RAF Keevil
NearKeevil,Wiltshire in England
A RAFAirbus A400M Atlas at Keevil duringExercise Joint Warrior in March 2017
Site information
Type	Royal Air Force station parent station 1942-45
Code	KV[1]
Owner	Ministry of Defence
Operator	Royal Air Force
Controlled by	RAF Fighter Command *No. 38 Group RAF RAF Army Cooperation Command *No. 70 (AC) Group RAF RAF Flying Training Command *No. 23 Group RAF Ninth Air Force
Location
RAF Keevil Location in Wiltshire Show map of Wiltshire RAF Keevil RAF Keevil (the United Kingdom) Show map of the United Kingdom
Coordinates	51°18′46″N002°06′47″W / 51.31278°N 2.11306°W /51.31278; -2.11306
Area	237 hectares[2]
Site history
Built	1941 (1941)/42
In use	July 1942 – 1965 (1965)
Fate	Retained in military use as an unmanned airfield for training purposes, predominantly used by aircraft fromRAF Brize Norton andJoint Aviation Command.
Airfield information
Elevation	57 metres (187 ft)[1]AMSL
Runways Direction Length and surface 06/24  Asphalt

Royal Air Force Keevil or more simplyRAF Keevil is a formerRoyal Air Force station, now controlled by theArmy Air Corps. It lies between the villages ofKeevil andSteeple Ashton, about 4 miles (6.4 km) east of the town ofTrowbridge, in Wiltshire, England.

The airfield was built on a site previously earmarked for the purpose in the mid-1930s. With three long concrete runways, the airfield was used by the Royal Air Force and theUnited States Army Air ForcesEighth andNinth Air Forces.

Although no longer a RAF station and now known asKeevil Airfield, it is maintained for military use and used for training purposes, predominantly by aircraft fromRAF Brize Norton andJoint Aviation Command.

After air raids in 1940 on theSupermarine Spitfire production plants near Southampton, the Trowbridge area was one of several chosen for dispersal of production. At first parts were made, and later complete aircraft after completion of a purpose-built factory at Bradley Road, Trowbridge. Fuselages and wings were taken onQueen Mary trailers to an assembly shed on the edge of the airfield near Steeple Ashton village,^[3][4] then flown out by theAir Transport Auxiliary.^[5]

In 1942 Keevil airfield was provided to the USAAF and was assigned USAAF designation 471 (KV).

The first American unit assigned to Keevil was the62nd Troop Carrier Group, arriving at Keevil on 6 September 1942 fromFlorence AAF,South Carolina. The group consisted of the following operational squadrons:

• 4th Troop Carrier Squadron
• 7th Troop Carrier Squadron
• 8th Troop Carrier Squadron
• 51st Troop Carrier Squadron

The group transported military freight and supplies usingDouglas C-47 Skytrain andDouglas C-53 Skytrooper aircraft. The unit remained in England until 15 November until being transferred toTafaraoui Airfield,Algeria as part ofTwelfth Air Force.

After the departure of the transport group, Keevil saw the arrival of the 153rd Observation Squadron from the 67th Recon Group atRAF Membury in December 1942.

From Keevil the squadron flew a combination ofDouglas Bostons,Douglas A-20 Havocs andSupermarine Spitfires. In March 1944 the 153d OS was disbanded, then re-formed for duties as the 2911th Bomb Squadron as a liaison and communications squadron, being equipped withStinson L-5 Sentinel atRAF Erlestoke.

On 20 December 1943, theNinth Air Force363d Fighter Group moved to Keevil fromSacramento AAFCalifornia. The group consisted of the following operational squadrons:

• 380th Fighter Squadron
• 381st Fighter Squadron
• 382d Fighter Squadron

The group awaited its operational aircraft until 22 January 1944 when the group moved toRAF Rivenhall in Essex.

With the departure of the Americans, the RAF used Keevil beginning in March 1944 for196 and299 Squadron.Short Stirling glider tugs ofNo. 38 Group RAF arrived, followed by a large number ofAirspeed Horsa gliders, crewed by Army pilots of theGlider Pilot Regiment.

The RAF Stirling aircraft were crewed by RAF,RCAF,RAAF,RNZAF andSAAF personnel and were engaged inSpecial Operations Executive (SOE) andSpecial Air Service (SAS) drops, largely inFrance, and inglider towing. Their involvement in theNormandy invasion of France andOperation Market-Garden is well remembered by Keevil and Steeple Ashton villagers. Casualties of army and air force personnel were heavy and a number of aircraft were lost.

The departure of these units toEast Anglia brought Keevil to a training role when in October 1944 No. 22 Heavy Glider Conversion Unit arrived, with their twin-enginedArmstrong Whitworth Albemarle aircraft andWaco Hadrian Gliders.

They in turn were replaced in June 1945 by 61 Operation Training Unit converting newly qualified pilots on to Spitfires and, later, on toNorth American Mustangs. 61 OTU in due course became 203 Advanced Flying School and moved to Chivenor in Devon in July 1947 and this marked the end of RAF Keevil as a fully staffed and equipped operational airfield.

Between 1955 and 1964 theUnited States Air Force used the base occasionally. During 1956 and 1957, Keevil was used as a satellite airfield for "ab initio" training by No 2 Flying Training School, based atRAF Hullavington. Aircraft included thePercival Jet Provost T.1.

Keevil was kept in reserve status until 1965 when it was closed.^{[citation needed]} Subsequently, it was regularly used forBritish Army and RAF exercises; a monthly flying schedule was published byRAF Brize Norton.^[6] Around 2023, management of the airfield was transferred from the RAF to theArmy Air Corps, specifically theJoint Aviation Command atMiddle Wallop.^[7]

In May 2023, theCivil Aviation Authority granted permission for Keevil to be used by theRoyal Artillery as a base forThales Watchkeeper WK450 drone exercises on the nearbySalisbury Plain Training Area, with operations commencing in June 2023.^[8]

Keevil airfield is virtually complete with all of its runways, perimeter track and many of the hardstands still in place.

Since 1992 it has been home toBannerdown Gliding Club, aRoyal Air Force Gliding & Soaring Association (RAFGSA) club, affiliated to RAF Brize Norton since the closure ofRAF Lyneham. The airfield has been occasionally used as a motorsport circuit for various events and is also used by the Wessex Model Flying Club.

In September 1994 the Keevil Society, organised by Paul Vingoe, held a Commemorative Day to mark the 50th anniversary of theD-Day andArnhem operations and to dedicate a memorial to all who served at Keevil, especially those who flew from there and lost their lives.

In 2012, proposals were made to add a fourth runway parallel to 06/24, aTactical Landing Zone – a copy of a temporary battlefield runway – by breaking up some of the hard surfaces.^[9]

The hangar that was used for Spitfire final assembly is outside the present-day airfield boundary atgrid referenceST 910 570, and is now used by small businesses.^[10]

• List of former Royal Air Force stations
• United States Air Force in the United Kingdom

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

• Falconer, Jonathan (2012).RAF Airfields of World War 2. UK: Ian Allan Publishing.ISBN 978-1-85780-349-5.
• Freeman, Roger A. (1994)UK Airfields of the Ninth: Then and Now 1994. After the BattleISBN 0-900913-80-0
• Freeman, Roger A. (1996)The Ninth Air Force in Colour: UK and the Continent – World War Two. After the BattleISBN 1-85409-272-3
• Maurer, Maurer (1983).Air Force Combat Units Of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History.ISBN 0-89201-092-4.
• Russell, C. R. (1985).Spitfire Odyssey: My Life at Supermarines 1936–1957. Kingfisher Railway Productions.

Media related toRAF Keevil at Wikimedia Commons

• Historic England."Keevil Airfield (1399579)".Research records (formerly PastScape). Retrieved28 May 2023.
• Bannerdown Gliding Club
• Keevil: scheduled military local training Sorties – RAF Brize Norton
• Wessex Model Flying Club

• Airfields of the IX Fighter Command in the United Kingdom
• Gliderports in the United Kingdom
• Parachuting in the United Kingdom
• Royal Air Force stations in Wiltshire
• Military airbases established in 1942

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• Articles with unsourced statements from November 2024
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• Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the Air Force Historical Research Agency
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