Middle Wallop

Airfield
Aerial photograph of Middle Wallop airfield looking north, the control tower is in front of the technical site with five C-Type hangars upper right, 29 October 1946. Photograph taken by No. 58 Squadron, sortie number RAF/CPE/UK/1811. English Heritage (RAF Photography). eh-668.jpg RAF_CPE_UK_1811_FP_1331 Aerial photograph of Middle Wallop airfield looking north, the control tower is in front of the technical site with five C-Type hangars upper right, 29 October 1946. Photograph taken by No. 58 Squadron, sortie number RAF/CPE/UK/1811. English Heritage (RAF Photography). Historic England

IWM, English Heritage Collection

Object Number - RAF_CPE_UK_1811_FP_1331 - Aerial photograph of Middle Wallop airfield looking north, the control tower is in front of the technical site with five C-Type hangars upper right,...

Planned as an RAF bomber station with a grass airfield, concrete perimeter track and hardstandings, Middle Wallop opened as a training base in April 1940, before construction was complete. Used as an RAF day-fighter and night-fighter base during 1940-43, the station was allocated to the Eighth Air Force during August-September 1942 as a potential fighter base, but was never occupied by Eighth Air Force units. The airfield was improved in 1942 with two Sommerfeld Track runways, when dispersals included nine small pens and 16 double pens. By 1943, when the station was transferred to the Ninth Air Force, the original five C hangars had been supplemented by 16 blister hangars. HQ IX Fighter Command occupied the station from November 1943 to July 1944, as did the 67th Tactical Reconnaissance Group equipped with Spitfires, P-51s and F-5s. HQ XIX Air Support Command was also resident from January to July 1944. Returned to the RAF in July 1944, the station again became briefly a night-fighter base and then a fighter servicing base until taken over by the Royal Navy during 1945-46. Again a multi-role RAF station from 1946 to 1957, it was transferred to the Army Air Corps (AAC) in 1958 and has since been home to HQ AAC and the Army Aviation Centre. It has also been home since 1987 to the Museum of Army Flying.

Connections

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People

  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 67th Tactical Reconnaissance Group 15th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron
  • Service Numbers: O-797872
  • Highest Rank: First Lieutenant
  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 67th Tactical Reconnaissance Group 30th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron
  • Service Numbers: O-773791
  • Highest Rank: First Lieutenant
  • Role/Job: Pilot
  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Unit: 67th Tactical Reconnaissance Group 107th Reconnaissance Squadron
  • Highest Rank: Lieutenant Colonel
  • Role/Job: Pilot
  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 67th Tactical Reconnaissance Group 30th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron
  • Service Numbers: 17135542 / O-769940
  • Highest Rank: First Lieutenant
  • Role/Job: Pilot
Sgt. Rogers standing by a P-51. He is the crew chief of this plane.
  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 107th Reconnaissance Squadron
  • Service Numbers: 38046203
  • Highest Rank: Staff Sergeant
  • Role/Job: Crew Chief

Aircraft

  • Aircraft Type: F-6 Mustang
  • Unit: 67th Tactical Reconnaissance Group 107th Reconnaissance Squadron
  • Aircraft Type: F-6 Mustang
  • Unit: 67th Tactical Reconnaissance Group 107th Reconnaissance Squadron
P-38 Lightnings, including (serial number 42-8624) and (serial number 42-3235), of the 10th Photographic Reconnaissance Group in flight. Handwritten caption on reverse: '19/8/44.'
  • Aircraft Type: P-38 Lightning
  • Nicknames: Strato Snob
  • Unit: 10th Photographic Reconnaissance Group 34th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron
  • Aircraft Type: Spitfire
  • Unit: 67th Tactical Reconnaissance Group 109th Reconnaissance Squadron
  • Aircraft Type: Spitfire
  • Unit: 67th Tactical Reconnaissance Group 15th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron No 133 'Eagle' Squadron

Revisions

Date
ContributorAAM
Changes
Sources

Barry Anderson, Army Air Forces Stations (Alabama, 1985) / Roger Freeman, Airfields of the Eighth Then And Now (London, 1978)

Roger Freeman, Airfields of the Ninth Then and Now (London, 1994)

Chris Ashworth, Action Stations 5: Military Airfields of the South-West (London, 1982)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AAC_Middle_Wallop

http://www.army.mod.uk/aviation/27765.aspx

http://www.armyflying.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_of_Army_Flying

Middle Wallop: Gallery (8 items)