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Royal Air Force Harwell or more simply RAF Harwell is a former Royal Air Force station, near the village of Harwell, located 4.8 miles (7.7 km) south east of Wantage, Oxfordshire and 17 miles (27 km) north west of Reading, Berkshire, England.
RAF Harwell  | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harwell, Oxfordshire in England | |||||||||||
 A Short Stirling of No. 295 Squadron RAF, taking off from RAF Harwell towing an Airspeed Horsa glider, 17 September 1944. This was one of 25 Stirling/Horsa combinations which carried the Headquarters of I Airborne Corps to landing zones near Groesbeek, Nijmegen as part of Operation Market Garden | |||||||||||
  RAF Harwell Shown within Oxfordshire  RAF Harwell RAF Harwell (the United Kingdom) | |||||||||||
| Coordinates | 51°34′30″N 1°18′43″W / 51.575°N 1.312°W | ||||||||||
| Type | Royal Air Force station | ||||||||||
| Code | HW[1] | ||||||||||
| Site information | |||||||||||
| Owner | Air Ministry | ||||||||||
| Operator | Royal Air Force | ||||||||||
| Controlled by | RAF Bomber Command 1937-44 & 1945 * No. 2 Group RAF * No. 6 (T) Group RAF * No. 91 (OTU) Group RAF RAF Fighter Command 1944-45 * No. 12 Group RAF * No. 38 Group RAF | ||||||||||
| Site history | |||||||||||
| Built | 1914 & 1936/37 | ||||||||||
| Built by | John Laing & Son Ltd | ||||||||||
| In use | 1914-?? February 1937 - 1945 | ||||||||||
| Battles/wars | European theatre of World War II | ||||||||||
| Airfield information | |||||||||||
| Elevation | 117 metres (384 ft)[1] AMSL | ||||||||||
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The site is now the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus which includes the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory.
History
editThe airfield was built by John Laing & Son Ltd at the junction of three parishes in 1935.[2] The bulk lay within Chilton parish; about a third was in East Hendred; and the smallest portion was in Harwell. The first Commanding Officer, upon being asked what the name of the new airfield should be, responded that it should be named after the parish in which his house lay – and this happened to be Harwell.[3]
Between 1938 and 1940 it was a development site of a prototype Royal Aircraft Establishment Mark III Catapult, whose intention was to enable take-offs using shorter runways and so the planes could be loaded with more fuel. Although technical problems caused its abandonment without ever launching an aircraft, it proved to be a precursor to Catapult Armed Merchant ships.[4]
From its opening in February 1937 until March 1944, various bomber squadrons were stationed at the airfield. On the outbreak of the Second World War, it became part of No. 38 Group RAF, initially used for leaflet missions over France using Vickers Wellington bombers, later bombing raids on Bremen, Cologne and Essen. There were numerous Luftwaffe raids on the airfield from August 1940 until September 1941. The original grass field was replaced with concrete runways between July and November 1941.[5]
The following squadrons were posted to Harwell:
The following units were also here at some point:[14]
- No. 3 Group Pool
- No. 13 OTU
- No. 15 OTU
- No. 72 (Bomber) Wing RAF
- No. 91 Group Servicing Section
- No. 310 Ferry Training Unit RAF
- No. 1443 (Ferry Training) Flight RAF
- No. 2741 Squadron RAF Regiment
- No. 2766 Squadron RAF Regiment
- Engine Control Instructional Flight RAF
- Ferry Training and Despatch Flight RAF
- Transport Command Development Unit RAF
In March 1944, it was reallocated to 30 Group Airborne Forces, where it mainly operated tug aircraft towing Airspeed Horsa which were used in a number of operations. These included carrying the first glider-borne troops into Normandy to secure vital strategic positions in advance of the main landings on D-Day. A memorial to the men who flew from RAF Harwell who were killed on this operation now exists at one edge of the old airfield site, and a memorial service is held there annually. The airfield was also used briefly for Special Operations Executive (SOE) operations between July and September 1944.
Closure and subsequent use
editThe RAF station was closed at the end of 1945 and the site transferred to the Ministry of Supply on 1 January 1946, where it became the Atomic Energy Research Establishment. Over the years that reduced in scale and other science-based research moved in, such as the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in 1957. The site is now home to the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus.
References
editCitations
edit- ^ a b Falconer 2012, p. 105.
- ^ Ritchie, p. 91
- ^ Hance, Nick (November 2006). Harwell: The Enigma Revealed (1st ed.). Buckland, Oxfordshire: Enhance Publishing. pp. 13–14. ISBN 0-9553055-0-0.
- ^ "World War Two experimental catapult unearthed by archaeologists". BBC. 11 October 2023. Retrieved 12 October 2023.
- ^ "RAF Harwell airfield". Control Towers. Retrieved 7 June 2013.
- ^ Jefford 1988, p. 48.
- ^ Jefford 1988, p. 54.
- ^ Jefford 1988, p. 55.
- ^ Jefford 1988, p. 62.
- ^ Jefford 1988, p. 71.
- ^ Jefford 1988, p. 73.
- ^ Jefford 1988, p. 84.
- ^ Jefford 1988, p. 97.
- ^ "Harwell (Chilton)". Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust. Retrieved 21 April 2022.
Bibliography
edit- Ritchie, Berry (1997). The Good Builder: The John Laing Story. James & James.
- Falconer, Jonathan (2012). RAF Airfields of World War 2. UK: Ian Allan Publishing. ISBN 978-1-85780-349-5.
- Jefford, C.G. (1988). RAF Squadrons. A comprehensive record of the movement and equipment of all RAF squadrons and their antecedents since 1912. Shrewsbury: Airlife. ISBN 1-85310-053-6.