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RAF Abingdon - Oxfordshire
RAF Abingdon in Oxfordshire is the only airfield that 103 Squadron have officially occupied twice if only briefly. The first time was from 2nd September 1938 to 1st April 1939 and secondly the 103 Squadron Air Echelon for two days only, 15th June 1940 to the 16th June 1940, on its return to the UK after the Battle of France
Abingdon was planned in 1925 and was intended for two single engined day bomber squadrons. Construction commenced in 1929 and the station opened on the 1st September 1932 under the Wessex Bombing Area. The first Squadron to occupy the airfield was 40 Squadron with Fairey Gordon biplane bombers. In October the first permanent buildings were occupied and the Station Flight had an Atlas, Avro 504 and DH Moth. At the end of the month the Oxford University Air Squadron also became resident.
Central Area took back control of Abingdon in November 1933. On the 1st June 1934 XV Squadron was formed with Hawker Harts. The following year both 40 Squadron and XV Squadron took part in the Mildenhall Jubilee Air Review. In October 1935 XV Squadron re equipped with Hart Special Day Bombers.
In January 1936 with RAF expansion plans now in progress more buildings were added to the site. 40 Squadron C Flight became 104 Squadron. The following month XV Squadron C Flight split and became 98 Squadron with Hawker Hinds. 40 Squadron also received Hinds in March 1936.
Just over 2000 people visited the 1936 Empire Day display at the airfield with pleasure and joy flights and displays.
In August 1936 both 98 Squadron and 104 Squadron left Abingdon. In January 1937 XV Squadron split again to form 52 Squadron and likewise in May 1937 40 Squadron also split to form the new 52 Squadron.
During November 1937 the Navy placed 802 Squadron on detachment at the airfield with Hawker Nimrods and Ospreys staying until January 1938 when they transferred to the aircraft carrier HMS Glorious. 40 squadron shed a further flight in March 1938 when 185 squadron was reformed and received Hawker Hinds. in addition 15 Squadron split again in June 1938 to reform 106 squadron.
On the 13th June 1938 the first Fairey Battles arrived for 15 squadron. Seven Battles arrived for 40 Squadron in July 1930 and several others 4 for 106 Squadron. 196 and 18 squadron left for Thornaby in August and September 1938. Both 15 and 40 Squadrons were operational by late September 1938 and formed a wing of the Allied Air Strike Force ( AASF ). 193 Squadron was based at Abingdon in September 1938 but was not assigned to the for the AASF. This was due to their lack of equipment.
With little warning XV and 40 Squadrons were placed in readiness on the 10th September, 1938 as the Munich crisis developed and war preparations went ahead. With conflict seemingly inevitable station commanders were, on September 27, called to HQ and while they were meeting the Prime Minister announced the war had been averted bringing relief mixed with concern.
193 squadron received Battles between July and mid September 1938 and were fully operational before leaving Abingdon in April 1939
Through spring and summer of 1939 the Abingdon Squadrons trained for their role in the AASF. The Battle Squadrons were ordered to prepare for France when Poland was invaded. On the 1st September 1939 civil aircraft had arrived to transport ground personnel to France. After being camouflaged these the aircraft set off at around 10.00 on the 2nd September. An hour later both squadrons followed to France as 71 Wing AASF.
Two Battle Squadrons were to form an AASF pool at Abingdon and 52 and 63 Squadrons starting to arrive on the 2nd September 1939. 166 Squadron Whitleys arrived at Abingdon in September forming 4 Group Pool and the all the Battles left for Benson. The former buildings of HQ 1 Group were taken over now by HQ 6 Group partly controlling bomber training replacing HQ 1 Group in the vacated buildings. Further reorganisation in April 1940 brought the creation of No 10 Operational Training Unit which operated from the airfield till 1946 flying Whitleys which were eventually replaced by Wellingtons. Stanton Harcourt was used as a satellite airfield for night flying in September 1940 at this time.
Following the collapse of France and the evacuation several Battle Squadrons arrived at Abingdon with their remaining aircraft including 103 Squadron on the 16th July 1940. They remained at the airfield for only 24 hours and flew to Honington, Suffolk the next day.
German intruders attacked the airfield on the 12th March 1941 and dropped 16 bombs putting the airfield out of action and damaging a Whitley. The Germans returned on the 21st March 1941 dropping 26 bombs across the 6 Gp HQ area. Mount Farm airfield was used as a satelliet to Abingdon between June 1941 and February 1942 and the Whitleys flew a number of leaflet dropping sorties. The OTU had 48 Whitleys, and 18 Ansons on strength at the time and a number of Lysanders were added for target towing duties.
10 OTU provided a Whitley Flight for the training of crews in support of Coastal Command crews in April 1942 based at St Eval in Cornwall. As part of their training the crews flew long patrols with 4 depth charges and a few practise bombs
Abingdon crews and aircraft were heavily involved in the Thousand Bomber Raids against Cologne, Essen and Bremen during the spring of 1942. Vickers Wellingtons eventually replaced the ageing Whitleys in 1944.
On June 20, 1943, in the Bay of Biscay, one of a pair of Whitleys operated by 10 OTU from St. Eval was shot down while attacking a submarine believed to be the Barbarigo of the Italian Navy. Both Whitley's crews were killed.
Between March and November 1944 the unit moved to RAF Stanton Harcourt whilst runways were laid at Abingdon with Vickers Wellingtons arrived from June. During September the last Whitley left in December 1943 it gained the control of the Polish Flight from No. 18 Operational Training Unit RAF (18 OTU), until June 1945 when the flight disbanded.
During 1941-43 Abingdon was also home to No 1 (later 1501) Blind Approach Training Flight, Instructing pilots to use Standard Beam Approach radio landing aid equipment while approaching an airfield in poor visibility. Two hard runways built in 1944 which considerably improved conditions for landing and take off.
No 10 OTU disbanded in September 1946 and the arrival of No 525 Squadron signalled the start of a new era for the airfield as part of Transport Command. Avro Yorks were used in the Berlin Airlift of 1948-49, Handley Page Hastings and Blackburn Beverleys also later operating from Abingdon, a Hastings bringing the Soviet double agent George Blake back to Britain in 1953 after his imprisonment in North Korea. Unfortunately another Hastings of No 36 Squadron at Colerne sadly crashed on 6 July 1965 shortly after taking off from Abingdon and killed all 41 people on board nearby at Little Baldon becoming the third worst air crash in the UK at this time.
Hawker Siddeley Andovers arrived at Abingdon in late 1966 carrying out lighter transport duties but the reorganisation in RAF Command administration led to the airfield being taken over by Support Command in the 1970s. The airfield subsequently carried out a combined role of maintenance, repair, salvage and storage for a huge variety of RAF aircraft. Basic flying training also took place through London and Oxford University Air Squadrons and No 6 Air Experience Flight.
The airfield’s appearance changed very little while under RAF control. One Type C and four Type A hangars were built prior to the Second World War in addition to a larger cantilever hangar in 1959. The post-war control tower was demolished in 2014.
Abingdon closed in July 1992 to be taken over by the Army and renamed Dalton Barracks.
Above - The Officer’s Mess at Abingdon pictured in 1938
Above - Battles on the Abingdon tarmac 1938
Above - 103 Squadron Battle outside Abingdon hangar
Above - The local Dog House pub which still exists and is much the same. From a 1938 postcard
Compiled by David Fell with thanks to the 10 OTU website. Photos from my archive
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