RAF Christchurch

RAF Christchurch USAAF Station AAF-416
Christchurch Airfield - 4 March 1944. Christchurch was unusual as it was constructed on an existing airfield. However the airfield used before the war for club and commercial flying was too small to accommodate wartime aircraft so the airfield was rebuilt.
IATA: none – ICAO: none
Summary
Airport type		Military
Owner		Air Ministry
Operator		United States Army Air Forces Royal Air Force
Location		Christchurch, Dorset, England
Built		1940 (1940)
In use		1940-1964 (1964)
Elevation AMSL		26 ft / 8 m
Coordinates		50°44′23″N 001°44′22″W / 50.73972°N 1.73944°W / 50.73972; -1.73944Coordinates: 50°44′23″N 001°44′22″W / 50.73972°N 1.73944°W / 50.73972; -1.73944
Map
RAF Christchurch Location in Dorset
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
	ft	m
00/00	0	0	Sommerfeld Tracking

RAF Christchurch is a former Royal Air Force installation and was located southeast of the A337/B3059 junction in Somerford, Christchurch, Dorset, England.

Christchurch Airfield was a civil airfield starting from 1926. It was used during World War II by the Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Forces Ninth Air Force. After the war the airfield returned to civilian use. The airfield complex was demolished in 1966.

HistoryEdit

USAAF useEdit

In 1943, the USAAF Ninth Air Force required several temporary advanced landing grounds along the southern English Channel coast prior to the Normandy invasion to provide tactical air support for the ground forces landing in France. Christchurch was provided to support this mission.

Christchurch was known as USAAF Station AAF-416 for security reasons by the USAAF during the war, and by which it was referred to instead of location. It's USAAF Station Code was "CH".

405th Fighter GroupEdit

Christchurch airfield saw the arrival of the USAAF 405th Fighter Group on 4 April 1944, the group arriving from Walterboro Army Airfield South Carolina. The 405th had the following operational squadrons:

• 509th Fighter Squadron (G9)
• 510th Fighter Squadron (2Z)
• 511th Fighter Squadron (K4)

The 405th was a group of Ninth Air Force's 84th Fighter Wing, IX Tactical Air Command. It flew the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt. The 405th moved to its Advanced Landing Ground at Picauville, France (ALG A-8) on 22 June 1944, ending the USAAF's use of Christchurch.

Current useEdit

The airfield complex was demolished in 1966 and there is housing and The Runway Industrial Park located on the site.

See alsoEdit

• List of former Royal Air Force stations

ReferencesEdit

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/.

CitationsEdit

• ArmyAirForces.com 404th Fighter Group http://www.armyairforces.com/dbgroups.asp?Group=226

BibliographyEdit

• Freeman, Roger A. (1994) UK Airfields of the Ninth: Then and Now 1994. After the Battle ISBN 0-900913-80-0
• Freeman, Roger A. (1996) The Ninth Air Force in Colour: UK and the Continent-World War Two. After the Battle ISBN 1-85409-272-3
• Maurer, Maurer (1983). Air Force Combat Units Of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-89201-092-4.

Further readingEdit

• White, Allen (1987) Christchurch Airfield - 40 Years Of Flying

External linksEdit

• Aerial Photo of RAF Christchurch from Multimap.Com
• Photos of the 405FG at Christchurch.