Royal Air Force Broadwell or more simply RAF Broadwell 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 located 2 miles north of Broadwell and 3 miles southeast of

Burford Burford () is a town on the River Windrush, in the Cotswold hills, in the West Oxfordshire district of Oxfordshire, England. It is often referred to as the 'gateway' to the Cotswolds. Burford is located west of Oxford and southeast of Chelt ...

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...

, and within 2 miles of

RAF Brize Norton Royal Air Force Brize Norton or RAF Brize Norton is the largest List of Royal Air Force stations, station of the Royal Air Force. Situated in Oxfordshire, about west north-west of London, it is close to the village of Brize Norton and the tow ...

. It opened on 15 November 1943, operating under

RAF Transport Command RAF Transport Command was a Royal Air Force command that controlled all transport aircraft of the RAF. It was established on 25 March 1943 by the renaming of the RAF Ferry Command, and was subsequently renamed RAF Air Support Command in 19 ...

, and closed on 31 March 1947. It had three concrete runways in a triangular configuration.

History

Dalhart Army Airfield - C-47 and CG-4 Glider

No. 512 Squadron and No. 575 Squadron were based here, flying the

Douglas Dakota The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota ( RAF 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. During the war the C-47 was used for troo ...

. In February 1944, No. 512 Squadron was transferred to No. 46 Group at RAF Broadwell. It was a tactical Dakota squadron and started training glider towing and parachute dropping. Its first operation in the new role was a leaflet drop on 17 April 1944 over France; this was followed by intensive flying in and out of France. Broadwell took part in the

D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during the Second World War. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...

assaults alongside nearby

RAF Down Ampney Royal Air Force Down Ampney or more simply RAF Down Ampney is a former Royal Air Force station located north east of Cricklade, Wiltshire and south west of RAF Fairford, Gloucestershire. The airfield operated during the Second World War from F ...

and

RAF Blakehill Farm Royal Air Force Blakehill Farm or more simply RAF Blakehill Farm is a former Royal Air Force station southwest of Cricklade in Wiltshire, England, operational between 1944 and 1952. History The station was originally allocated to the United S ...

. On the eve of D-Day, No. 575 Squadron dropped 5 Para into the invasion drop zone. On D-day itself, 512 Squadron can claim that they were the first planes over Normandy, as 3 Dakotas piloted by Fl Lt Hyde, W.O. James Proctor and a C Flight Flying Officer dropped a specialist team at 00.02 on 6 June to try and disrupt the

Merville Gun Battery The Merville Gun Battery is a decommissioned coastal fortification in Normandy, France, which was built as part of the Germans' Atlantic Wall to defend continental Europe from Allied invasion. It was a particularly heavily fortified position and ...

before the main assault. Later on 6 June, it towed 21

Horsa glider The Airspeed AS.51 Horsa was a British troop-carrying glider used during the Second World War. It was developed and manufactured by Airspeed Limited, alongside various subcontractors; the type was named after Horsa, the legendary 5th-century ...

s into France. In the next few weeks it started a casualty evacuation service from France back to England. In September 1944, it was involved in operations at Arnhem including dropping parachutists as part of Operation Market Garden, where the squadron suffered severe casualties. The airfield continued to be a terminus for long-range transport operations to Europe, the Middle East and India. The following units were here at some point: * No. 6 (RCAF) Casualty Air Evacuation Unit * No. 10 Squadron RAF * No. 21 Heavy Glider Conversion Unit RAF * No. 76 Squadron RAF *

No. 77 Squadron RAF No. 77 Squadron RAF was a squadron of the Royal Air Force which was active in various incarnations between 1916 and 1963. History No. 77 Squadron was formed on 1 October 1916 at Edinburgh, and was equipped with B.E.2 and Royal Aircraft Factor ...

* No. 91 (Forward) Staging Post * No. 92 (Forward) Staging Post * No. 94 (Forward) Staging Post * No. 104 Terminal Staging Post * No. 105 (Major) Staging Post * No. 126 Staging Post * No. 271 Squadron RAF * No. 512 Squadron RAF *

No. 575 Squadron RAF No. 575 Squadron RAF was a transport squadron of the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. History The squadron was formed at RAF Hendon on 1 February 1944 from elements of 512 Squadron. Just two weeks later it moved to RAF Broadwell t ...

* No. 2792 Squadron RAF Regiment * No. 2807 Squadron RAF Regiment

Current use

The site has returned to farmland and has a large solar farm covering the western side of the airfield. The southern part of the runway remains discernable and a bridleway passes along part of it. f

References

External links

''D-Day on the Cotswolds''

History at aeroresource.co.uk
{{Commons category-inline, RAF Broadwell Broadwell