Planned as a secret, emergency airfield, Stoney Cross was developed during 1942-43 as an advance base for both fighters and bombers. Occupied by the RAF from January 1943, before construction was complete, the station had eventually three concrete runways, 51 pan plus 11 loop hardstandings, and three T2 plus six blister hangars. Allocated to the Ninth Air Force in March 1944 as a forward base for tactical fighters, it was occupied from April to July 1944 by the 367th Fighter Group, equipped with P-38s. The 387th Bomb Group, equipped with B-26s, next occupied the station from July to September 1944. Handed back to the RAF in September 1944, it was used as a transport base until 1946 and closed in 1948. As part of the New Forest Crown land, the site was taken over by the Forestry Commission in the 1950s, which removed most of the concrete parts from the airfield during the 1960s to establish new plantations. Three car parks and two camping sites were set up on wartime aircraft dispersals to create a public recreation area.