RAF Fairford

RAF Fairford opened in January 1944 in Gloucestershire, near the Wiltshire border. Rather than a heavy-bomber station, it was built as a base for No. 38 Group, the formation responsible for supporting Britain’s airborne forces. From here aircraft towed Airspeed Horsa assault gliders and dropped parachute troops and supplies, work that demanded close cooperation between the RAF and the Army’s airborne divisions.

The airfield’s principal wartime occupants were No. 190 and No. 620 Squadrons, both flying the four-engined Short Stirling in its transport and glider-tug role. Aircraft from Fairford took part in the major airborne operations of 1944, including the D-Day landings in Normandy and the ill-fated assault on Arnhem during Operation Market Garden, as well as later supply and parachute missions over north-west Europe.

After the war the station’s character changed completely. It passed to American use around 1950 and became a long-term United States Air Force base, hosting strategic bombers and tankers through the Cold War and serving as a forward operating location for B-52 operations in later conflicts. Fairford remains an active military airfield today and is best known to the public as the venue for the annual Royal International Air Tattoo.