RAF Benson

RAF Benson opened in April 1939 at Benson, near Wallingford in South Oxfordshire. It began life as a bomber station, initially home to Fairey Battle light bombers of Nos. 103 and 150 Squadrons and later to No. 12 Operational Training Unit, which trained crews on the Battle and the Avro Anson.

The station’s lasting wartime importance lay in photographic reconnaissance. From 1941 Benson became the home of No. 1 Photographic Reconnaissance Unit, whose unarmed, high-flying Supermarine Spitfires and de Havilland Mosquitoes ranged deep over occupied Europe to gather intelligence. Reconnaissance squadrons later numbered among the 540s operated from the station, and aircraft flying from Benson were credited with locating the German battleship Bismarck in May 1941.

Benson also held a notable royal connection, serving as the base for the King’s Flight from 1940 and again after the war, with the Queen’s Flight associated with the station in the post-war decades.

Unlike most wartime airfields, Benson never closed. It passed through Transport Command and later Strike Command and remains an active RAF station today, operating support helicopters such as the Boeing Chinook alongside flying training, with civilian air ambulance and police aviation also based on the site.