Chalgrove Airfield is a former Second World War airfield in Oxfordshire, England. It is approximately north-northeast of Benson in the heart of South Oxfordshire between Henley and Oxford; about north-northwest of London. Opened in 1943, it was used by both the Royal Air Force and United States Army Air Forces. During the war it was used primarily as a combat reconnaissance airfield. After the war it was closed in late 1946. Today, the airfield is primarily used by the Martin-Baker company for testing ejection seats. It was announced on 6 September 2016 that Chalgrove Airfield had been the subject of a Ministerial Transfer from the MoD to the Homes and Communities Agency, with a view to building a housing led mixed use development on part of the airfield as part of the South Oxfordshire District Council's . This is subject to review and consultation, with the Examination in Public starting in July 2020. submitted an on 19 June 2020 for 3,000 homes, a secondary and two primary schools, a new town centre and 40,000 square metres of employment space, along with community and leisure uses which will be determined by South Oxfordshire District Council.
Chalgrove was allocated to the United States Army Air Forces by the Air Ministry on 1 November 1942. It was known as USAAF Station AAF-465 for security reasons by the USAAF during the war, and by which it was referred to instead of location. USAAF Station Units assigned to RAF Chalgrove were:
The first residents of the airfield was the 10th Reconnaissance Group which arrived from Key Field, Mississippi in January 1944. The group consisted of the following operational squadrons:
In August 1944 the 653d Bombardment Squadron of the 25th Bombardment Group based at RAF Watton moved to Chalgrove. The 653d was an Eighth Air Force unit equipped with special weather reconnaissanceMosquito PRXVI's which operated over the waters adjacent to the British Isles and occasionally to the Azores to obtain meteorological data. The squadron also flew over mainland Europe for weather information needed in planning operations. In November 1945 the squadron was inactivated.
In March 1945 the 13th, 14th and 22nd Photographic Reconnaissance Squadrons from the VII Air Service Command 7th Reconnaissance Group moved to Chalgrove from RAF Mount Farm flying P-51 Mustangs. Fuselage codes were "ES" for the 13th PRS and "G2" for the 22nd. The unit also flew the Stinson L-5 Sentinel light observation aircraft. The group was inactivated at the 4th Strategic Air Depot on 21 November 1945.
Royal Air Force use
With the inactivation of the 25th Bomb Group, the USAAF returned the airfield to the RAF on 1 December 1945.
Post RAF use
With the end of military control, Chalgrove Airfield was leased by the Ministry of Defence to Martin-Baker in July 1946 for the development and testing of ejection seats. Although most of the hardstands have been removed over the years, all of the runways and perimeter track exist and are still in use by Martin-Baker. Two of the wartime T2 hangars are in use as part of the airfield and the Monument Industrial Estate site just to the south-east of the airfield contains some old USAAF buildings that were once part of the airfield. Chalgrove Aerodrome has a CAA Ordinary Licence that allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction as authorised by the licensee. The aerodrome is not licensed for night use. Runways 06/24 and 18/36 became unlicensed in 2012. In 2016, under the A Better Defence Estate review, ownership of the site was transferred from the Ministry of Defence to Homes England with the intention of redeveloping the site for 3,000 homes.
In popular culture
Chalgrove appeared in an episode of the British TV seriesThe Professionals, the Cessna 172 being used by an escaper supposedly crashing into an airfield building. An episode of the cult series The Prisoner also used Chalgrove, including sequences involving a Martin BakerGloster Meteor.
