| RAF Chipping Ongar RAF Willingale USAAF Station AAF-162 Willingale Airfield  .png)  | |||||||||||
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| Chipping Ongar,Essex in England | |||||||||||
 Chipping Ongar Airfield - 21 June 1947 in a reserve status. | |||||||||||
| Site information | |||||||||||
| Type | Royal Air Force Station | ||||||||||
| Owner | Air Ministry | ||||||||||
| Operator | Royal Air Force United States Army Air Forces | ||||||||||
| Controlled by | RAF Technical Training Command Eighth Air Force | ||||||||||
| Location | |||||||||||
  RAF Chipping Ongar Shown within Essex Show map of Essex RAF Chipping Ongar RAF Chipping Ongar (the United Kingdom) Show map of the United Kingdom | |||||||||||
| Coordinates | 51°43′30″N000°17′19″E / 51.72500°N 0.28861°E /51.72500; 0.28861 | ||||||||||
| Site history | |||||||||||
| Built | 1942 (1942) | ||||||||||
| In use | 1942 - 1959 (1959) | ||||||||||
| Battles/wars | European theatre of World War II | ||||||||||
| Airfield information | |||||||||||
| Elevation | 77 metres (253 ft)AMSL | ||||||||||
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Royal Air Force Chipping Ongar or more simplyRAF Chipping Ongar is a formerRoyal Air Force station located 2 miles (3.2 km) northeast ofChipping Ongar,Essex, England.
Opened in 1943, it was used by both theRoyal Air Force (RAF) andUnited States Army Air Forces (USAAF). During the war it was used primarily as a bomber airfield. After the war it was closed in 1959 after many years of being a reserve airfield.
Today the remains of the airfield are located on private property being used as agricultural fields.
The airfield was opened in the early spring of 1943 and was used by theUnited States Army Air ForcesEighth andNinth Air Forces.
Chipping Ongar was known asUSAAF Station AAF-162 for security reasons by the USAAF during the war, and by which it was referred to instead of location. Its USAAF Station Code was "JC".
USAAF Station Units assigned to RAF Chipping Ongar were:[1]
Parts of the airfield were still under construction when the387th Bombardment Group (Medium) arrived fromGoodman AAF,Kentucky on 25 June 1943. The group was assigned to the 3d Bomb Wing and flewB-26B/C Marauders. Operational squadrons of the 387th were:
The 387th Bomb Group began combat on 15 August 1943 by joining with three other B-26 groups attacking coastal defences on the French Coast nearBoulogne, and was mounted in thick fog. In common with other Marauder units of the 3d Bomb Wing, the 387th was transferred toNinth Air Force on 16 October 1943.
The 387th Bomb Group moved toRAF Stoney Cross inHampshire on 21 July 1944 when Ninth Air Force moved the 98th Bomb Wing's four Marauder groups into theNew Forest area at the earliest opportunity to place them closer to the FrenchNormandy Invasion beaches.
During September 1944, the airfield was used temporarily by IX Troop Carrier Command as advanced C-47 base duringOperation Market-Garden.
Troop carrier squadrons of the61st Troop Carrier Group used the airfield on 24 March 1945, carrying British paratroops as part ofOperation Varsity, the airborne crossing of theRhine River, who dropped nearWesel.
The Americans handed the airfield over to the RAF in April 1945, and it was in the hands of theBritish Army andRAF Technical Training Command until the end of the war.[3]
In 1946 use was made of the airfield, now named Willingale, by theStraight Corporation. They established a branch of the Home Counties Flying Club here, andStraight Aviation Training Ltd operated a fleet ofAvro Anson navigation trainers here from 1946 to 1948.[4] A few private aircraft were also based here,[5] but the airfield was closed on 28 February 1959. Most of Chipping Ongar airfield reverted to agricultural use.
One of the large T-2 Hangars was dismantled and re-erected atNorth Weald airfield. It is believed to be the one nearest theM11 motorway, and now used as a freight forwarding warehouse.
A section of the perimeter track and some loop dispersal hardstands are still intact, connected to a small private landing strip converted from a straight section of the wartime perimeter, aligned 04/22, and one small section of a secondary full-width runway (09/27) on the southeast side . On the northeastern side, the Operations block,Norden Bombsight Store, and the base of the pilots' briefing room are grouped together, and are in quite good condition51°43′53″N000°18′09″E / 51.73139°N 0.30250°E /51.73139; 0.30250. As of 2020 Fyfield Flying Club operates from a small part of the old airfield.[6]
During the 1970s Willingale was one of 6 proposed sites that were proposed to become the 3rd London airport with that honour going toStansted.[7][8]
This article incorporatespublic domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency
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