RAF Grove USAAF Station AAF-519
Grove,Oxfordshire in England
Aerial photograph of RAF Grove, 6 September 1946
Site information
Type	Royal Air Force station
Owner	Air Ministry
Operator	Royal Air Force 1942-1943, 1946 United States Army Air Forces 1943-1946
Controlled by	RAF Bomber Command Ninth Air Force
Location
RAF Grove Shown within Oxfordshire Show map of Oxfordshire RAF Grove RAF Grove (the United Kingdom) Show map of the United Kingdom
Coordinates	51°36′13″N001°26′13″W / 51.60361°N 1.43694°W /51.60361; -1.43694
Site history
Built	1942 (1942)
In use	1942-1953 (1953)
Battles/wars	European theatre of World War II
Airfield information
Elevation	86 metres (282 ft)AMSL
Runways Direction Length and surface 04/22  Asphalt 08/26  Asphalt 16/34  Asphalt

Royal Air Force Grove orRAF Grove is a formerRoyal Air Forcestation nearGrove, Oxfordshire.^[a] The airfield is located approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) northwest ofWantage.

Opened in 1942, it was used by both theRoyal Air Force andUnited States Army Air Forces. During theSecond World War, it was used primarily as a reconnaissance airfield. It was handed back to the RAF in 1947. From 1955, theUK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) used part of the airfield to serve theAtomic Energy Research Establishment at nearby Harwell.^[1]

Today the remains of the airfield are located on private property being used as agricultural fields and for a housing development known asWellington Gate, after the RAFVickers Wellington, a British bomber which flew from Grove airfield during theSecond World War.^[2]

Grove was originally a training airfield for Royal Air Force (RAF)Bomber Command91 Group, and satellite for theNo. 15 Operational Training Unit RAF at nearbyRAF Harwell.^[1]

In May 1941, construction of the airfield began with a standard three concrete runway layout and in 1942, glider pilots fromBrize Norton trained there, mainly usingArmstrong Whitworth Whitleys andAirspeed Horsas.^[1]

The RAF left Grove in September 1943 to allow theUnited States Army Air Forces (USAAF)Ninth Air Force to use the base as a staging ground for the plannedNormandy landings. Grove was known asUSAAF Station AAF-519 for security reasons by the USAAF during the war, and by which it was referred to instead of location.

Beginning in August 1943, Grove was used by the 3rd Tactical Air Depot ofIX Air Service Command, repairingDouglas A-20 Havocs andNorthrop P-61 Black Widows. Starting on 31 October, the31st Transport Group, IX Air Service Command used the airfield withDouglas C-47 Skytrains with the mission of transporting cargo and personnel between IX Air Force airfields in the UK. The 31st TG consisted of the 87th, 313th and 314th Transport Squadrons.Air Transport Command had the 310th and 325th Ferrying Squadrons also attached. After D-Day, the Group was impressed for air ambulance and general theatre transport duties until moving toFrance in September 1944.

In October and November 1945, the 13th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron (7th Reconnaissance Group) used the airfield before returning to the United States. In addition, the36th Bombardment Squadron fromRAF Alconbury inHuntingdonshire used the airfield after the closure of Alconbury in October 1945. The squadron flew occasional transport missions until they returned to theUnited States in December 1945, ending American use of the station.

RAF Grove was returned to the RAF in 1946. After the war, the airfield was used for surplus aircraft disposal. In 1953, the RAF 431 Equipment Depot serving the 2nd Tactical air force in Germany was transferred from Hamburg to Grove.

From 1955, theUK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) used part of the airfield to serve theAtomic Energy Research Establishment at nearby Harwell.^[1] In 1995, former UKAEA housing including that at Grove were sold in their entirety to the Welbeck Estate Group and, following extensive refurbishment, were sold to local buyers.^{[citation needed]}

After the airfield was closed, the entire area has been taken over by agriculture or was used a grass pasture.

In 2017, Vale of White Horse District Council granted outline planning approval toPersimmon Homes to develop the northeast part of the former airfield and build a large housing estate on the property, calledWellington Gate after the RAFVickers Wellington, a British twin-engined, long-range medium bomber which flew from Grove airfield during theSecond World War.^[2] In 2018, Grove Parish Council suggested as street names for the first phase of the development:Wellington,Windsor,Whitley,Horsa,Dakota,Liberator,Sentinel,Mustang andNorseman - all names associated with the aircraft, both British and American, that flew from Grove airfield during the Second World War.^[3]

• List of former Royal Air Force stations

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

Wikimedia Commons has media related toRAF Grove.

• Freeman, Roger A. (1994) UK Airfields of the Ninth: Then and Now 1994. After the BattleISBN 0-900913-80-0
• Maurer, Maurer, ed. (1982) [1969].Combat Squadrons of the Air Force, World War II(PDF) (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History.ISBN 0-405-12194-6.

• Control Towers.UK - Grove
• World War II Airfields of Oxfordshire - Grove

• Royal Air Force stations in Oxfordshire
• Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in the United Kingdom
• Royal Air Force stations of World War II in the United Kingdom

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