RAF Ashford

RAF Ashford, also recorded as Ashford (Great Chart), was a short-lived wartime airfield in Kent, lying a few miles west of the town of Ashford. Laid out during 1943 as an Advanced Landing Ground, it was one of the temporary fighter strips created to support the planned invasion of north-west Europe. Rather than permanent concrete runways, the site used a portable metal-track landing surface that could be installed quickly and lifted again when the war moved on. The station became operational in August 1943.

In its first months the airfield hosted single-engined fighters of the Second Tactical Air Force under No. 83 Group, including Spitfire Mk IX units (Nos. 65 and 122 Squadrons) and the Mustang-equipped Canadian Nos. 414 and 430 Squadrons. In 1944 it passed to the United States Ninth Air Force, where it was known as Station 417 and flew the Republic P-47 Thunderbolts of the 406th Fighter Group on fighter-bomber sorties in the run-up to D-Day. The site suffered a German bombing attack in May 1944 that caused a number of casualties.

With the Allied advance across France, Ashford lost its purpose and was given up in September 1944. The land was returned to agriculture, leaving few visible traces of its brief but busy operational life.