RAF Stanton Harcourt is located south east of Witney , Oxfordshire.
A former WW2 RAF operational training unit base in Oxfordshire, now mostly a gravel pit. The airstrips are, for the most part, now gone, but some of the original buildings remain including a Turret Trainer, crew room and various other miscellaneous buildings. The hangars have been converted into office and industrial units.
This Bomber Command airfield was opened in September 1940 as a satellite of RAF Abingdon and, as such, it was used by a variety of twin engined aircraft including Wellingtons and Whitley Bombers. Stanton Harcourt was more active than most local aerodromes, and it took part in the so-called "Thousand Bomber Raid" in mid-1942. Earlier in the war, on 16th August 1940, the airfield had itself been on the receiving end of an aerial attack when the Germans dropped 11 bombs and machined-gunned airfield construction workers. Night raids followed on 2nd-3rd October 1940, and 4th-5th May 1941.
Stanton Harcourt was associated with No.10 Operational Training Unit for most of the war, though other units used its facilities from time to time. In 1943, for instance, the airfield was used by Airspeed Oxfords belonging to No.1 Blind Approach Training School. Some other aircraft seen at this location at various times included Ansons and Martinets.
Facilities at RAF Stanton Harcourt were quite extensive. The layout incorporated a main runway that was aligned from north-east to south-west, with subsidiary runways extending northwards and north-westwards respectively - the resulting configuration being triangular, with a south-westwards projection. Two hangars were sited to the north of the runways, one of these being of the familiar and serviceable 'T2' type, while the other was a visually-similar 'B1' type structure. The main group of buildings, including a guardroom, motor transport section and other facilities, was sited to the east of the runway area, while further buildings were sited in and around the village.
This Bomber Command airfield was opened in September 1940 as a satellite of RAF Abingdon and, as such, it was used by a variety of twin engined aircraft including Wellingtons and Whitley Bombers. Stanton Harcourt was more active than most local aerodromes, and it took part in the so-called "Thousand Bomber Raid" in mid-1942. Earlier in the war, on 16th August 1940, the airfield had itself been on the receiving end of an aerial attack when the Germans dropped 11 bombs and machined-gunned airfield construction workers. Night raids followed on 2nd-3rd October 1940, and 4th-5th May 1941.
Stanton Harcourt was associated with No.10 Operational Training Unit for most of the war, though other units used its facilities from time to time. In 1943, for instance, the airfield was used by Airspeed Oxfords belonging to No.1 Blind Approach Training School. Some other aircraft seen at this location at various times included Ansons and Martinets.
Facilities at RAF Stanton Harcourt were quite extensive. The layout incorporated a main runway that was aligned from north-east to south-west, with subsidiary runways extending northwards and north-westwards respectively - the resulting configuration being triangular, with a south-westwards projection. Two hangars were sited to the north of the runways, one of these being of the familiar and serviceable 'T2' type, while the other was a visually-similar 'B1' type structure. The main group of buildings, including a guardroom, motor transport section and other facilities, was sited to the east of the runway area, while further buildings were sited in and around the village.
It closed shortly after hostilities ceased but during the war it was notable for being the starting point for the raid on the German battleship Scharnhorst and for being Winston Churchill's departure point for the Casablanca conference.
Ancillary blocks. Squadron Offices.
Another blast shelter.
View looking over the MT area.
Wash Down and ramp.
Inside the Night Flying Equipment Store.
Fire Tender Shelter on the left, Ambulance Shed in the middle and the Night Flying Equipment Store on the right.
MT Fuel Pump.
Air Raid Shelter to the rear of the Fire Tender Shelter.
Escape hatch to the rear of the shelter.
Squadron Offices.
The Guard House and the Water Tower.
Crew Procedure Centre.
Crew Latrines behind the Turret Trainer.
All bomber airfields had at least a single turret trainer building. In each side of this building there would have been a mock-up of a Bomber turret where an air gunner could hone his gunnery skills. A Cine film of attacking aircraft would be projected onto a curved screen surrounding the turret mock up. Also in the building would be a gunnery controller & a power unit for the turret & projector. This is the most common type of turret trainer building.
The Ground instructional Building.
Out onto the dispersal track to the dispersal pens.
A large Frying Pan Dispersal Area.
Temporary Brick Huts
Sub Station.
A Blast Shelter Behind the Sub Station.
The visit to the site itself only consisted of the Tech Site and at some point in the future i will be revisiting the associated sites dotted around the local area. I wasn't too sure how much of this site i could visit, if at all, but there was no-one around so i could explore at leisure and without being hindered.
i knew the site would offer me much of real interest and i find something both mournful and on the flip side something elegantly charming about purpose built sites that offer a window into a bygone era. How long sites like this can offer us from an historical perspective is speculative and down to the whims of land owners, development and health and safety.
This will be a detailed documentation of the site and from a personal perspective - a photographically selfish one. Initially my reports were triggered from a real interest into documenting the evidence of war, decay and the passage of time. It has been a huge influence on my life through my fathers connections with the armed forces, my childhood in Germany, and my deeper fascination with European History, peoples blissful ignorance of local history, and respect for, or in most instances, lack of respect for previous generations input into making this country what is is now. (good or bad) but that is another debate.
Anyhow - the explore.
The main entrance to the Tech Site.
Immediately on the left and opposite to the guard house is the first air raid shelter on the site.
By 1939 a policy of providing personnel shelters on RAF stations had been formulated with the provision of Air-Raid Precautions (ARP) type underground or semi-underground shelters. These were either of precast concrete, steel or permanent brick and concrete. The shelters originally conformed to the national scheme standard of offering protection for 50 personnel. Where shelters were provided above ground overhead protection consisted of an earth covering 2 ft 6 ins. deep. Typically, a single entrance was provided at one end only and at the opposite end was an emergency escape hatch.
Construction: this example is completely underground and is thought to have permanent reinforced brick walls supporting reinforced concrete roof. The shelter is an estimated five feet wide and 30 feet long.
The emergency escape.
Evidence of hut bases and pathways. In the background is the guardroom to the right and the watertower.
A blast shelter.
Provision in the form of open blast shelters was made from 1941 on RAF stations for personnel caught in the open during an air-raid. They were designed so that taking shelter could be deferred to the last minute and to avoid waste of time in shelters, the structure was therefore built above ground. This enabled personnel running for shelter to enter either through the entrances provided or to jump over the walls and crouch down inside. In addition to the permanent brick walls, further protection against blast was given by earthwork traverses. They also could be used by airmen in the defence of the technical area by using the shelter as a trench system.
The second Blast Shelter.
The Fire Pump House.
Pyro Store later converted to the dog section.
Ancillary blocks. Squadron Offices.
Another blast shelter.
View looking over the MT area.
It was wartime RAF policy to park motor transport vehicles in the open and it was only for maintenance, driver’s rest rooms and keeping vehicle records that buildings were provided. Normally, a single four-bay MT vehicle shed was built at one end of a concrete manoeuvring yard and on one side of this was a vehicle washing platform.
Wash Down and ramp.
Inside the Night Flying Equipment Store.
Other night flying equipment could have included glim lamps, gooseneck flares and illuminated landing tee and these were kept in the NFE store.
Fire Tender Shelter on the left, Ambulance Shed in the middle and the Night Flying Equipment Store on the right.
MT Fuel Pump.
Air Raid Shelter to the rear of the Fire Tender Shelter.
Escape hatch to the rear of the shelter.
Squadron Offices.
The Guard House and the Water Tower.
Crew Procedure Centre.
Crew Latrines behind the Turret Trainer.
All bomber airfields had at least a single turret trainer building. In each side of this building there would have been a mock-up of a Bomber turret where an air gunner could hone his gunnery skills. A Cine film of attacking aircraft would be projected onto a curved screen surrounding the turret mock up. Also in the building would be a gunnery controller & a power unit for the turret & projector. This is the most common type of turret trainer building.
The Ground instructional Building.
Out onto the dispersal track to the dispersal pens.
Designed from the beginning on the three grass strip principle with each strip 200 yards wide and approximately 60 degrees to each other. Hard surface runways were to be built along the centre of the strips and connected together by a hard surface perimeter track with a width of 50 feet. The chosen runway lengths were over and above of those recommended in March 1941 for a typical night fighter station.
Runway 04–22 — 1410 yards by 50 yards
Runway 10–23 — 1320 yards by 50 yards
Runway 15–33 — 1130 yards by 50 yards
Out of a total of 444 RAF airfields with hard runways only 111 had runways constructed of tarmac. This figure excludes the 30 airfields built for the Ministry of Aircraft Production and Royal Naval Air Stations.
A large Frying Pan Dispersal Area.
Temporary Brick Huts
Temporary brick - two types were used on airfields. The most common type of construction — also known as half brick hutting and 4.5 inch brick buildings, consisted of bricks laid in “Stretcher Bond” only. This is a wall consisting of single bricks laid with the length of the brick placed along the length of wall and 4.5 inches wide. Walls of this type were often cement rendered on the external face. Brick piers were normally at ten feet centres to add strength to the wall and to support steel roof trusses.
Important technical buildings were often built with 9 inch walls and this thickness is of the minimum width to support flat reinforced concrete roofs. On airfields, bricks were laid with both stretcher and headers producing a wall in “English Bond”.
Sub Station.
Step-up transformers were sited around the airfield and dispersed sites to maintain a constant voltage. These were fed from the tailless distribution units located in the intake sub-station.
Construction: an unrendered 9 inch brick enclosure, with blast wall protection to the entrance, housed the electrical transformer and switchgear.
A Blast Shelter Behind the Sub Station.
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