RAF Tempsford is a former Royal Air Force station located north east of Sandy,

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council ...

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 ...

and south of

St. Neots St NeotsPronunciation of the town name: Most commonly, but variations that ''saint'' is said as in most English non-georeferencing speech, the ''t'' is by a small minority of the British pronounced and higher traces of in the final syllable ...

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the ...

, England. As part of the Royal Air Force Special Duty Service, the airfield was perhaps the most secret airfield of 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 home to 138 (Special Duty) Squadron and 161 (Special Duty) Squadron, which dropped supplies and agents into occupied Europe for the

Special Operations Executive The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a secret British World War II organisation. It was officially formed on 22 July 1940 under Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton, from the amalgamation of three existing secret organisations. Its pu ...

(SOE). 138 (SD) Squadron did the bulk of the supply and agent drops, while 161 (SD) Squadron had the Lysander flight, and did the insertion and pick-up operations in occupied Europe. RAF Tempsford is very close to Little Gransden Airfield and can be clearly seen from flights climbing out from the westerly runway 28. Other active airfields nearby include the former RAF bases at Gransden Lodge and Bourn.

Units

Tempsford now

By 2002 part of the former Tempsford airfield was a concrete-making facility and some of the main airfield buildings had been turned into various commercial workshops. A nearby public footpath led to the end of a substantially intact runway and then on to Gibraltar Farm, the agents' final dispatch point. This barn contains several plaques and memorials to the agents, both men and women, who were flown from the airfield, many of whom were later killed after being captured and tortured. A memorial is also to be found in St Peter's Church, in the nearby village of

Tempsford Tempsford is a village and civil parish in the Central Bedfordshire district of the county of Bedfordshire, England, about east north-east of the county town of Bedford. The village is split by the A1 Great North Road and is located just befo ...

, and the

Tempsford Memorial The Tempsford Memorial is a war memorial in the village of Tempsford in Bedfordshire. The village was the home of RAF Tempsford. The memorial commemorates the women who served as secret agents in occupied Europe during the Second World War, the RAF ...

is outside the church, commemorating the men and women who served as secret agents in occupied Europe during the Second World War and the RAF aircrew who transported them. Tempsford Museum & Archives in the village of Tempsford houses a vast collection of photographs, papers, maps, uniforms and aircraft parts associated with RAF Tempsford.

People

* Andrée Borrel and Lise de Baissac (''Odile'') were the first female SOE agents to be parachuted into occupied France. They flew out from RAF Tempsford on 24 September 1942. *Flying Officer Gerald Cruwys was awarded the Croix de Guerre for his work with the

French Resistance The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...

while at RAF Tempsford. *Group Captain Edward 'Mouse' Fielden, Station Commander of RAF Tempsford (1942-1944) and a former royal pilot. *Air Chief Marshal Sir Lewis Macdonald Hodges was the Commander of 161 Squadron from May 1943 to 1944. *Group Captain Percy Charles Pickard was awarded a second bar to his DSO in March 1943 for his outstanding leadership in command of 161 Squadron. *Group Captain

Hugh Verity Hugh Verity, (6 April 1918 – 14 November 2001) was a Royal Air Force fighter pilot and later a "special duties" squadron pilot working with the Special Operations Executive (SOE) during World War II. He landed many times at clandestine airfiel ...

, author of ''We Landed by Moonlight''. *

Violette Szabo Violette Reine Elizabeth Szabo, GC ( née Bushell; 26 June 1921 – February 1945) was a British-French Special Operations Executive (SOE) agent during the Second World War and a posthumous recipient of the George Cross. On her second mission ...

GC of the SOE flew on her first mission into France from RAF Tempsford. *Wing Commander F. F. E. Yeo-Thomas, otherwise known as the White Rabbit, was dropped into France on 27 February 1943 having been flown out from RAF Tempsford by Pilot Officer Foster. Westland Lysander-B-MA

References

Citations

Bibliography

* Clark, F. ''Agents by Moonlight: The Secret History of RAF Tempsford during the Second World War''. Stroud: Tempus Publishing Ltd., 1999. * Clark, F. ''Peter Five''. Bromley: Independent Books, 1993. * Griffiths, Frank "Winged Hours". London: William Kimber, 1981. . * * O'Connor, B. ''Tempsford Airfield: Now the story can be told…'' 1998. * Verity, H., ''We Landed By Moonlight'' (revised edition). Manchester: Crecy Publishing, 2000. .

External links

MOD site for Tempsford
- Details about Tempsford on the Bomber Command section of the MOD website.
RAF Tempsford Special Duties Squadrons
RAF Tempsford Special Duties Squadrons.
Tempsford Airfield
- A non-commercial website about the secret wartime activities of this R.A.F. airfield in Bedfordshire, England
Final Flight of Hudson FK790
- In memory of F/Lt J W Menzies DFC, his crew and agents.

- Recollections from the war years.

- A chronology of some of the main events at RAF Tempsford.

A walking tour of the Airfield and Gibraltar Farm in 2002

A look at the memorials in Tempsford Church
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tempsford Royal Air Force stations in Bedfordshire Royal Air Force stations of World War II in the United Kingdom Special Operations Executive