Chalgrove Airfield (RAF Chalgrove) (USAAF Station AAF-465)
Chalgrove Airfield – 22 April 1944, about six weeks before D-Day.
IATA:none ICAO:EGLJ
Summary
Airport type	Private
Owner	Leased fromHomes England
Operator	Martin-Baker Aircraft Company Ltd
Serves	Oxford
Location	Chalgrove, Oxfordshire, England
Elevation AMSL	240 ft / 73 m
Coordinates	51°40′28″N001°05′07″W / 51.67444°N 1.08528°W /51.67444; -1.08528
Map
EGLJ Location in Oxfordshire
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 13/31 1,830 6,004 Asphalt 06/24 unlicensed 1,325 4,347 Asphalt 18/36 unlicensed 1,276 4,186 Asphalt
Sources: UKAIP atNATS[1]

Chalgrove Airfield (ICAO:EGLJ) is a formerSecond World War airfield inOxfordshire, England. It is approximately 3 mi (4.8 km) north-northeast ofBenson in the heart ofSouth Oxfordshire between Henley and Oxford; about 42 mi (68 km) north-northwest ofLondon.

Opened in 1943, it was used by both theRoyal Air Force andUnited States Army Air Forces. During the war, it was used primarily as a combat reconnaissance airfield. It was closed in late 1946.

Today, the airfield is primarily used by theMartin-Baker company for testingejection seats.

It was announced on 6 September 2016 that Chalgrove Airfield had been the subject of a ministerial transfer from the MoD to the Homes and Communities Agency (now calledHomes England), with a view to building a housing-led mixed-use development on part of the airfield as part of the South Oxfordshire District Council's Local Plan 2034.^[2] This is subject to review and consultation, with the examination-in-public starting in July 2020.

Homes England submitted an outline planning application^[3] on 19 June 2020 for 3,000 homes, a secondary and two primary schools, a new town centre and 40,000 square metres of employment space, along with community and leisure uses which will be determined by South Oxfordshire District Council.

Chalgrove was allocated to theUnited States Army Air Forces (USAAF) by theAir Ministry on 1 November 1942. It was known asUSAAF Station AAF-465 for security reasons by the USAAF during the war, and by which it was referred to instead of the location.

USAAF station units assigned to RAF Chalgrove were:^[4]

• 30th Service Group (VIII Air Force Service Command)^[5]

493d and 494th Service Squadrons; HHS, 30th Service Group

• 21st Weather Squadron
• 324th Station Complement Squadron
• 40th Mobile Communications Squadron
• 49th Mobile Reclamation and Repair Squadron
• 1078th Quartermaster Company
• 1106th Signal Company
• 1201st Military Police Company
• 1464th Ordnance Medium Maintenance Company
• 2251st Quartermaster Truck Company
• 2060th Engineer Fire Fighting Platoon

The first residents of the airfield was the10th Reconnaissance Group which arrived fromKey Field,Mississippi in January 1944. The group consisted of the following operational squadrons:

• 15th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron
• 30th Photographic Reconnaissance
• 31st Photographic Reconnaissance
• 33rd Photographic Reconnaissance
• 34th Photographic Reconnaissance
• 423d/155th Photographic Reconnaissance

The 30th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron (PRS) arrived in January and early February. The 31st, 33rd and 34th PRS became operational at Chalgrove in April.

The primary aircraft flown by the group consisted of photographic versions of theLockheed P-38 Lightning (F-5) andNorth American P-51 Mustang (F-6). In addition, the unit also flew theStinson L-1 Vigilant andL-5 Sentinel along with thePiper L-4 Grasshopper light observation aircraft.

In May 1944 the 30th PRS moved toRAF Middle Wallop and it was replaced by the 423rd Night Fighter Squadron withDouglas A-20 Havoc (F-3A) fromRAF Charmy Down which was used for night photo-reconnaissance. In June the 423d was renamed the 155th Photo Reconnaissance Squadron.

After the invasion, the 15th TPRS moved into France first, to theAdvanced Landing Ground atRennes–Saint-Jacques,France (ALG A-27) on 10 July. The other squadrons of the 10th moved over the next few weeks, the last being the 155th which moved to France in mid-August.

In August 1944 the653d Bombardment Squadron of the25th Bombardment Group based atRAF Watton moved to Chalgrove. The 653d was anEighth Air Force unit equipped with special weather reconnaissanceMosquito PRXVI's which operated over the waters adjacent to the British Isles and occasionally to theAzores to obtain meteorological data. The squadron also flew over mainland Europe for weather information needed in planning operations. In November 1945 the squadron was inactivated.

In March 1945 the13th,14th and 22nd Photographic Reconnaissance Squadrons from the VII Air Service Command7th Reconnaissance Group moved to Chalgrove fromRAF Mount Farm flying P-51 Mustangs (F-6). Fuselage codes were "ES" for the 13th PRS and "G2" for the 22nd. The unit also flew theStinson L-5 Sentinel light observation aircraft.

The group was inactivated at the4th Strategic Air Depot (Hitcham) on 21 November 1945.

With the inactivation of the 25th Bomb Group, the USAAF returned the airfield to the RAF on 1 December 1945.

With the end of military control, Chalgrove Airfield was leased by the Ministry of Defence toMartin-Baker in July 1946 for the development and testing ofejection seats. Although most of the hardstands have been removed over the years, all of the runways and perimeter track exist and are still in use by Martin-Baker. Two of the wartime T2 hangars are in use as part of the airfield and the Monument Industrial Estate site just to the south-east of the airfield contains some old USAAF buildings that were once part of the airfield.

Chalgrove Aerodrome has aCAA ordinary licence (number P683) that allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction as authorised by the licensee (Martin-Baker (Engineering) Limited). The aerodrome is not licensed for night use.^[6] Runways 06/24 and 18/36 became unlicensed in 2012.^[7]

In 2016, under theA Better Defence Estate review, ownership of the site was transferred from the Ministry of Defence toHomes England with the intention of redeveloping the site for 3,000 homes.^[8]

Chalgrove appeared in an episode of the British TV seriesThe Professionals, theCessna 172 being used by an escaper supposedly crashing into an airfield building. An episode of the cult seriesThe Prisoner also used Chalgrove, including sequences involving aMartin-BakerGloster Meteor.

• List of former Royal Air Force stations

 This article incorporatespublic domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency

Wikimedia Commons has media related toChalgrove Airfield.

• Martin-Baker Aircraft Company Ltd
• Chalgrove village
• 30th Photo Reconnaissance Sqdrn
• 33rd Photo Reconnaissance Sqdrn
• 34th Photo Reconnaissance Sqdrn

• Airports in England
• Transport in Oxfordshire
• Airfields of the VIII Air Service Command in the United Kingdom
• Airfields of the IX Fighter Command in the United Kingdom
• Airports in South East England
• Military airbases established in 1943
• Military airbases closed in 1946

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