RAF Hunsdon
England
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.
Photographs
ⓘ licence & credit
Royal Air Force official photographer, Devon S A (Flt Lt) / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force-_2nd_Tactical_Air_Force,_1943-1945._CH12407.jpgView source & full licence →ⓘ licence & credit
Stanley Devon / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force-_2nd_Tactical_Air_Force,_1943-1945._CH12406.jpgView source & full licence →ⓘ licence & credit
Royal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force_Fighter_Command,_1939-1945._CL2448.jpgView source & full licence →ⓘ licence & credit
Drees H V (P/O), Royal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force_Fighter_Command,_1939-1945._CH10313.jpgView source & full licence →ⓘ licence & credit
Air Ministry / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:RAF_airfield_map.jpgView source & full licence →ⓘ licence & credit
Royal 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 →ⓘ licence & credit
Lamonby 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 →ⓘ licence & credit
Drees 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 →ⓘ licence & credit
Lamonby 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 →ⓘ licence & credit
Pandaplodder / CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Command_bunker_042.jpgView source & full licence →ⓘ licence & credit
not 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 →Home to
- No. 487 Squadron (RNZAF) — 2 Group
People connected to this base
43 persons cross-referenced to this airfield — through a posting here, a squadron based here, or aircrew who flew from it.
| Name | Rank | Connection | Dates |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anderson, Alexander Stuart | Flight Lieutenant | Aircrew (squadron based here) | — |
| Baird, Hugh | Flight Sergeant | Aircrew (squadron based here) | — |
| Baker, Reginald William | Wing Commander | Aircrew (squadron based here) | — |
| Barbet, Eugene Herman | Flying Officer | Aircrew (squadron based here) | — |
| Barriball, Malcolm Eber Palmer | Pilot Officer | Aircrew (squadron based here) | — |
| Beazer, Ronald Charles Ostend | Flying Officer | Aircrew (squadron based here) | — |
| Blow, Kenneth Leslie Owen | Warrant Officer | Aircrew (squadron based here) | — |
| Bolder, Cyril | Sergeant | Aircrew (squadron based here) | — |
| Bridgman, Donald Charles | Flying Officer | Aircrew (squadron based here) | — |
| Brown, George William | Flight Lieutenant | Aircrew (squadron based here) | — |
| Burne, Peter Harold | Flying Officer | Aircrew (squadron based here) | — |
| Cake, David Edward | Pilot Officer | Aircrew (squadron based here) | — |
| Chambers, Frederick | Flying Officer | Aircrew (squadron based here) | — |
| Coates, Kenneth John | Pilot Officer | Aircrew (squadron based here) | — |
| Coe, Arthur John | Flying Officer | Aircrew (squadron based here) | — |
| Court, Edgar William Peter | Flight Lieutenant | Aircrew (squadron based here) | — |
| Cussens, Alan Sudbury | Squadron Leader | Aircrew (squadron based here) | — |
| Fowler, Alexander John | Flight Lieutenant | Aircrew (squadron based here) | — |
| Frankson, Michael Lewis Brownlow | Flying Officer | Aircrew (squadron based here) | — |
| Graham, Lawrence Albert | Flying Officer | Aircrew (squadron based here) | — |
| Jones, Marshall Levi | Flying Officer | Aircrew (squadron based here) | — |
| Mackay, Hugh Munro | Flying Officer | Aircrew (squadron based here) | — |
| Mair, Thomas | Flight Sergeant | Aircrew (squadron based here) | — |
| Matthews, George Norman | Warrant Officer Class II | Aircrew (squadron based here) | — |
| McLeod, Daniel Holland | Flight Lieutenant | Aircrew (squadron based here) | — |
| McMillan, John Dunch | Flying Officer | Aircrew (squadron based here) | — |
| Medwin, Ian George | Squadron Leader | Aircrew (squadron based here) | — |
| Mellar, John James Spencer | Flight Lieutenant | Aircrew (squadron based here) | — |
| Mitchell, Peter Roy | Flying Officer | Aircrew (squadron based here) | — |
| Muir, Colin Bruce | Pilot Officer | Aircrew (squadron based here) | — |
| Parker, John Frederick | Flying Officer | Aircrew (squadron based here) | — |
| Paterson, John Charles | Flight Lieutenant | Aircrew (squadron based here) | — |
| Payne, Raymond George Cuthbert | Pilot Officer | Aircrew (squadron based here) | — |
| Peet, Gordon Leonard | Flying Officer | Aircrew (squadron based here) | — |
| Priddle, David Allan | Pilot Officer | Aircrew (squadron based here) | — |
| Sands, Jack Braithwaite | Flight Lieutenant | Aircrew (squadron based here) | — |
| Settle, Arthur | Flight Sergeant | Aircrew (squadron based here) | — |
| Shallcrass, Frederick Nettleship | Flight Lieutenant | Aircrew (squadron based here) | — |
| Smith, Norman Frank | Flying Officer | Aircrew (squadron based here) | — |
| Taylor, John Warren | Flight Lieutenant | Aircrew (squadron based here) | — |
| Trent, Leonard Henry | Group Captain | Squadron served here | — |
| Vickers, Allan Jerry | Flight Lieutenant | Aircrew (squadron based here) | — |
| Ward, Bryan | Warrant Officer | Aircrew (squadron based here) | — |