Built during 1917-18 as an RAF Training Depot Station (TDS), Tangmere was handed over to the US Army Air Service (USAAS) as a TDS for large Handley Page (HP) 0/400 bombers.



However, delays in delivery prevented the start of training before the Armistice on 11th November 1918. American personnel moved in from Ford with a few smaller aircraft types after the Armistice, but soon left to return to the USA. At that time, Tangmere had a grass airfield, seven Belfast Truss hangars and one large HP shed.



Closed in 1920 but kept by the Air Ministry, Tangmere re-opened in 1925, became an RAF fighter station in 1926, and remained so until 1958 when it was transferred to Signals Command.



Allocated briefly to the Eighth Air Force as a fighter base in 1942, and again briefly as a tactical fighter base in 1943, the station was never occupied by USAAF units during the Second World War. It was transferred to Transport Command (later Air Support Command) in 1963, by which time it had two hard runways and three Cold War era T2 hangars, as well as many preserved historic buildings. Tangmere closed in 1970 and the airfield was sold in 1979.



Part of the site is occupied by the Tangmere Military Aviation Museum, founded in 1981.