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

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 ...

station Station may refer to: Agriculture * Station (Australian agriculture), a large Australian landholding used for livestock production * Station (New Zealand agriculture), a large New Zealand farm used for grazing by sheep and cattle ** Cattle statio ...

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 ...

. The airfield is located northeast of

Tiptree Tiptree is a large village and civil parish in the English county of Essex, situated south-west of Colchester and around north-east of London. Surrounding villages include Messing, Tolleshunt Knights, Tolleshunt Major, Layer Marney, Inwor ...

; about northeast of

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

Opened in 1942, it was used by both the

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 war it was used primarily as a reserve transport airfield. It was closed after the war, in late 1945. Today, the remains of the airfield are located on private property in agricultural use.

Royal Air Force use

The following units were here at some point: *

No. 48 Squadron RAF No. 48 Squadron was a Royal Air Force Squadron (aviation), squadron that saw service in both the First World War, First and Second World Wars. History First World War No. 48 Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps was formed at Netheravon Air ...

No. 233 Squadron RAF No. 233 Squadron RAF was a Royal Air Force Squadron (aviation), squadron that operated from 1918–1919, 1937–1945, 1952–1957 and 1960–1964. The squadron was formed from several Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) Flight (military unit), flight ...

* No. 381 Maintenance Unit RAF * No. 382 Maintenance Unit RAF * No. 383 Maintenance Unit RAF * No. 384 Maintenance Unit RAF

United States Army Air Forces use

Birch was known by the USAAF as USAAF Station AAF-149 for security reasons and was referred to as such, instead of by location. Its USAAF Station Code was "BR".

Current use

After release from military control, the airfield was returned to agricultural use. Today, most of the concreted areas have been removed for hardcore, leaving single-tracked farm roads along the main runway, one secondary runway, and parts of the perimeter track. Blind Lane (a public road) now runs along the other secondary runway (02/20), its original course having been displaced when the airfield was built. Some hardstanding is used by Essex Council for garden waste composting, the main site being accessed via the main runway. A few loop hardstands remain intact, off the remains of the single-tracked perimeter track along the north side of the airfield. However, other than these farm roads, there is little remaining of a wartime airfield that was never used, other than some ghostly disturbed areas visible in aerial photography. These represent loop dispersal hardstands and the long-since-removed perimeter track.

References

Citations

Bibliography

*Freeman, Roger A. (1978) Airfields of the Eighth: Then and Now. After the Battle *Freeman, Roger A. (1991) The Mighty Eighth The Colour Record. Cassell & Co. *Maurer, Maurer (1983). Air Force Combat Units of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. .

External links

Photographs of RAF Birch from the Geograph British Isles project
{{DEFAULTSORT:Birch Royal Air Force stations in Essex Airfields of the 9th Bombardment Division in the United Kingdom Royal Air Force stations of World War II in the United Kingdom