RAF Hampstead Norris
RAF Hampstead Norris
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| Summary | |||||||||||||||||||
| Airport type | Military | ||||||||||||||||||
| Owner | Air Ministry | ||||||||||||||||||
| Operator | Royal Air Force | ||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Hampstead Norreys, Berkshire | ||||||||||||||||||
| Built | 1940 | ||||||||||||||||||
| In use | 1940-1946 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 51°29′28″N 001°12′48″W / 51.49111°N 1.21333°WCoordinates: 51°29′28″N 001°12′48″W / 51.49111°N 1.21333°W | ||||||||||||||||||
| Map | |||||||||||||||||||
 RAF Hampstead Norris
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RAF Hampstead Norris is a former Royal Air Force (RAF) station located 1.3 miles (2.1 km) north east of Hampstead Norreys, Berkshire, England and 10.6 miles (17.1 km) north west of Reading, Berkshire.
The construction contract was awarded to Wimpey in May 1940 valued at £233,000. It was opened in mid 1940. Unusually the runways met at a single point, an obvious target to disable the entire airfield.
No. 15 Operational Training Unit relocated to Hampstead Norris on 1 June 1940. The airfield hosted a number of squadrons of Vickers Wellington bombers. The airfield was used extensively as a glider training base during the latter part of the war, many glider pilots were trained here in preparation for D-Day. The base also had 33 Tiger Moths as training aircraft. The main role of the airfield was to ferry Wellingtons to Egypt, via Gibraltar and Malta.
On 15 March 1945 No. 13 OTU arrived with their de Havilland Mosquitoes and the airfield reverted to being a satellite of RAF Harwell.
It became an ammunition storage depot as part of the Bramley Central Ammunition Depot near Basingstoke after its closure in 1946.
The site was bombed on 16 September 1940 by the Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain. Three bombs fell on the runways.
On 4 March 1941 a Wellington was attacked by a German fighter as it approached to land.
The airfield was attacked on 12 May 1941 with 10 High Explosive bombs and 100 Incendiaries. One Wellington was destroyed and the flare path and the southern taxiway were damaged.
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Wikipedia