By Michael Allbrook
Airfields near Deddington
The predominant display of military might was of course the RAF and Deddington was surrounded by airfields.The bulk of the flying was part of the training activity so it was constant take off and landing by day and by night and aircraft flying overhead constantly. It even impacted on the local pubs and the numbers of dances held in the area. One of our residents recalls that her Father was a Special Constable at the time and he was kind enough to turn up at the end of the evening to make sure she got home safely
Barford St John.
Built in 1941 and it is still open.
An RAF station which was, initially, a Relief Landing Ground for 15 Flying Service Training School, Kidlington.
In April 1942, it was used by Bomber Command as a satellite airfield for Upper Heyford.
Gloster Aircraft Company used part of the airfield to develop the Meteor fighter.
The units stationed there were 16 Operational Training Unit and 1655 Training Unit. The aeroplanes involved were mainly Wellingtons and for a short time Mosquitoes.
It was bombed on 24 August 1941.
Barton Abbey
Opened on 30 September 1941 and closed in early 1945.
It is recorded that it was used by the RAF as a storage area by 8, and later 39, Maintenance Unit. The aeroplanes involved were mainly Wellingtons. José Stevens worked there as a typist in 1944/45 and recalls that it was 6 MU supporting Brize Norton and Little Rissington. Her memories suggest that Spitfires were serviced there employing both military and civilian personnel and that there was a large squad of Dogs and their handlers for security.
Chipping Norton
It was opened by the RAF in July 1940 and closed in December 1945. The first occupants were 15 Service Flying Training School equipped with the North American Harvard. Later 6 Service Flying Training School took over the airfield.
It was bombed on 29/30 October and also on 18/19 November 1940.
Croughton
It opened in 1940 and it is still operated by the USAAF.
Initially it was a satellite airfield for 16 Operational Training Unit at Upper Heyford, part of Bomber Command the main aircraft being the Handley Page Hampden and the Avro Anson.
In July 1942 it became a Glider Training School flying the Hotspur Gliders and then in March 1943 became a satellite airfield for Kidlington. When the forces ran short of trained glider pilots, it reverted briefly to being a Glider Training School.
Number and dates of known air accidents in the vicinity 12.
The airfield was bombed on 20 September 1940.
Edgehill
It opened in October 1941, in 1949 it was placed under Care and Maintenance and eventually closed in 1954.
It was used by the RAF. 21 Operational Training Unit initially, then in the Spring of 1943, 12 Operational Training Unit moved in and then in 1945 it became 25 Maintenance Unit.
It was briefly re-opened during the Korean War as a Satellite Station to Moreton in the Marsh.
It was the airfield which hosted the first test flight of the jet engine in February 1942.
In the autumn of 1941 there were at least three air accidents.
The Operational Training Units were teaching the crews to work as a team within the aircraft but also as part of a larger attacking force. They were therefore involved in missions over continental Europe and suffered casualties.
Enstone
This RAF station was opened in 1942 and closed sometime after 1946. It was initially a satellite station for 21 Operational Training Unit who were at Moreton in the Marsh. More intriguingly, it was also the base for a very secret unit of which nothing is known except that its six Lancaster bombers were painted black and without squadron markings and at all times these aircraft were either flying or hidden from the view of everyone on the airfield.
In 1944 a flight of 6 Tomahawks were used for training.
Eynsham
In 1939 this airfield was also known as No. 6 Ammunition Park where thousands of tons of ammunition were stored. It then became a Maintenance Unit which it remained until it closed in 1948.
Hinton in the Hedges
This airfield was opened in November 1941 when it was used by 13 OTU who were followed by 16 OTU. It ceased military operations in July 1944.
The other major user of the airfield was 26 Signals Group whose work involved developing aerial systems.
There are known to have been 5 accidents, one in 1941 and 4 in 1942 including one on 24 July 1942
Kiddington (Glympton)
It opened in 1941 as a Relief Landing Ground for its larger neighbour, Kidlington where15 Service Flying Training School was based.
It later was further involved in the training of Glider Pilots
Kidlington
This was a civil airfield that was requisitioned in September 1939. In the rapidly changing world at that time it became a maintenance facility, a satellite airfield for Abingdon and an RAF Code Training Centre for Codes and the base for 6 Service Flying Training School, then 15 Service Flying Training School. All within a year.
In 1942 it became the 101 (Glider) Operational Training Unit and later 102 (Glider) Operational Training Unit was added. All training activity ceased in June 1945 and gradually the airfield ceased military operations
The airfield was bombed on 3 November 1940, with one airman being killed. Futher attacks were on 27 February 1941 and 12 August 1941 but without any fatalities.
One of the unsolved mysteries of the war is that Amy Johnson died en route here
Upper Heyford
It was originally a WW1 airfield which re-opened in 1927 as a bomber station. At the outbreak of WW2 it became 16 Operational Training Unit. This involved flying Hampdens, Wellingtons and eventually Mosquitoes. It was also the base of a secret unit involved in radio countermeasures unit.
The level of activity was so high that concrete runways were laid in 1942 which closed the airfield from March to December and flying transferred to Barford St John.
One accident is recorded on 13 August 1940 and it was attacked by bombing on 12 August 1941 and 9 May
In 1951, the airfield was handed over to the USAAF*.
*Editor's note:Upper Heyford continued to be operational up until 1994. It was an important part of the US Forces quick response to possible Soviet aggression during the Cold war. The official USAAF website for the base - which can be found here - contains information on aircraft squadrons and where they operated along with local information seen through American eyes. US airmen were a not uncommon, and welcome, sight in Deddington but the recreational facilities on base were so good that there was little need to visit the village; in fact, prior to having our own tennis courts, Deddington Tennis Club used the base courts.
A local and well known professional photographer, Richard Smith, held an exhibition entitled 'A Cold War Landscape' in Banbury in January 2010. The images captured well the brooding menace still present in the former airfield.
Wykham Hill
This airfield was briefly used in 1944. It was used by spotter aircraft attached to 696th Field Artillery Battalion which was part of the US Army’s 5th Artillery Group whose headquarters were in Banbury.
© Michael Allbrook 2010