What follows is the raw text from a RareAviation.com document available for download. This text can be helpful if you would like to confirm the document contains specific information you are interested in. Title: Army Air Force Stations in the United Kingdom During World War II Link: https://rareaviation.com/product/army-air-force-stations-in-the-united-kingdom-during-world-war-ii --- RAW UNFORMATTED TEXT BELOW --- CONTENTSSection PageINTRODUCTION.............................................................. 1ARMY AIR FORCES STATION LIST............................................. 18Part 1 - Numerical Listing......................................... 18Part 2 - Alphabetical Listing...................................... 41Part 3 - Geographical Listing...................................... 73NOTES.................................................................... 87GLOSSARY OF ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS................................... 88i i iObtained from RareAviation.com. Delivery (c) Copyright 2004From RareAviation.comUnited States military units assigned in the United Kingdom (UK)during World War II had to avoid any direct connection with specificgeographic locations for security reasons. Most United States Army AirForces (USAAF) units therefore identified their location with a "stationnumber." Although each USAAF installation in the UK was namedgenerallyafter the nearest railway station-official correspondence and unithistories most often employed the station number.Without access to an index of the various station numbers, thelocations and units assigned in Great Britain are difficult to fathom,if they can be determined at all. Hence the need for a station listingto aid the researcher and historian. The Army Air Forces (AAF) numbersallocated to stations ranged from AAF-101 through AAF-925. But nothing isever as simple as it might first appear. Not all AAF numbers were used,and not all installations had numbers (although the named ones are in theminority). Most of the stations appear in this listing, which is arrangedsequentially, alphabetically, and by location. Nonetheless, more than 40years later, it is impossible to identify accurately every UK facilityoccupied by the USAAF during World War II. The sources used to compilethis list included numerous station lists prepared by the USAAF in England,Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. These and other primary sources inthe USAF Historical Research Center collection all date from late 1941 tolate 1945.BACKGROUNDEven with a number and name, finding a USAAF airfield in the UnitedKingdom during World War II was no easy matter. Although the UK is a smallObtained from RareAviation.com. Delivery (c) Copyright 20042nation, a little smaller in size than the state of Oregon, its 94,214square miles supported an inventory of USAAF airfields, depots, andinstallations that numbered in the hundreds at war's end. However smallthe territory, for young American pilots newly arrived from the midwestand used to training in the blue skies over Texas, it was easy to get lost.England was (and still is) a patchwork of fields, towns, and villages,all looking remarkably similar from the air. And for aircrew membersaccustomed to using a single crossroads or country church as a landmark,accurate navigation became crucial. Even on the ground, crewmen travellingfrom place to place could find navigating difficult for in 1940, when aGerman invasion appeared imminent, the British had removed practically allthe road signs and mile markers. Indeed, navigation became such a problemthat a special "Pathfinder" school was established at RAF* Alconbury(AAF-102), Huntingdonshire.** Many navigators found themselves on ordersfor AAF-102 to learn the mysteries of British H?5 radio navigation gearfrom experts of the 482d Bombardment Group. If one did find a newlyconstructed USAAF airfield, security procedures required that it bereferred to in orders and on other travel documents by AAF number.*During World War II, each USAAF-occupied airfield was prefixed bythe term "Royal Air Force Station." Abbreviated to "RAF," this policy(with some exceptions) has remained in effect until the present. Thus,references to Alconbury Air Base, or Alconbury Field, are technicallyincorrect.^Huntingdonshire and several other English counties "disappeared"during a postwar local government reorganization. The area formerly knownas "Huntingdonshire" was amalgamated into Cambridgeshire. In this study,the county locations given are those extant in 1942-1945.Obtained from RareAviation.com. Delivery (c) Copyright 2004From RareAviation.com3Several variations of the basic AAF station numbering system were inuse at different UK headquarters. Some fighter units prefixed the numberwith an "F," leaving out the "AA." RAF Duxford, headquarters for the 66thFighter Wing and 78th and 350th Fighter Groups, was known as F-357.Eventually the list of AAF numbers grew to include a small number ofinstallations outside the British Isles. There were four U.S.-occupiedairfields in Iceland during the war--one of these designated AAF-354.* Itwas home for the 14th Fighter Group and the 50th Fighter Squadron.Similarly, after the 6 June 1944 landings in Normandy, Ninth Air Forceunits and headquarters began moving rapidly to the Continent. Some Dutch,Belgian, and French bases were also assigned AAF numbers. The expansionof USAAF airfields was so rapid, however, that the USAAF devised a seriesof new numbering systems, and some of the previously designated bases inEurope also acquired numbers with A-, B-, or Y- prefixes: Chievres(AAF-181), Belgium, was also A-84; Merville, France, sported the dualdesignation AAF-182 and B-53.Further east, on the Russian Front, United States Strategic Air Forcesin Europe established its eastern headquarters at Poltava, near Kiev in theUSSR. Poltava (AAF-559) was one of three Ukraine installations operated*Station lists are not specific, but there were four airfields usedby the AAF in Iceland. Reykyavik, the main tactical field, was under RAFjurisdiction and was not used extensively by the USAAF. But the UnitedStates constructed Meeks and Patterson Fields at Reykyavik, as well asKassos Field on the north side of the island. Meeks and Patterson weredeveloped jointly as major staging points on one of the important airtransport routes to Europe.Obtained from RareAviation.com. Delivery (c) Copyright 20044in the Soviet Union by Headquarters, Eastern Command. The others wereestablished at Piryatin (AAF-560) and Mirgorod (AAF-561).AIRFIELD CONSTRUCTIONU.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull and Viscount Halifax* met inthe summer of 1942 and on 3 September agreed to USAAF operations from theUnited Kingdom. Under terms of the reciprocal aid pact, the agreementcalled for the British to supply all the facilities necessary for theUSAAF. But labor shortages in Britain and the need to get airfields builtas quickly as possible led to the use of U.S. aviation engineers. Nocharge was made for their use, since the labor was considered "training."In fact, American engineers became a vital element in a severely stretchedBritish construction program. In February 1945 another agreement made theBritish government responsible for all capital expenditures on airfieldsconstructed for or improved by the USAAF.1By the end of 1942, USAAF leaders chose to build large bases, eachlarge enough to accommodate a complete combat group so that each combatunit might have its own service group assigned.2 Earlier, VI11 BomberCommand planned to divide its forces into five wing areas, each composedof 15 airfields. The bulk of these installations at the time were in useby RAF Bomber Command, but none were large enough to accommodate an entireU.S. heavy bombardment group.British planners--and their U.S. counterparts--assumed that each groupin VIII Bomber Command would station a squadron of bomber aircraft at its*Sir Charles Ingram Courtenay Wood, 2nd Earl of Halifax, M.P.Obtained from RareAviation.com. Delivery (c) Copyright 2004From RareAviation.com5main base with attendant service facilities, and then use satellitestations for the remainder of the group's squadrons within the wing area.But by November 1942 British and American military leaders realized thatthe USAAF effort in the UK was increasing so rapidly that it would be moreproductive to build or enlarge airfields to accommodate a whole group,rather than separate the squadrons as each RAF wing* did. Both fighter andbomber units were stationed in the same general areas, resulting in heavyconcentrations of USAAF stations, personnel, and aircraft in East Anglia,the Midlands, and the West Country.As the air war progressed, aerial priorities changed and the EighthAir Force gave up those bases programmed for its use in the 5th Wing areanortheast of London, predominantly in Essex. Among the airfields planned,but not built for USAAF use, were facilities at Ingatestone, Maldon,Southminster, Burnham-on-Crouch, and High Roding. In 1943 Lt Gen Ira Eakerreturned the area to RAF Bomber Command and concentrated his bomber forcesamong the East Anglian bases.3Of the more than 140 United Kingdom airfields constructed or improvedby or for the USAAF, Air Transport Command occupied 7, and Eighth and NinthAir Forces occupied the others. Twelfth and Fifteenth Air Forces bothfielded units in the UK, but in 1943 moved their operations to the NorthAfrican and Mediterranean theaters. But until construction was completed*The echelons of the Royal Air Force, in order of ascending size,were squadron, wing, and group, whereas the USAAF used the designationssquadron, group, and wing. This also explains the rationale behind the RAFsystem of officer ranks: squadron leader, wing commander, and group captain,respectively; each equivalent in rank to major, lieutenant colonel, andcolonel in the USAAF.Obtained from RareAviation.com. Delivery (c) Copyright 20046on the majority of airfields, American units used RAF stations on a "jointuse," or "lodger" basis. Such airfields included Ashchurch, Bisterne,Headcorn, High Halden, Kingsnorth, Lashenden, Lymington, Staplehurst,Williamstrip, Winkton, and Woodchurch. USAAF use of these stationsusually predated 1944, although USAAF aircraft would land at RAF fieldsin emergency situations.Airfield construction can be divided between a small number built byU.S. engineers and a greater number constructed by the British. Americanaviation engineering battalions built Andrews Field (Great Saling), Birch,Boreham, Chipping Ongar, Debach, Eye, Glatton, Gosfield, Great Dunmow,Harrington, Matching, Nuthamstead, Raydon, and Stansted (Mountfichet).Harrington was constructed for the RAF in exchange for Little Staughton,built by the British for the USAAF. (Figure 1 illustrates the typicalairdrome layout approved by the Engineering Section of VIII Air ForceService Command in March 1943.) By 1 June 1943, the Air Ministry had54 bomber aerodromes under construction for the USAAF, in addition to the13 just mentioned. Construction of fighter fields was also underway, andthe British allocated 10 of a total of 22 for exclusive U.S. use, withthe remainder designated as emergency landing fields. Six combat crewreplacement centers, the photo reconnaissance base at Mount Farm (AAF-234),and another 19 observation and transport fields also took shape rapidlyamid the British landscape. Apart from this massive airfield constructionprogram, the USAAF also took over numerous RAF stations. Some of thesesorely needed stations the RAF wanted to keep but were nonethelesssurrendered to the USAAF. Referring to this spirit of generosity betweenObtained from RareAviation.com. Delivery (c) Copyright 2004From RareAviation.comObtained from RareAviation.com. Delivery (c) Copyright 20048allies, General Eaker, Eighth Air Force commander, observed: "TheBritish . . . have cooperated 100 percent in every regard. We areextremely proud of the relations we have been able to establish [with]our British Allies . . .The facilities at former RAE fields ranged from excellent to primitive.Each came supplied with a liaison officer, British communications equipment,and civil engineering staff.* This helped ease the transition from state-side training to a war operations footing for newly arrived combat groups.Some fields, part of the pre-war RAF establishment, boasted barracks andhangars, machine shops, and supply dumps; but most of the others amountedsimply to a concrete runway or a grass strip "improved" with the additionof pierced steel planking and the erection of tents and Nissen huts.**None of the newly acquired airfields could be considered spacious by U.S.standards of the day.The complex of air bases across the middle of England was a vast one,and a huge logistical "tail" had to support the Eighth and Ninth Air Forces1"teeth." In March 1942 General Eaker pushed for establishment of the depot,repair, and overhaul facilities needed for sustained flying operations fromthe UK. Warton (AAF-582), 25 miles north of Liverpool in Lancashire, hadbeen identified as an excellent site for this purpose by a group of AirCorps officers during a visit to the Blackpool and Preston areas on*Today, each USAF installation in the UK still has an RAF stationcommander--usually a squadron leader--assigned, as well as civil engineersfrom the Property Services Agency of the British Department of theEnvironment.**Nissen huts resembled a corrugated metal barrel cut lengthwise andbolted to a concrete base. These were used on most UK airfields in WorldWar II.Obtained from RareAviation.com. Delivery (c) Copyright 2004From RareAviation.com927-28 October 1941,5 before the United States entered the war. During thesame trip to survey British flying operations, the group visited theHuntingdon area. Airfields at Polebrook, Grafton Underwood, Kimbolton,Little Staughton, Molesworth,* Chelveston,* Podington, and Thurleighal 1to become famous bomber installationswere also identified as desirable.Warton was exceptionally well sited with regard to essential services, andwith Burtonwood became one of the key USAAF logistical facilities in theUnited Kingdom.In 1943 the conversion of British sites to USAAF facilities quickened.Wycombe Abbey, a girls school near RAF Bomber Command headquarters, becameHeadquarters Eighth Air Force at High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. Sil cock'sWarehouse, Liverpool, transformed from grain storage to become an aircraftspares warehouse. Various country houses became other USAAF headquarters--Bushey Hall at Watford, on the northwest side of London, and Lord Iveagh's**home at Elveden Hall, Suffolk, are examples. Other houses large and smallaccommodated the surge of USAAF personnel, personnel sometimes referred tocaustically as "over paid, over sexed, and over here!" But the need forstill more personnel replacements grew as USAAF forces and facilitiesexpanded, the air war intensified, and aircrew losses mounted. Any initialBritish resentment at the local level was soon replaced by admiration andeven affection for the Yanks who flew bomber raids against Nazi Germany in*Forty years later these bases housed families of airmen assigned toRAF Alconbury.**Major Sir Arthur Onslow Edward Guinness, Viscount Elveden, 2nd Earlof Iveagh.Obtained from RareAviation.com. Delivery (c) Copyright 200410the broad daylight.* Thousands of airmen passed through the replacementcontrol depots at Stone (AAF-518 and AAF-594) in Staffordshire, whichserved the VI11 Air Force Service Command, and Chorley (AAF-591) inLancashire, from which IX Air Force Service Command drew replacements forNinth Air Force units.But it wasn't just people that kept the USAAF flyingit was also thespare parts, rubber tires, fuel, lubricants, ammunition, bombs, and all theother vital supplies that flowed off the docks in Liverpool into and throughthe Service Command supply depots. Burtonwood in Warrington became theprincipal Base Air Depot Area headquarters for the UK, and developed intothe largest single U.S. supply, storage, and maintenance installation ofthe war. As the number of combat airfields grew, so did the entire depotcomplex, with Strategic Air Depot areas, Tactical Air Depot areas (alsoknown as Advanced Air Depots), and Base Air Depot Areas all serving sectionsof the USAAF. Langford Lodge (AAF-597), Northern Ireland, developed rapidlyas a supply and maintenance depot. Other facilities in Northern Irelandserved important roles as training locations for newly arrived aircrews.Geographically, Ulster was somewhat sheltered from Luftwaffe air raidsbecause of its distance from the Continent and because England offeredmore tempting targets.Combat Crew Replacement Centers established in Northern Irelandincluded the facilities at Eglinton (AAF-344), Toome (AAF-236), Cl untoe*Some authorities suggest that daylight raids were chosen because thenavigation skills among U.S. aircrews were insufficient to handle nightimeoperations without extensive additional training.Obtained from RareAviation.com. Delivery (c) Copyright 2004From RareAviation.com11(AAF-238), Nutts Corner (AAF-235), Long Kesh (AAF-232), Maghaberry(AAF-239), and Greencastle (AAF-237)--al 1 built or improved for the USAAF.Others in the Eighth Air Force Ulster construction program on 28 July 1942included the satellite fields at Ballyhalbert, Bishop's Court, Mill Isle,*Kirkistown,* Sydenham, Newtownards, Mullaghmore, and Maydown. A combatcrew replacement center and advanced supply and repair depot was planned atSt. Angelo--the facility furthest west in Northern Ireland--but records donot confirm any actual USAAF use. The Eighth Air Force stationed a signalbattalion at Lurgan (AAF-350), and occupied facilities at Victoria Barracks,Belfast (AAF-233), and Kircassock House (AAF-231). Ninth Air Force operatedAldergrove (AAF-439) in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, which had servedin 1940 as the terminus for the North Atlantic ferry route from the UnitedStates. (Luftwaffe attacks in late 1940 forced the use of Prestwick(AAF-500), Scotland, for this purpose in place of Aldergrove.)UNIT MOVESIn late 1943, men and materiel were flowing into the UK at atremendous rate. The rapid expansion of USAAF bases meant that any unitremaining at one station throughout the war would be an exceptional caseindeed. Therefore, though the station listing generally identifies aparticular unit with a station number and location, that unit is the onemost closely associated with that location during the war years. It wasnot necessarily the final location of the unit at war's end. Because unitsoften moved, some are identified with more than one station number and*Built as reciprocal aid projects, but never used by the USAAF.Obtained from RareAviation.com. Delivery (c) Copyright 200412location. In at least one case, a station number moved. (See the noteassociated with Hitcham [AAF-470], Suffolk.) In other cases, there appearsto have been considerable confusion even among members of allied wartimeheadquarters staffs about certain stations and their corresponding stationnumbers, especially when two stations were collocated. This most oftenoccurred when depots were established adjacent to flying units. In Norfolk,the station numbers for Watton (AAF-376) and Neaton (AAF-5O5) were oftenused interchangeably. Honington (AAF-375), Suffolk, was frequently listedas AAF-595, the station number for Troston.In addition to names, some key units were referred to by theircode names.* Headquarters, Eighth Air Force and its successor, UnitedStates Strategic Air Forces in Europe (USSTAFE), headquartered in thesuburbs southwest of London at Bushey Park, Teddington, were dubbed"WIDEWING." Headquarters, VIII Bomber Command at High Wycombe,Buckinghamshire, was code named "PINETREE." To add to the plethora ofnames, High Wycombe (AAF-1O1) is also referred to as Camp Lynn. Severalother installations also bore the "Camp" prefix. Camp Blainey, headquartersfor the Eighth Air Force's Third Air Division, became better known by itsoriginal name--Elveden Hall (AAF-116). Similarly, Camp Thomas (AAF-108)in Norfolk quickly regained its local name of Old Catton. But CampGriffiths (AAF-586), an alternative name for the headquarters at BusheyPark, proved the exception and retained its designation throughout the war.USAAF headquarters spread throughout London and its suburbs. Sometimesthey were given station numbers; sometimes not. Kew Gardens was one such*A11 units had code names, but these were normally used intelecommunications only.Obtained from RareAviation.com. Delivery (c) Copyright 2004From RareAviation.com13site, just south of the Thames. Others were near the U.S. EmbassyAAF-576is listed as 20 North Audley Street, just off Grosvenor Square. AnotherLondon example: AAF-405--Elsworth Road and Wadham Gardens in St. JohnsWood. Both are listed as being in Hampstead Borough* where the IX AirDefense Command had its headquarters. Yet another London station wasBryanston Square (AAF-390), which became the U.S. Strategic Air Forces inEurope rear echelon headquarters when the USSTAFE moved to the Continent.By 1944, as U.S. forces in the UK reached their greatest numbers inpreparation for the Normandy invasion, U.S. installations seemingly hadsprung up everywhere. Although Figure 2 shows many of these airfields,it is by no means comprehensive. Army Air Forces unit commanders foundthemselves jockeying for precious space with the RAF, the United Statesand British Armies, and even with Navy units. Military planners began toblur the distinction between U.S. Army and U.S. Army Air Forces components.The U.S. Army ordnance facility at Tidworth, Buckinghamshire, was assignedthe designation AAF-583. Other station lists placed AAF-583 at Sharnbrook,Bedfordshire, which was a USAAF ordnance and chemical depot. Anotherordnance and chemical depot, Barnham in Suffolk, carried two stationnumbers despite its small size. Barnham's Warren Wood site was listed asAAF-587 and its nearby Little Heath site became AAF-517. (As late as 1971,RAF Barnham was being used by the U.S. Air Force to billet airmen assignedto nearby RAF Lakenheath.)*The Borough of Hampstead. British useage in 1943 was just asconfusing to Americans then as it can be today, hence some of the designa-tions that became common parlance in American headquarters were actuallyincorrect interpretations of British placenames.Obtained from RareAviation.com. Delivery (c) Copyright 2004Fig. 2. Flying facilities, 1945Obtained from RareAviation.com. Delivery (c) Copyright 2004From RareAviation.comvJ AsAPTAPT3APTNORTH PiCKCNHAMAPTVALLEY--BECCLES APTBUNGAY APT'.FRAMLINGHAM APTPT VAC.: MAWGAN APTrattlesden apt-BURY ST EDMUNDS APTKNETTISHALL APTONCAR APTAPTAPT