RAF Hurn USAAF Station AAF-492
Bournemouth,Dorset in England
Hurn airfield photographed in May 1947 still showing its Second World War configuration
Site information
Type	Royal Air Force station
Code	KU[1]
Owner	Air Ministry
Operator	Royal Air Force United States Army Air Forces 1944
Controlled by	RAF Fighter Command 1941-44 *No. 11 Group RAF Ninth Air Force
Location
RAF Hurn Shown within Dorset Show map of Dorset RAF Hurn RAF Hurn (the United Kingdom) Show map of the United Kingdom
Coordinates	50°46′54″N001°50′23″W / 50.78167°N 1.83972°W /50.78167; -1.83972
Site history
Built	1940 (1940)/41
In use	July 1941 - 1946 (1946)
Battles/wars	European theatre of World War II
Airfield information
Elevation	10 metres (33 ft)[1]AMSL
Runways Direction Length and surface 00/00  Concrete 00/00  Concrete 00/00  Concrete

Royal Air Force Hurn or more simplyRAF Hurn is a formerRoyal Air Force station located approximately 4 miles (6.4 km) north west ofChristchurch,Dorset, England

Opened in 1941, it was used by both theRoyal Air Force andUnited States Army Air Forces. During the war it was used primarily as a transport and fighter airfield.

Hurn was the final airfield in England for aircraft flying to Morocco for the North African and Italian campaigns, avoiding France, Spain and Portugal airspace.

Since 1969, it has also been calledBournemouth Airport. The RAF have returned to Hurn in the form of a temporary Outsourcing Contract for Multi-Engine Pilot Training to cope with limited capacity through normal Training Provisions using L3 Harris Airline Academy (2018 -).

The following squadrons were here at some point^[2]

Units:^[2]

Hurn was known asUSAAF Station AAF-492 for security reasons by the USAAF during the war, and by which it was referred to instead of location. Its USAAF Station Code was "KU".

On 28 June 1944,Northrop P-61 Black Widow night fighters of the 422nd Night Fighter Squadron arrived fromRAF Scorton, where their crews had been tutored in this particular aspect of air combat by the RAF. The detachment commenced operational flying on 3 July only to return to Scorton a week later.

On 5 August the 397th Bombardment Group arrived fromRAF Rivenhall, equipped withMartin B-26 Marauders. The group consisted of the following operational squadrons:

• 596th Bombardment Squadron (X2)
• 597th Bombardment Squadron (9F)
• 598th Bombardment Squadron (U2)
• 599th Bombardment Squadron (6B)

The group's identification marking was a yellow diagonal band across both sides of the vertical tailplane. It moved the Advanced Landing Ground at Gorges,France, (A-26) on 19 August

The airfield was closed by the RAF in October 1944 and turned over for civil use.

• List of former Royal Air Force stations

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

• 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
• Falconer, Jonathan (2012).RAF Airfields of World War 2. UK: Ian Allan Publishing.ISBN 978-1-85780-349-5.
• Maurer, Maurer (1983). Air Force Combat Units Of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History.ISBN 0-89201-092-4.
• ControlTowers.co.ukhttp://www.controltowers.co.uk/H-K/Hurn.htm
• USAAS-USAAC-USAAF-USAF Aircraft Serial Numbers--1908 to present

Wikimedia Commons has media related toRAF Hurn.

• Photographs of Bournemouth International Airport from the Geograph British Isles project

• Airfields of the 9th Bombardment Division in the United Kingdom
• Royal Air Force stations in Dorset
• Royal Air Force stations in Hampshire
• Military airbases established in 1941
• Military airbases closed in 1944

• Pages using gadget WikiMiniAtlas
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from November 2017
• Use British English from November 2017
• All Wikipedia articles written in British English
• Coordinates on Wikidata
• Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the Air Force Historical Research Agency
• Commons category link is on Wikidata