They Gave Their Today
  • Home
  • Memorials
  • Gallery
  • RAF Stations/Squadrons
  • Chaplains
  • Contact
  • My Thoughts
  • Links
  • Middlesmoor
  • Ramsgill

RAF Stations and Squadrons

It has always appeared to me that it is strange that there is no commemoration of the fallen at RAF Stations. I have looked at two airfields:

RAF Dunsfold

RAF Dunsfold was built in just a few weeks by the Canadian Army in 1942 and became operational in 1943.  It was built to be a base to attack gun and rocket emplacements, troop concentration, communications, acentres and other strategic points in Northern France and Belgium and to provide a reconnaissance service. All of which would support the invasion. There was a special RAF Group
formed to mount these attacks and the personnel included Dutch, Canadian, French Squadrons. It was not the bombing that is normally talked about with 12 hour flights over occupied Europe. The crews from RAF Dunsfold could expect a raid in the morning and another in the afternoon and they would be targeting a HQ building, not massive industrial targets.
The Squadrons were trained to operate close to the Front and so after D Day they moved to mainland Europe
As pictures speak a thousand words have a look at
 h
ttp://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/search?filter%5BagentString%5D%5B0%5D=%22Royal%20Air%20Force%2C%2098%20Squadron%22&query=


There were three principal Squadrons based at Dunsfold and by clicking on the link you will see a listing of the fallen

98 Squadron
180 Squadron
320 Squadron

RAF Upper Heyford

RAF Upper Heyford was built in WW1 and, during most of WW2, it was a training base for 16 Operational Training Unit (OTU). These Units enabled the individual skills, the pilots, navigators and gunners to train together as a bomber crew before transferring as a team to join a Squadron in Bomber Command.
You will see that the losses were heavy. RAF Upper Heyford was the main airfield but in the area there were satellite airfields at RAF Croughton, Hinton in the Hedges and Barford St John.
For the record, I have included them all.


16 OTU
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.