WW2 Airfields Archive

Dedicated to RAF & USAAF Second World War airfields. Celebrating the people, architecture, & WW2 airfield stories.

[WW2 Airfields Archive @WW2Airfields]

We’re now fundraising for the essentials that make usable: chairs, AV, acoustic panels, curtains, CCTV & more.

Please consider donating.
https://t.co/ZrZI6poV1Q

Thank you so much, even £5 makes a difference.

[WW2 Airfields Archive @WW2Airfields]

I'm hoping you can help if you've an interest in airfield history, heritage please.

I am a trustee of a WW1 airfield building in the New Forest which is used as a village hall - we're currently refurbishing it.

Work is nearly complete but. rising costs have left us £35k short.

[WW2 Airfields Archive @WW2Airfields]

June 13/14. Friends of the New Forest Airfields will be one of the exhibitors. Plus info on the WW2 airfields in the exhibition - New Forest, Beaulieu River.

[Marc H @NewForestRamble]

Some information on the WW2 heritage weekend we're putting together in the New Forest, at Buckler's Hard (on the Beaulieu River).

[Marc H @NewForestRamble]

Never mind the Bayeux Tapestry or a 1st Edition Harry Potter... here's an original RAF Beaulieu site plan from the dark vaults of the Beaulieu Estate archives. It's HUGE. Unfortunately I didn't have a banana to hand.

[Marc H @NewForestRamble]

Czechoslovak airmen and their Liberators at RAF Beaulieu, New Forest, during WW2. The 311 Squadron had the highest fatality rate of any Czechoslovak RAF squadron during the war. 32 of those deaths occurred whilst at Beaulieu.

[Photos of Britain @Geograph_GBI]

Old airfield at Great Massingham #Norfolk #GreatBritain For a map by
@OrdnanceSurvey and more info see > https://t.co/la2OUsAudS #Geography #photography #history #WW2
@VisitWNorfolk @atnorfolk @WW2Facts

[Aerial Vision NI @aerialvisionni]

WW2 RAF Trainer Dome at RAF Limavady Airfield, Limavady. The Dome trained gunners on aircraft by projecting enemy aircraft with 360 imagery. Left to the elements over decades since it closed, but thankfully now being restored as a community Heritage Facility with a £1M investment

[Marc H @NewForestRamble]

Here’s how AI is rewriting history... I Googl'd Noor Inayat Khan. The left image is a genuine photo. The right AI-generated. The fake is pulled from a clickbait Facebook page. We're in an era where fictional can replace real history, and most casual observers won't even realise.

[Marc H @NewForestRamble]

During WW2, USAAF airmen could recuperate at large English country houses which has been requisitioned by the American Red Cross. Today I visited one of the houses, now Walhampton School in the New Forest, to see what "then vs now" montage I could create. https://t.co/piF6URrrsO

[WW2 Airfields Archive @WW2Airfields]

One this day in 2000, Shirley Slade passed away. Born in Chicago 1921, she was a WASP pilot trained to fly Bell P-39 Airacobras and Martin B-26 Marauders. Here she is on the cover of LIFE magazine in 1943.

[WW2 Airfields Archive @WW2Airfields]

Former WW2 airfield, then and now
https://t.co/dy4QGqqPKX

[Marc H @NewForestRamble]

Had a little fun in the sun today
https://t.co/OAasKhcNqs

[Marc H @NewForestRamble]

If you're ever at the former RAF Beaulieu, see if you can find the plaque to David Mackie Sleep in the remaining runway section. Sleep led the crew out of Beaulieu to achieve a first - sinking a German u-boat with a RAF Liberator laden with depth charges.

🧵

[Chris Bolton @CcibChris]

Canberras with Lincoln beyond. Possibly RAF Binbrook.

[Marc H @NewForestRamble]

Visited the site of a plane crash in the New Forest and found melted aluminium. It melts at 660.3°C so must've been a dreadful scene here 83 years ago.

[The Mighty Eighth Podcast @Mighty8thPod]

History in our own backyard, Wattisham Airfield in Suffolk, was home to the USAAF during WW2. Notably the great fighter ace, Robin Olds.

[Bygone Britain @BygoneBritain]

A young woman worker painting the fuselage roundel on a Mosquito aircraft at de Havilland's factory at Hatfield in Hertfordshire, 1943 (original colour photo)

[Marc H @NewForestRamble]

On this evening 82 years ago in 1944, the 50th Fighter Group arrived at Lymington, New Forest. These young American men were mostly from places such as Arkansas or Texas. They had no combat flying experience.
🧵

[Marc H @NewForestRamble]

This morning we cut steel runway planks from a local USAAF WW2 airfield into different sized and manageable sections. It had been used as farm fencing for 80 years and was due to be scrapped. We have now stored it...

[Marc H @NewForestRamble]

I read how this week is the anniversary of the "Great Escape" from Stalag Luft III, a real life POW breakout that inspired the film starring Steve McQueen. It reminded me of Pressley Chaplin, an American pilot who flew out of RAF Lymington in the New Forest. 🧵