RAF Hunsdon

51.8057, 0.0677 — view on OpenStreetMap ↗

About

RAF Hunsdon opened in the Hertfordshire countryside near the Essex border on 4 May 1941, a fighter and night-intruder airfield rather than a bomber base. Its first resident, No. 85 Squadron, arrived that month flying Boston and Havoc night-fighters, and over the following years the station hosted a long succession of units operating Hurricanes, Defiants, Beaufighters, Typhoons, Mustangs and Tempests. Hunsdon is most closely tied to the de Havilland Mosquito, which it received from 1943. Its most celebrated day came on 18 February 1944, when Mosquitos of Nos. 21, 464 (RAAF) and 487 (RNZAF) Squadrons — the 140 Wing led by Wing Commander Charles Pickard — set out from here on Operation Jericho, the low-level raid that breached the walls of Amiens prison. Military flying ended in 1945; the site is now used by a microlight club, and memorials recall the men killed flying from it.

Sources: This page was compiled from publicly available historical sources, including Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust — Hunsdon (South Hunsdon) and Wikipedia: Hunsdon Airfield. The text is original and has been written from factual source material; no source text has been copied unless specifically quoted and attributed.

Photographs

The Royal Air Force during the Second World War The Avro Lancaster B I R5868 'S-Sugar' refuels at RAF Hunsdon after completing its 100th operation the previous evening against Bourg Leopold in Belgium on 12 May 1944. The 2500 gallon tank truck is AEC 854.
ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Royal_Air_Force_during_the_Second_World_War_CH13151.jpgView source & full licence →
Mosquito NF Mark XIII, HK382 ‘RO-T’, of No. 29 Squadron RAF, at Hunsdon, Hertfordshire. The view looking along the lower fuselage towards the tail, showing the aircraft's armament of four forward-firing 20mm Hispano cannon.
ⓘ licence & creditLamonby J (Sgt), SPRO Fighter Command / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mosquito_NF_Mk._XIII_guns_CH14646.jpgView source & full licence →
De Havilland Mosquito Mk II of No. 157 Squadron refuelling at Hunsdon, 16 June 1943 Mosquito II of No 157 Squadron refuelling at Hunsdon, 16 June 1943.
ⓘ licence & creditDrees H V (P/O), Royal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:De_Havilland_Mosquito_Mk_II_of_No._157_Squadron_refuelling_at_Hunsdon,_16_June_1943_CH10312.jpgView source & full licence →
Mosquito NF Mark XIII, HK382 ‘RO-T’, of No. 29 Squadron RAF, at Hunsdon, Hertfordshire. This view shows the ‘thimble’ nose radome in which AI Mark VIII centimetric radar is fitted. This is typical of late-war night fighter service in the RAF.
ⓘ licence & creditLamonby J (Sgt), SPRO Fighter Command / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:De_Haviland_Mosquito_NF.XIII_with_Mk._VIII_radar_-_CH_14643.jpgView source & full licence →
pillbox
ⓘ licence & creditPandaplodder / CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Command_bunker_042.jpgView source & full licence →
IWM caption : Group Captain P C "Pick" Pickard (centre), Commander of No. 140 Wing, No. 2 Group, flanked by Wing Commander I G E "Daddy" Dale, Commanding Officer of No. 21 Squadron RAF (to Pickard's right), and Wing Commander A G "Willie" Wilson, Commanding Officer of No. 487 Squadron RNZAF, visit No. 464 Squadron RAAF at Hunsdon, Hertfordshire, prior to a daylight raid against flying-bomb sites in the Pas-de-Calais. No. 464's De Havilland Mosquito FB Mark VIs have been loaded with 250-lb MC bombs for the operation: HX913 'SB-N' can be seen in the background.
ⓘ licence & creditnot stated. Assumed British Government / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:464_Squadron_RAAF_Mosquitoes_Hunsdon_IWM_HU_81335.jpgView source & full licence →

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