air Depot Groups, forming the 6th Tactical Air Depot which specialised in the repair and modification of Republic P-47 Thunderbolt..

366th Fighter Group

In January 1944 the 366th Fighter Group arrived at Membury from Bluethenthal AAF

North Carolina North Carolina () is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 28th largest and List of states and territories of the United ...

. 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, stra ...

(A6) * 390th Fighter Squadron (B2) * 391st Fighter Squadron (A8) The 366th was a group of Ninth Air Force's 71st Fighter Wing, IX Tactical Air Command. Before the group could become operational, the unit was moved to RAF Thruxton on 1 March.

436th Troop Carrier Group

The

436th Troop Carrier Group 436th may refer to: *436th Airlift Wing, an active United States Air Force unit assigned to the Air Mobility Command Eighteenth Air Force based at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware * 436th Operations Group, an active United States Air Force unit, the ...

with its Douglas C-47/C-53 Skytrains arrived on 3 March from RAF Bottesford. Operational squadrons of the group were: * 79th Troop Carrier Squadron (S6) * 80th Troop Carrier Squadron (7D) * 81st Troop Carrier Squadron (U5) * 82nd Troop Carrier Squadron (3D) The 436th TCW was assigned to the 53rd Troop Carrier Wing. When the 53rd Troop Carrier Wing moved its groups to France in February 1945 the 436th vacated Membury between the 21st and 25th for its new location at Melun (A-55). Nevertheless, there was still a US presence at Membury until a few weeks after the end of hostilities as the airfield was being used by the IX Troop Carrier Command as a pick-up point.

RAF Transport Command use and closure

With the 436th leaving Membury for Melun in France and the Americans departing by the end of June the station was back under RAF control. In October 1946 when the station was closed and Membury was reduced to care and maintenance status. Much of the 1951 novel '' Air Bridge'' by Hammond Innes is set in the closed RAF Membury at the time of the

Berlin Airlift The Berlin Blockade (24 June 1948 – 12 May 1949) was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War. During the multinational occupation of post–World War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway, ro ...

, and describes how the decaying airfield and its surroundings looked at that time.

Doctor Who

The airfield was used as the location for a UNIT airfield twice in the shows history, the first time was in the opening episode of the 1971 serial The Daemons and again in the second episode of 1974's Planet of the Spiders.Doctor Who locations guide
/ref>

Current use

Many small industries took over the old buildings on the former Air Depot technical site which are used for light industrial purposes. The former aircraft hangars are used for grain storage. The former airfield tower stood until 1998 when it was demolished. Membury is now jointly owned and operated b
Southern Sailplanes / Flight Composites
an aircraft repair and maintenance company, an
Aviation Enterprises Ltd
Since 2008 the site has also been used b
Paramotor Training Ltd
A full time Paramotor School In recent years the remaining runways have had new tarmac strips laid and new aircraft hangars were erected in 2010. And now the home to White Horse Aviation, a microlight school.

References

(USAAF/USAF)

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 * Innes, Hammond, ''Air Bridge'', (London, 1951) *
USAAS-USAAC-USAAF-USAF Aircraft Serial Numbers—1908 to present
* British Automobile Association (AA), (1978), Complete Atlas of Britain,

External links

* http://www.memburyairfield.co.uk
Photographs of RAF Membury from the Geograph British Isles project
* http://www.ramsburyatwar.com/memburyairfield.htm {{DEFAULTSORT:Membury Airfields of the VIII Fighter Command in the United Kingdom Airfields of the IX Troop Carrier Command in the United Kingdom Royal Air Force stations in Berkshire Lambourn Royal Air Force stations of World War II in the United Kingdom