Chalgrove
AirfieldIWM, Roger Freeman Collection
Chalgrove was built as a USAAF transport or observation unit base in 1943-44. Several reconnaissance units operated from the airfield, including the Ninth Air Force's 10th Photographic Group and 423rd Night Fighter Squadron (later 155th Reconnaissance Squadron) and the Eighth Air Force's 7th Photographic Reconnaissance Group. It was handed back to the RAF at the end of the Second World War and has since been used by Martin Baker, manufacturers of ejection seats.
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English Heritage's Record Description
A military airfield, opened in 1943. During World War Two the base was used by units of the 8th and 9th United States Army Air Force. These included the 10th and 7th Photographic Reconnaissance Groups, Troop Carrier Pathfinder Group and additionally Airborne Pathfinder Paratroops of the US Army. The airfield was equipped with three concrete and tarmac runways and two aircraft hangars (type T2), of which only one is extant (please see SU 69 NW 66. For details of other wartime buildings see SU 69 NW 67). Wartime construction methods typically involved the use of "temporary materials" for many building types. After the war the military left the airfield, and in 1946 the Air Ministry allocated the airfield to Martin Baker Limited. This company used the airfield to research and test aircraft ejection seats. Martin Baker Limited remains at the airfield to date (2004). In 1993 a war memorial was dedicated at the airfield. A German aircraft is reported to be buried on the airfield.
People
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Civilian
- Nationality: British
- Unit: American Red Cross
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 10th Photographic Reconnaissance Group 12th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron
- Service Numbers: 33487432
- Highest Rank: Lieutenant
- Role/Job: Pilot
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 440th Troop Carrier Group 95th Troop Carrier Squadron
- Service Numbers: O-706970
- Highest Rank: Second Lieutenant
- Role/Job: Navigator
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 440th Troop Carrier Group 95th Troop Carrier Squadron
- Service Numbers: 19102666 / O-756333
- Highest Rank: Second Lieutenant
- Role/Job: Pilot
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 10th Photographic Reconnaissance Group 34th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron
- Highest Rank: First Lieutenant
- Role/Job: Photo Reconnaissance Pilot
Aircraft
- Aircraft Type: F-5 Lightning
- Unit: 10th Photographic Reconnaissance Group 33rd Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron
- Aircraft Type: F-5 Lightning
- Nicknames: Snooperman
- Unit: 10th Photographic Reconnaissance Group 34th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron
- Aircraft Type: A-20 Havoc
- Unit: 10th Photographic Reconnaissance Group 423rd Night Fighter Squadron
- Aircraft Type: P-38 Lightning
- Nicknames: Strato Snob
- Unit: 10th Photographic Reconnaissance Group 34th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron
- Aircraft Type: Oxford
- Unit: 10th Photographic Reconnaissance Group
Revisions
Barry Anderson, Army Air Forces Stations (Alabama, 1985) / Roger Freeman, Airfields of the Ninth Then and Now (London, 1994)
Roger Freeman, Mighty Eighth War Manual (London, 2001)
Michael Bowyer, Action Stations 6: Military Airfields of the Cotswolds and the Central Midlands (Cambridge, 1983)