Royal Air Force Windrush, or more simply RAF Windrush, 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 ...

satellite station near

Windrush Windrush may refer to: Places in England * Windrush Square, precinct in south London * River Windrush, a river in Gloucestershire * Windrush, Gloucestershire, a village in Gloucestershire ** RAF Windrush, a Royal Air Force station in World War II ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

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 ...

. It was opened in 1940 and closed on 12 July 1945. Initially it was a Relief Landing Ground for RAF Chipping Norton, later coming under the control of

RAF Little Rissington Royal Air Force Little Rissington or more simply RAF Little Rissington is a Royal Air Force List of Royal Air Force stations, satellite station in Gloucestershire, England. It was once home to the Central Flying School, the Vintage Pair and t ...

History

The airfield consisted of two Sommerfeld tracking runways, a concrete perimeter track, 1 T1 building and 8 Blister Hangars amongst many others. Most of this infrastructure was added in 1942. Some of the original buildings remain in situ though the site has been returned to agricultural use. The Watch Tower was restored in the 1990s. The airfield is partly in the ownership of the

National Trust The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...

. The following units were here at some point: * No. 6 (Pilots) Advanced Flying Unit RAF * No. 6 Service Flying Training School RAF * No. 15 Service Flying Training School RAF

Memorial

A memorial at the church in Windrush village describes Sgt Pilot Bruce Hancock RAFVR who died on 18 August 1940 when downing a German

Heinkel Heinkel Flugzeugwerke () was a German aircraft manufacturing company founded by and named after Ernst Heinkel. It is noted for producing bomber aircraft for the Luftwaffe in World War II and for important contributions to high-speed flight, wit ...

bomber by ramming it with his unarmed training

Avro Anson The Avro Anson is a British twin-engine, multi-role aircraft built by the aircraft manufacturer Avro. Large numbers of the type served in a variety of roles for the Royal Air Force (RAF), Fleet Air Arm (FAA), Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), R ...

aircraft.

Postwar

Following closure in 1945 the airfield history has not been fully recorded but the then landowner Lord Sherborne purchased the airfield in 1969 back from the

MOD Mod, MOD or mods may refer to: Places * Modesto City–County Airport, Stanislaus County, California, US Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Mods (band), a Norwegian rock band * M.O.D. (Method of Destruction), a band from New York City, US * ...

and over time either demolished many of the hundred or so RAF buildings, or else established conifer plantations around them seeking to hide them from view. Many bomb shelters, ancillary buildings and concrete access tracks remain in these plantations. The Midland Parachuting Club was granted a lease of a strip of grass for use as a runway from 1992 until 1997 and used the Watch Tower as their base for Parachuting during that period.

Current ownership

The western portion of the airfield came under the ownership of the

in March 1987 as part of the bequest of the Lodge Park and Sherborne Estate by the 7th

Baron Sherborne Lord Sherborne, Baron of Sherborne, in the County of Gloucester, was a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1784 for James Dutton, who had earlier represented Gloucestershire in Parliament. He was the son of James Dutton ( ...

. It is currently part of a let agricultural holding on the estate. Apart from two public

bridleway A bridle path, also bridleway, equestrian trail, horse riding path, ride, bridle road, or horse trail, is a trail or a thoroughfare that is used by people riding on horses. Trails originally created for use by horses often now serve a wider ...

s there is currently no public access to the site. The National Trust Estate Office is in the nearby village of

Sherborne, Gloucestershire Sherborne is a village and civil parish almost east of Northleach in Gloucestershire. Sherborne is a linear village, extending more than a mile along the valley of Sherborne Brook, a tributary of the River Windrush. The place-name 'Sherborn ...

References

Citations

External links

Wartime Memories description
Royal Air Force stations in Gloucestershire Royal Air Force stations of World War II in the United Kingdom {{RAF-stub