RAF Weston Zoyland

Royal Air Force Station Westonzoyland USAAF Station AAF-447
Located Near Bridgwater, Somerset, United Kingdom
Westonzoyland airfield, 22 April 1944. Devoid of aircraft prior to the 442nd Troop Carrier Group moving in during June.
Map showing the location of RAF Westonzoyland within Somerset.
Coordinates	51°06′23″N 002°54′30″W / 51.10639°N 2.90833°W / 51.10639; -2.90833Coordinates: 51°06′23″N 002°54′30″W / 51.10639°N 2.90833°W / 51.10639; -2.90833
Type	Military airfield
Code	ZW
Site information
Controlled by	Royal Air Force United States Army Air Forces
Site history
Built	1925 (1925)
In use	1942-1947
Battles/wars	European Theatre of World War II Air Offensive, Europe July 1942 - May 1945
Garrison information
Garrison	RAF Transport Command Ninth Air Force
Occupants	No. 525 Squadron 442d Troop Carrier Group

RAF Westonzoyland is one of the country's oldest airfields being established in the early 1920s. Somerset, England. The airfield is located approximately 4 miles (6.4 km) east-southeast of Bridgwater; about 125 miles (201 km) west-southwest of London

Established in 1925 with summer camps which would last from May until September each year, it was used by both the Royal Air Force and United States Army Air Forces. During the war it was used primarily as an army co-operation airfield but several squadrons were based there with a variety of aircraft. Spitfires, Hurricanes and Mosquito's. Briefly - the early Meteor jets were based before flying off to RAF CULMHEAD in East Devon. There after they were based at RAF MANSTON with the mission of shooting down the V1 rockets. After being stood down in 1947 it was recommissioned in 1952 as a Meteor jet training base as a result of the Korean War. It was home to 209 AFS where Lord Craig and Sir Patrick Hine were based before going to become Air Chief Marshals of the RAF.

Today the remains of the airfield are a mixture of farmland and a base for Civil Air Patrol activities.

Westonzoyland airfield originated in the mid-1920s as a landing ground, being in use by 1926 for drogue tugs using the anti-aircraft gunnery range off Watchet in the Bristol Channel. At first, it was no more than an extended cow pasture, subject only to seasonal use until the Second World War loomed, when the site was occupied on a permanent basis. During the pre-war years, buildings were erected piecemeal as required and the landing ground area gradually enlarged but, with the fall of France, Westonzoyland was no longer a backwater airfield.

To obtain the necessary amount of land for siting runways of sufficient length, the A372 to Othery was closed and diverted south on a former minor road.

In 1942, the Air Ministry decided to upgrade the airfield to bomber standard and, early in 1943, work began on laying concrete runways and the perimeter track to the Class A airfield standard, the main feature of which was a set of three converging runways each containing a concrete runway for takeoffs and landings, optimally placed at 60 degree angles to each other in a triangular pattern.