Monument record 0850000000 - Bovingdon Airfield

Bovingdon airfield originally built as a RAF Bomber Station opened 15th June 1942, transferred to USAAF Command 28th April 1943 to 15th April 1946. Became a B17 operational training base. Several film stars served here including Clark Gable, James Stewart and William Holden. Famous wartime visitors included Bob Hope, Frances Langford, Mrs Eleanor Roosevelt, General Eisenhower and Glenn Miller. RAF resumed control from April 1946 to May 1951. USAAF took over again from May 1951 to 1962. Filming here included 'The War Lover', '633 Squadron', 'Mosquito Squadron' in the 1960s. TV episodes filmed at Bovingdon included 'The Avengers' and 'Blakes 7' (B1).
One of principal USAF Airfields in England in 1950s and 1960s. Bovingdon was occupied 1951-1962 and used mainly for transport. From 1962 in use as RAF Fighter Command airfield housing fighter-interceptor Meteor aircraft. Currently part of site in use as a prison. (B2).
Originally constructed with three runways: the main runway was 4,950 feet long, the two intersecting runways were 4,300 feet long. 27 dispersal pans extended into the surrounding woods at the north. The technical site and four 'T2' hangars were in the SE corner of the airfield (B3).
Most of the airfield was transferred from Buckinghamshire to Hertfordshire as a result of boundary changes in 1991: the only parts still in Bucks are the remains of the dispersal areas. A carvan park was subsequently built on one of these areas (B4).

An Article in "Airfield Review" gives a detailed account of the development and use of Bovingdon during World War Two and its post war use. The airfield opened in 1942 as an United States Army 8th Air Force base. It was used by American bombers (principaly B-17 Flying Fortresses) of 301 Bomardment Group and 92nd Group 326th Squadron to attack targets in France and the Low Countries. Another function of the base until September 1944 was as a Combat Crew Replacement Centre. It was aslo home to a group of technical sections who worked on problen solving and test flights for equipment and arcraft. There were a number of communications and metreological flights operating from Bovingdon. Later in the war the European Air Transport Service, ferrying often important personnel to liberated areas of Europe used Bovingdon. After the war the base became a civil airfield used by BOAC and other airlines. The airfield was used for the Berlin Airlift in 1949. Cold war developments saw the return of American aircraft in 1948 and RAF communications flights in the 1950's. In the 1960s civil and military use of the airfield decreased and the Royal Air Force closed the base in 1969. In 1988 a youth detention centre, HMP The Mount was built on part of the site. Other parts of the site are now used for agriculture. Part of the runway survived in 1994 and was used for markets. The article includes a map of the airfield as it appeared in 1950, including the wartime hangars and other buildings (B8).
Details of Bovindon as it appeared in December 1944 and a sketch map of the wartime airfield (B9).
1976 OS 1:10,000 map shows the disused airfield with the basic layout intact before the prison was built. Only one of the four T2 aircraft hangars shown in B8 remained 1976 (B10).
Brief entry for RAF Bovingdon. Presumably listed under Hertfordshire, as not included in project data for Buckinghamshire supplied to HER (B11).