Monument record 0847600000 - Marlow Airport/RAF Booker/Wycombe Air Park

Summary

Civil airfield used as a military airfield from 1939, now in use for recreational flying.

Protected Status/Designation

  • None recorded

Map

Type and Period (3)

  • MILITARY AIRFIELD (Modern - 1939 AD to 1963 AD)
  • AIRFIELD (Modern - 1938 AD? to 1939 AD)
  • AIRFIELD (Modern - 1963 AD to 1999 AD)

Description

Civil airfield requisitioned by Air Ministry in 1939 (B1) or June 1941 (B3). Used as No.21 Elementary Flying School (B2) flying Tiger Moths and Miles Magisters (B3). Also known as Booker airfield.
By 1955 the four wartime grass runways had been joined by a 90 foot wide pierced steel planking hard runway. The RAF continued use until 1963 with Bomber Command Communications Flight based here. Now operated by British Airways under lease from Wycombe District Council (B3) and known as Wycombe Air Park.
Recorded by Paul Francis in 'Airfield Defences - Surviving Structures in England 1996-1998' (B4).
Detailed Air Ministry site record plans (B5-6).
During WWII a technical site was constructed containing 4 Bellman hangars. The Elementary Flying School remained at Booker until it disbanded in February 1950. During the Korean War No.1 Basic Flying Training School was based at the site (B7).
Desk-based assessment(B9)
Topographic survey identified - Runway Identifiers: Two concrete numerals displayed the number 35. Each numeral was 3.5m wide and 11.4m long. The elongated form likely to aid a pilot or navigator when seeing the numerals foreshortened when in flight.
Dispersal Loop: Remnant remains of a WWII dispersal loop to the south-west of the site, formed by a circle of concrete, 30m diameter. In poor condition, concrete surface cracked and pitted.
Concrete Pads: Group of 3 concrete pads forming a T-shape, each block 0.60m sq.
Paving Slabs: Rectangular area of concrete paving slabs (4x3 slabs), central single width of slabs head south. Flanking pair of slabs on either side. Uncertain use.
Windsock Pole: Iron pole, 10m tall. Two flat profile uprights (2m high) support the main body of pole. Top of the pole the rotating arm is intact with light fitting. Possibly WWII element of the airfield. (B10)

Sources (13)

  • ---SBC22336 Aerial Photograph: RAF. 1947. 1947 RAF Vertical APs.
  • ---SBC22337 Aerial Photograph: RAF. 1946. 1946 RAF Vertical APs.
  • ---SBC22338 Aerial Photograph: Cambridge Committee for Aerial Photography. 1985. Bucks County Survey vertical APs.
  • <1>SBC19271 Bibliographic reference: Robin J Brooks. 2000. Thames Valley Airfields in the Second World War. pp18, 213.
  • <2>SBC19272 Bibliographic reference: Buckinghamshire Record Office. 1995. Wartime Buckinghamshire 1939-1945. p7.
  • <3>SBC22293 Digital archive: Barry Abraham. 2005. 60 flying years at Booker.
  • <4>SBC22299 Digital archive: Council for British Archaeology. 2002. Defence of Britain database. Anti-invasion record ID:S0003894.
  • <5>SBC22473 Graphic material: Air Ministry (RAF). 1945. RAF Booker record site plan. Drawing no. 2560/45.
  • <6>SBC22474 Graphic material: Air Ministry (RAF). 1955?. RAF Booker record site plan. Drawing no. 3391/62B.
  • <7>SBC22311 Bibliographic reference: Bruce Barrymore Halpenny. Action Stations: 8 Military Arfields of Greater London. No.8. p46.
  • <8>SBC25359 Digital archive: UK Pillbox Study Group. 2020. UK Pillbox Study Group - Database of Modern Defence Sites.
  • <9>SBC25674 Unpublished document: Orion Heritage. 2022. Wycombe Air Park Phase 2B Archaeological Desk-Based Assessment.
  • <10>SBC25675 Unpublished document: AOC Archaeology. 2022. WYCOMBE AIR PARK, HIGH WYCOMBE, Buckinghamshire: Archaeological Survey Report.

Location

Grid reference Centred SU 82725 90787 (1578m by 1220m)
Civil Parish GREAT MARLOW, Wycombe, Buckinghamshire

Finds (0)

Related Monuments/Buildings (7)

Related Events/Activities (2)

  • Event - Survey: Archaeological survey: Wycombe Air Park (Ref: 80040) (EBC18430)
  • Event - Survey: Desk-based assessment: Wycombe Air Park (EBC18429)

Record last edited

May 31 2022 3:31PM

Comments and Feedback

Do you have any questions or more information about this record? Please feel free to comment below with your name and email address. All comments are submitted to the Heritage Portal maintainers for moderation, and we aim to respond/publish as soon as possible. Comments, questions and answers that may be helpful to other users will be retained and displayed along with the name you supply. The email address you supply will never be displayed or shared.