Hunsdon Airfield is an

airfield An aerodrome, airfield, or airstrip is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for public or private use. Aerodromes in ...

near

Hunsdon Hunsdon is a village and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England. It is around east of Ware and north-west of Harlow. The population of the village taken at the 2011 Census was 1,080. See also * Baron Hunsdon * Hunsdon Airfield * Hunsdon ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

and north of

Harlow Harlow is a town and local government district located in the west of Essex, England. Founded as a Planned community, new town in 1947, it is situated on the border with Hertfordshire, and occupies a large area of land on the south bank of the ...

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. As of 2021, it is used by a local microlight club. The airfield was used by the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

between 1941 and 1945 under the name of RAF Hunsdon.

History

RAF Hunsdon became operational in 1941. The first unit to arrive at the Airfield (in May 1941) was No. 85 Squadron RAF, flying Boston Havocs. In June No. 1451 Flight RAF was formed. This experimental unit flew Bostons with searchlights fitted in the nose of the aircraft. This experiment was not successful and the unit was reformed as No. 530 Squadron RAF in September 1942. Numerous Squadrons and Wings used the airfield during its operational life. Hunsdon is most closely associated, however, with the

de Havilland Mosquito The de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito is a British twin-engined, multirole combat aircraft, introduced during the World War II, Second World War. Unusual in that its airframe was constructed mostly of wood, it was nicknamed the "Wooden Wonder", or " ...

, which first arrived in 1943. On 18 February 1944, Mosquitos from

No. 21 Squadron RAF No. 21 Squadron of the Royal Air Force was formed in 1915 and was disbanded for the last time in 1979. The squadron is famous for Operation Jericho on 18 February 1944, when the crews of Mosquitoes breached the walls of a Gestapo prison at Ami ...

, 464 Squadron (Australia) RAF, and 487 Squadron (New Zealand) RAF which formed No 140 Wing (Wing Commander P C Pickard DSO DFC) carried out

Operation Jericho Operation Jericho (Ramrod 564) took place on 18 February 1944 during the Second World War. Allied aircraft bombed Amiens Prison in German-occupied France at very low altitude to blow holes in the prison walls, kill German guards and use shock ...

, otherwise known as the Amiens Prison Raid. Military flying ceased in 1945.

Post 1945

The last remaining

blister hangar A blister hangar is a type of arched, portable aircraft hangar. It was designed by Graham Dawbarn, who also designed buildings at a number of airports, and was patented by Miskins and Sons in 1939. It was originally made of wooden ribs clad with ...

at Hunsdon was demolished in the mid 2000s as it was made unsafe after the great storm of 1987. Today only a few original buildings remain of the former RAF Hunsdon. One such building is the Underground Battle Headquarters, which was designed to provide emergency organisation of airfield defenses should the airfield come under attack. Other remaining buildings include defensive pillboxes, a brick slit trench used as a defence position, the fire tender building now used as a store for the shooting club, a complete cantilever 'Oakington' type defence position, 20mm ammunition store, and a Small arms ammunition store. All of the remaining buildings at Hunsdon Airfield are no longer accessible due to safety reasons. On Number 3 dispersed site, there are the remains of latrines and air raid shelters. (These are on private land and permission to enter must be sought.) On 22 May 2005, a memorial was unveiled and dedicated to the groundcrew, aircrew and support staff who were based at RAF Hunsdon from 1941 to 1945. In June 2012 a new memorial commemorating the 126 air and ground crew who died while flying from or serving at RAF Hunsdon was unveiled. The original runways are now considerably reduced in length. Hunsdon Microlight Club uses the three grass runways for

microlight Ultralight aviation (called microlight aviation in some countries) is the flying of lightweight, 1- or 2-seat fixed-wing aircraft. Some countries differentiate between weight-shift control and conventional three-axis control aircraft with ailer ...

flying.

Units based at RAF Hunsdon

RAF units based here during the Second World War are:Unit information on War Memorial

Squadron table

Brief Stays

References

Citations

Bibliography

External links

Wartime Airfields website

Hertfordshire Airfields Memorial Group

Hunsdon Microlight Club
{{authority control Airports in England Transport in Hertfordshire Airports in the East of England