RAF Greenham Common

RAF Greenham Common opened in 1942 in Berkshire, near Newbury. Although it carried an RAF station identity, for most of the Second World War it was handed over to the United States Army Air Forces, who used it for fighter and troop-carrier operations rather than the heavy bombing associated with much of Bomber Command.

A succession of American units passed through. The 354th Fighter Group flew P-51 Mustangs from late 1943, and the 368th Fighter Group operated P-47 Thunderbolts in early 1944. From the spring of 1944 the station became a troop-carrier base, home to the 438th Troop Carrier Group and its C-47 Skytrains. On the eve of D-Day, 5 June 1944, General Eisenhower visited the airfield to speak with American paratroopers preparing for the airborne assault on Normandy.

After the war the site took on a long Cold War career under United States control, hosting Strategic Air Command bombers and, from 1982, ground-launched cruise missiles, whose deployment drew the well-known Women’s Peace Camp. The base finally closed in 1992. The land was later returned to public use as Greenham and Crookham Commons, a protected open space, with the former control tower reopened as a visitor centre.