RAF Bisterne

RAF Bisterne was a short-lived wartime airfield in Hampshire, lying a couple of miles south of Ringwood near the village of Bisterne. It was built early in 1944 as an Advanced Landing Ground (ALG), one of a network of temporary strips laid down across southern England in the build-up to the invasion of north-west Europe. To cope with the wet New Forest fringe, its runway was surfaced with portable metal track rather than concrete, allowing the site to be put down quickly and lifted again afterwards.

Although nominally an RAF station, Bisterne’s main occupant was American. In March 1944 it received the 371st Fighter Group of the United States Ninth Air Force, comprising the 404th, 405th and 406th Fighter Squadrons flying Republic P-47 Thunderbolts, with No. 2774 Squadron of the RAF Regiment providing ground defence. From here the group flew fighter-bomber and ground-attack sorties over the Channel coast in support of the Normandy landings.

Its operational life was brief. Following D-Day the 371st Group moved across to a newly captured landing ground in France during late June 1944, and the airfield was given up soon afterwards. The metal tracking was removed and the land returned to farming, leaving few visible traces today. A memorial near Brixey’s Farm, dedicated in 2004, now commemorates the airmen who served there.