RAF Barford St John
RAF Barford St John | ||
---|---|---|
|
||
Characteristics | ||
Coordinates | ||
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 .