RAF Snitterfield

RAF Snitterfield
RAF Snitterfield
Snitterfield, Warwickshire in England
	A Miles Magister similar to the ones that flew from the airfield
	RAF Snitterfield Shown within Warwickshire RAF Snitterfield RAF Snitterfield (the United Kingdom)
Coordinates	52°14′14″N 001°43′08″W / 52.23722°N 1.71889°W
Type	Satellite Station
Site information
Owner	Air Ministry
Operator	Royal Air Force
Controlled by	RAF Flying Training Command
Site history
Built	1942
In use	1943 - 1946
Battles/wars	European theatre of World War II
Airfield information
Elevation	116 metres (381 ft) AMSL
Runways
02/20	1,750 metres (5,741 ft) Tarmac
08/26	1,131 metres (3,711 ft) Tarmac
14/32	1,177 metres (3,862 ft) Tarmac

RAF Snitterfield is a former Royal Air Force satellite station located west of Snitterfield, Warwickshire, England, 3.3 miles (5.3 km) north of Stratford-upon-Avon and 4.6 miles (7.4 km) south-east of Henley-in-Arden, Warwickshire.

Snitterfield was operational during the Second World War, the airfield was a class A airfield and had around 30 aircraft dispersals. The airfield was finished around June 1942 and cost around £1,147,000^[2] and opened in 1943 then closed in 1946.^[3]

Posted units

No. 18 (Pilots) Advanced Flying Unit RAF ((P)AFU) was the first unit to operate from the airfield starting on 7 May 1943 at RAF Church Lawford and using Snitterfield as a satellite airfield to disperse the aircraft as Church Lawford was very busy. On 3 April 1945 the unit moved permanently to RAF Snitterfield using Airspeed Oxfords and Miles Magisters.^[3]

The airfield was also home to two Belgian training schools firstly the Initial Training School dealing with reception and training elements from 1 January 1944 until 13 December 1944^[4] and secondly the Technical Training School from January 1944 until October 1946.^[3]

From May 1945 to 1946, Snitterfield was used as a Relief Landing Ground by No. 20 Service Flying Training School from RAF Church Lawford.^[1]

The airfield was also host to other units including:

No. 1533 Beam Approach Training Flight which joined in 1944 flying the Airspeed Oxford left 3 April 1945.^[4]
No. 21 Flying Training School flying the North American Harvard joined the airfield on 3 April 1945 until 18 September 1946.^[4]

Accidents and incidents

During life as a RAF training base accidents were not far away with a number of airmen killed during training and within the surrounding area.

Date	Incident	Reference
1 September 1942	Bristol Beaufighter X7943 YD-P of No. 255 Squadron RAF dived into the ground during an electrical storm.	^[5]
14 February 1944	Vickers Wellington HZ110 of 22 OTU was diverted to the airfield in bad weather, where the bomber crashed after seven attempts to land.	^[6]
10 July 1944	Airspeed Oxford NM278 of 18 (P)AFU made a violent recovery from a diving turn, causing the wings to break away.	^[6]
25 July 1944	Wellington HF610 of 22 OTU belly landed.	^[6]
26 August 1944	Miles Magister T9895 of 18 (P)AFU crashed on landing.	^[6]

Motor sports usage

In 1948, RAF Snitterfield was one of two disused airfields given special consideration as to the suitability of hosting a British Grand Prix. In the end, RAF Silverstone was chosen as the venue.^[7]

Current use

The north-east section of the airfield is currently the Stratford Oaks Golf club and the south-east section is home to Stratford-Upon-Avon Gliding Club.^[8] However, before these were built there was a Wireless Transmission station.^[9]

At the southern end of the airfield is now Stratford Armouries^[10] which is a military museum that was built in 2007.^[11]

References

Citations

^ ^a ^b "RAF Snitterfield". Control Towers. Retrieved 27 April 2012.
^ "RAF Worksop – World War II". Priories Historical Society – RAF Worksop Memorial. Retrieved 27 April 2012.
^ ^a ^b ^c "RAF Snitterfield". Air of Authority – A History of RAF Organisation. Retrieved 27 April 2012.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Military flying units in the south west Midlands". Aviation Archaeology. Retrieved 27 April 2012.
^ "Military aircraft crashes in the south west Midlands – 1942". Aviation Archaeology. Retrieved 27 April 2012.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Military aircraft crashes in the south west Midlands – 1944". Aviation Archaeology. Retrieved 27 April 2012.
^ Swinger 2001, p. 119.
^ "Snitterfield". Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust. Retrieved 27 April 2012.
^ "HF Radio – Bearley". Alan Cordwell Web Portal. Retrieved 27 April 2012.
^ "Wellington Museum". Stratford Armouries. Archived from the original on 7 February 2011. Retrieved 27 April 2012.
^ "News". A.I Architecture. Retrieved 27 April 2012.