RAF Barford St John

RAF Barford St John
Barford St John
Characteristics
Coordinates	52 ° 0 '13 "  N , 1 ° 21' 36"  W Coordinates: 52 ° 0 '13 "  N , 1 ° 21' 36"  W.
Height above MSL	120 m (394  ft )
Transport links
Distance from the city center	8 km south of Banbury
Street	10 km to the
Basic data
opening	July 30, 1941
operator	United States Air Force
Runways
02/20	1210 m of asphalt
09/27	1670 m of asphalt
16/34	1215 m asphalt

The Royal Air Force Station Barford St John , RAF Barford St John for short , is a military airfield used by the United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) in the United Kingdom , north of Barford St John between Banbury and Bicester in Oxfordshire , South East England . Flight operations no longer take place here, the base serves in particular as a communication base and is a satellite base of RAF Croughton .

history

RAF Barford St John was initially opened in 1941 as a branch of RAF Kidlington with three grass runways and was under the RAF Flying Training Command during this time . From the end of 1941, however, the expansion took place, including three paved runways for the RAF Bomber Command , which also used it as a school airfield between December 1942 and early 1945. Until the end of 1944, only the Vickers Wellington were trained . In 1943, the station also functioned as a flight test center for the new Gloster jet fighters, the Gloster E.28 / 39 and the Meteor from RAF Brockworth .

After the war, flight operations ceased in 1946.

The United States Air Force opened a communications center here in 1951, which still exists today.

Trivia

In 1949, scenes from the film Der Kommandeur were shot on the site .