RAF Aston Down

RAF Aston Down lay about two and a half miles east of Minchinhampton in Gloucestershire. The site dated back to the First World War, when it served the Australian Flying Corps as Minchinhampton aerodrome; it reopened under its later name in October 1938 as the RAF expanded in the run-up to war.

Aston Down was never a front-line bomber base. Its work was instead drawn from the supporting trades that kept the air force flying: aircraft storage and preparation under No. 20 Maintenance Unit, the ferrying of new and repaired machines, and the training of pilots. During the war the station hosted operational training units, including No. 55 OTU on Hurricanes and Blenheims and No. 52 OTU on day fighters, turning out fresh fighter pilots. Several squadrons also passed through, among them No. 180 Squadron with North American Mitchells and No. 4 Squadron flying Mosquito XVIs.

RAF flying continued into the post-war years, with the station serving for a time as a Central Flying School satellite operating Jet Provosts. Military use wound down by the late 1960s, after which the Cotswold Gliding Club moved in; the Ministry of Defence sold the airfield to the club in 1981. Parts of the surrounding land and its hangars were later given over to industrial and business use.