RAF Brenzett/ivychurch

RAF Brenzett, often known locally as Ivychurch after the neighbouring village, was a wartime Advanced Landing Ground laid out across some 300 acres of Romney Marsh in Kent. It opened on 14 September 1943, its temporary runways formed from Sommerfeld Track steel matting and its personnel accommodated under canvas rather than in permanent buildings. The station served first under Fighter Command’s No. 11 Group and later under No. 84 Group of the Second Tactical Air Force.

A succession of single-engined fighter units passed through. No. 122 Squadron brought Spitfire IXs in 1943, while during 1944 the airfield hosted No. 129 Squadron and the Polish Nos. 306 and 315 Squadrons, all flying Mustang IIIs. From the summer of 1944 the station’s chief task was the interception of V-1 flying bombs crossing the Channel towards London, supplemented by escort and offensive sorties over occupied Europe.

The Polish presence gave Brenzett one of its most notable associations: the ace Eugeniusz Horbaczewski, one of Poland’s leading fighter pilots, was lost in action on 18 August 1944. The airfield closed on 13 December 1944, after which the land reverted to farming. A small aeronautical museum was established in the area in 1972 to preserve the site’s memory, though little of the original landing ground survives.