Mount Farm

Airfield
media-28841.jpeg UPL 28841 RAF Mount Farm

aaf accident report

Object Number - UPL 28841 - RAF Mount Farm

Originally a grass airfield satellite for the RAF Photographic Reconnaissance Unit at nearby RAF Benson, Mount Farm was built in 1940-1941. It had three concrete runways, 49 dispersals (24 concrete pan type plus 25 PSP squares), and eight blister hangars. The 13th Photographic Squadron of the Eighth Air Force moved in during February 1943, and its parent 7th Photographic Group was established at Mount Farm in July 1943. Handed back to the RAF in May 1945, the station was inactive and used temporarily by the Ministry of Supply for ex-War Department vehicle sales. The return to agriculture began in 1949 and the airfield was sold for farming in 1957. Part of the site was then bought for gravel extraction in 1961, and most of the concrete was lifted for hardcore. During 1960-62, the new village of Berinsfield was built on the western end of the site, where RAF and USAAF wartime buildings had been located.

Connections

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People

Colonel James G Hall, Commander, Major James Wright, Group operations and Captain George A Lawson of the 7th Photographic Reconnaissance Group with the nose of an F-5 Lightning. 1943. Image stamped on reverse: 'Passed by AAF STA 234. Not to be published.' [stamp]
  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 7th Photographic Reconnaissance Group 22nd Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron
  • Service Numbers: 0436518, 046605-8389A
  • Highest Rank: Colonel
  • Role/Job: Pilot; Commanding Officer
John Leaser
  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 7th Photographic Reconnaissance Group 13th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron
  • Service Numbers: O-449595
  • Highest Rank: Second Lieutenant
  • Role/Job: Pilot
  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 7th Photographic Reconnaissance Group 14th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron
  • Highest Rank: Captain
  • Role/Job: Pilot
  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 451st Air Service Group 7th Photographic Reconnaissance Group
  • Service Numbers: 13096802
  • Highest Rank: First Lieutenant
  • Role/Job: Photo Interpretation
  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 7th Photographic Reconnaissance Group 13th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron
  • Service Numbers: O-430888
  • Highest Rank: Major
  • Role/Job: Photographic Reconaissance

Aircraft

A P-47 Thunderbolt (serial number 44-20230) at Mount Farm. Image by Robert Astrella, 7th Photographic Reconnaissance Group Written on slide casing: 'P-47, Mount Farm.'
  • Aircraft Type: P-47 Thunderbolt
  • Unit: 36th Fighter Group 53rd Fighter Squadron
  • Aircraft Type: P-38 Lightning
  • Unit: Base Air Depot 3 7th Photographic Reconnaissance Group 801st Bomb Group 13th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron 36th Bomb Squadron
  • Aircraft Type: P-38 Lightning
  • Unit: 7th Photographic Reconnaissance Group 22nd Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron
Personnel of the 7th Photographic Reconnaissance Group sit atop an F-5 Lightning (serial number 44-24976). Handwritten caption on reverse: 'Appears to have coloured rudder.'
  • Aircraft Type: F-5 Lightning
  • Unit: 7th Photographic Reconnaissance Group
A Mark V Spitfire (serial number AR404, "War Weary") of 7th Photographic Reconnaissance Group at Mount Farm. Image by Robert Astrella, 7th Photographic Reconnaissance Group. Handwritten on slide case:"Mount Farm 7PG R. Astrella"
  • Aircraft Type: Spitfire
  • Unit: 14th Fighter Group 2nd Fighter Group 52nd Fighter Group 7th Photographic Reconnaissance Group 14th Photographic Reconnaissance 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, Mighty Eighth War Manual (2nd edn, London, 2001)

Michael Bowyer, Action Stations 1: Wartime Military Airfields of East Anglia 1939-1945 (Cambridge, 1979)

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

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

Mount Farm: Gallery (318 items)