RAF Gatwick

RAF Gatwick was a wartime requisition of the pre-war civil aerodrome at Gatwick in Surrey, taken over by the Air Ministry within days of the outbreak of war in September 1939. Unlike the bomber stations of eastern England, it served chiefly within Army Co-operation Command, and was also intended as a fall-back for nearby RAF Kenley should that fighter base be knocked out. The station’s distinctive circular terminal, the “Beehive”, was given a coat of camouflage paint for the duration.

A long succession of units passed through during the war. No. 26 Squadron flew anti-aircraft calibration and tactical reconnaissance work, moving from Lysanders to Tomahawks and then Mustangs, while No. 92 Squadron used the field for fighter training early in the war. Other army co-operation and night-fighter squadrons, including British, Polish and Canadian units, operated from or staged through Gatwick, which became busy as a forward base in the build-up to the 1944 invasion.

From late 1942 the airfield also took in battle-damaged and short-of-fuel RAF and American bombers limping home from operations. The RAF relinquished the site on 31 August 1946, after which it returned to civil flying and grew into London Gatwick, today one of Britain’s principal airports.