Military use
RAF Shellingford was opened for use as a practice landing field for Elementary Flying Training in 1931, the aerodrome being of grass. It opened for night flying during the Second World War on 25 September 1941.
No 3 EFTS were located at RAF Shellingford with some 56 Tiger Moths and a communal site was established for all ranks at nearby Stanford-in-the-Vale. British Army pilots trained here as glider pilots from 1943, the base being one of many assisting in the training of Horsa Glider pilots in preparation for the D-Day landings of 1944.
The de Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth is a 1930s British biplane designed by Geoffrey de Havilland and built by the de Havilland Aircraft Company. It was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and many other operators as a primary trainer aircraft. In addition to the type's principal use for ab-initio training, the Second World War saw RAF Tiger Moths operating in other capacities, including maritime surveillance and defensive anti-invasion preparations; some aircraft were even outfitted to function as armed light bombers.
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 conqueror of southern Britain.
Royal Netherlands Air Force pilots also received training at Shellingford in 1946.
The Royal Netherlands Air Force, is the military aviation branch of the Netherlands Armed Forces. It was created in 1953; its ancestor, the Luchtvaartafdeling of the Dutch Army was founded in 1913. The aerobatic display team of the Royal Netherlands Air Force is the Solo Display Team.
No.3 EFTS departed in 1948, the aerodrome closing on 31 March 1948 as the RAF gradually wound down following the war. However, the airfield was re-opened briefly for use by the United States Air Force in the 1950s.
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the aerial and space warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the five branches of the United States Armed Forces, and one of the seven American uniformed services. Initially formed as a part of the United States Army on 1 August 1907, the USAF was established as a separate branch of the U.S. Armed Forces on 18 September 1947 with the passing of the National Security Act of 1947. It is the youngest branch of the U.S. Armed Forces, and the fourth in order of precedence. The USAF is the largest and most technologically advanced air force in the world. The Air Force articulates its core missions as air and space superiority, global integrated intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, rapid global mobility, global strike, and command and control.
USAF 7568 Material Squadron provided radar maintenance for the 32nd Antiaircraft Artillery Brigade whose task was to provide the air defence for all USAF SAC bases in the UK.
RAF Shellingford closed to the USAF in early 1957 with the 7568 MS moving to Denham Studios, near Uxbridge, as the 7500 Air Base Group.
RAF Manston was an RAF station in the north-east of Kent, at grid reference TR334663 on the Isle of Thanet from 1916 until 1996. The site was split between a commercial airport Kent International Airport (KIA), since closed, and a continuing military use by the Defence Fire Training and Development Centre (DFTDC), following on from a long-standing training facility for RAF firefighters at the Manston base. In March 2017, RAF Manston became the HQ for the 3rd battalion Princess of Wales Royal Regiment (PWRR).
Royal Air Force Croughton or more simply RAF Croughton is a Royal Air Force station which is currently a United States Air Force communications station in Northamptonshire, England. It is southeast of the village of Croughton. The station is home to the 422nd Air Base Group and operates one of Europe's largest military switchboards and processes approximately a third of all U.S. military communications in Europe.
Bicester Aerodrome, formerly RAF Bicester, is an airfield on the outskirts of the English town of Bicester in Oxfordshire. Dating back to 1916, this military airfield is notable as the location of the first flight of the prototype Handley Page Halifax in 1939 and was later the home of No. 71 Maintenance Unit, RAF ; the RAF finally left in 2004.
Royal Air Force Gaydon or more simply RAF Gaydon is a former Royal Air Force station located 5.2 miles (8.4 km) east of Wellesbourne, Warwickshire and 10.8 miles (17.4 km) north west of Banbury, Oxfordshire, England.
Enstone Aerodrome is a small unlicensed civilian airfield close to Enstone in Oxfordshire, which is currently used for microlights, light aircraft and motor gliders. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) designator is EGTN, and its contact radio frequency is 129.875.
RAF Little Rissington is an RAF aerodrome and RAF station in Gloucestershire, England. It was once home to the Central Flying School, the Vintage Pair and the Red Arrows.
Several air force stations and other establishments, many of them training facilities, operated in Calgary, Alberta, Canada from the mid-1930s to the mid-1960s.
Old Sarum Airfield is located 2 nautical miles north northeast of Salisbury, Wiltshire, England.
Sleap Airfield is located 10 NM north of Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England.
Netherthorpe Aerodrome is located 2 NM west by north of Worksop, Nottinghamshire, England. The aerodrome is in the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham close to the village of Thorpe Salvin.
RCAF Station Assiniboia was a Second World War British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP) flying training station located near Assiniboia, Saskatchewan, Canada. It was operated and administered by the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF).
Royal Air Force Beaulieu or more simply RAF Beaulieu is a former Royal Air Force station in the New Forest, Hampshire, England. It was also known as Beaulieu airfield, Beaulieu aerodrome and USAAF Station AAF 408. It is located next to the village of East Boldre, about 2 miles (3.2 km) west of the village of Beaulieu and 5 miles (8.0 km) east-northeast of Lymington.
Royal Air Force Thruxton or more simply RAF Thruxton is a former Royal Air Force station located 5 miles (8.0 km) west of Andover, Hampshire and about 66 miles (106 km) southwest of London.
Royal Air Force Station Balderton or more simply RAF Balderton was a former Royal Air Force station located 2.0 miles (3.2 km) south of Newark-on-Trent, sandwiched between the now extinct Great Northern Railway (GNR) Bottesford-Newark line and the A1 road in Nottinghamshire, England.
Royal Air Force Bottesford or more simply RAF Bottesford is a former Royal Air Force station located on the Leicestershire-Lincolnshire county border, 6.8 miles (10.9 km) north west of Grantham, Lincolnshire and 7.6 miles (12.2 km) south of Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire and about 107 miles (172 km) north-northwest of London, England.
RAF Booker is a former Royal Air Force installation located 2.8 miles (4.5 km) south west of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire and 6.5 miles (10.5 km) north east of Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England.
Royal Air Force station Dundonald or more simply RAF Dundonald is a former Royal Air Force station located in Ayrshire, Scotland, three miles north-east from the coastal town of Troon.
RAF Northleach was a Royal Air Force airfield near the Cotswold town of Northleach, Gloucestershire. Though named after the nearby town the land the airfield occupied was located in the nearby parishes of Hampnett and Turkdean.
During World War II civilian flying schools, under government contract, provided a considerable part of the flying training effort undertaken by the United States Army Air Forces.
Headcorn Aerodrome is a private airfield in Kent, England. The airfield is located 8 NM south of Maidstone; about 32 miles (51 km) southeast of London.
