RAF Greenham Common - World War II

World War II

Greenham Common airfield was one of several wartime airfields in the Salisbury Plain area and was originally intended for use as an RAF Bomber Command Operational Training Unit. It was built to the Class A airfield standard, the main feature of which was a set of three converging runways each containing a concrete runway for takeoffs and landings, optimally placed at 60 degree angles to each other in a triangular pattern connecting to an enclosing perimeter track, of a standard width of 50 feet.

The land for the airfield was acquired in May 1941 and the runways were built in early 1942 with one main and two secondary runways with assorted loop and pan dispersal hardstands connecting to an enclosing perimeter track, of a standard width of 50 feet.

The ground support station was constructed largely of Nissen huts of various sizes. The support station was where the group and ground station commanders and squadron headquarters and orderly rooms were located. Also on the ground station were where the mess facilities; chapel; hospital; mission briefing and debriefing; armoury; life support; parachute rigging; supply warehouses; station and airfield security; motor pool and the other ground support functions necessary to support the air operations of the group. These facilities were all connected by a network of single path support roads.

The technical site, connected to the ground station and airfield consisted of at least two T-2 type hangars and various organizational, component and field maintenance shops along with the crew chiefs and other personnel necessary to keep the aircraft airworthy and to quickly repair light and moderate battle damage. Aircraft severely damaged in combat were sent to repair depots for major structural repair. The Ammunition dump was located outside of the perimeter track surrounded by large dirt mounds and concrete storage pens.

Seven domestic accommodation sites were constructed dispersed mostly off the eastern end of the airfield, but within a mile or so of the technical support site, also using clusters of Maycrete or Nissen huts. The huts were either connected, set up end-to-end or built singly and made of prefabricated corrugated iron with a door and two small windows at the front and back. They provided accommodation for 2,400 personnel, including communal and a sick quarters.

During airborne operations, when large numbers of airborne parachutists were moved to the airfield, tents would be pitched on the interior grass regions of the airfield, or wherever space could be found to accommodate the airborne forces for the short time they would be bivouacked at the station prior to the operation.

The airfield was opened in June 1942 as a satellite for RAF Aldermaston, with operational control later being transferred to RAF Andover in late 1942. In the absence of American units during the first nine months of 1943, the airfield was made available to RAF trainer units. Airspeed Oxfords were often to be seen landing and taking off from its runways, until the airfield reverted to USAAF control in October.