RAF Thorney Island

50.8139, -0.9231 — view on OpenStreetMap ↗
Photograph of RAF Thorney Island
ⓘ licence & creditStephen Williams / CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Thorney_Island_airfield_from_the_air,_May_1976_-_geograph.org.uk_-_345384.jpg

About

RAF Thorney Island occupied a low peninsula on the Sussex–Hampshire border and opened in 1938. As a Coastal Command station its Bristol Beauforts and Beaufighters flew anti-shipping strikes over the Channel — and the airfield was bombed in the Battle of Britain — before it became a fighter base of the Second Tactical Air Force, flying Hawker Typhoons and de Havilland Mosquitoes around D-Day, and later an air-sea rescue station. The RAF left in 1976, and the site is now Baker Barracks, home to the Royal Artillery.

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

Photographs

De Havilland Mosquito having another bombing mission recorded on the fuselage at RAF Thorney Island: Image from the T. W. White personal album collection. Ground
ⓘ licence & creditT. W. White / CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:DeHavilland_Mosquito_1944-45.JPGView source & full licence →
Aircraft of the Royal Air Force 1939-1945- Hawker Typhoon. Typhoon Mark IB, MN304 ‘FJ-N’, of No. 164 Squadron RAF, begins its take-off run at Thorney Island, Hampshire, for a sortie over France.
ⓘ licence & creditBridge B (F/O), Royal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aircraft_of_the_Royal_Air_Force_1939-1945-_Hawker_Typhoon._CH13344.jpgView source & full licence →
IWM caption : Hampden TB Mark I, AN127 ‘XA-Y’ of No. 489 Squadron RNZAF, on the ground at Thorney Island, Hampshire.
ⓘ licence & creditMinistry of Aircraft Production (MAP) / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:489_Squadron_RAF_Hampden_Jul_1942_IWM_ATP_10928B.jpgView source & full licence →
IWM caption : An Intelligence Officer, Flight Lieutenant E C Rideal (right), interrogates the crew of a De Havilland Mosquito FB Mark VI of No. 487 Squadron RNZAF in a tent at Thorney Island, Hampshire, on their return from a night-intruder sortie over North-west Europe.
ⓘ licence & creditnot stated. Assumed Royal Air Force / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:487_Squadron_RNZAF_Mosquito_aircrew_debriefing_IWM_HU_81289.jpgView source & full licence →
Aerial photograph showing partially camouflaged RAF Thorney Island airfield.
ⓘ licence & creditNo 1 Photographic Reconnaissance Unit / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:RAF_Thorney_Island_aerial_photograph_WWII_IWM_HU_92962.jpgView source & full licence →

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