Information for record number MWA8026:
RAF Gaydon (WW2 Airfield)

Summary RAF Gaydon was a Second World War bomber airfield. It opened in 1942 as a satellite airfield to RAF Chipping Warden and later to RAF Wellesbourne Mountford. It is located 1.5km north of Chadshunt church.
What Is It?  
Type: Airfield, Bomb Store
Period: Unknown
Where Is It?  
Parish: Chadshunt
District: Stratford on Avon, Warwickshire
Grid Reference: SP 35 54
(Data represented on this map shows the current selected record as a single point, this is for illustrative purposes only and does not represent an accurate or complete representation of archaeological sites or features)
Level of Protection National - Old SMR PrefRef (Grade: )
Sites & Monuments Record
Description

  
Source Number  

1 A three runway bomber airfield opened June 1942 as a satellite to RAF Chipping Warden but soon transferred to RAF Wellesbourne Mountford. Major facilities included: two 1400 yard (1.28Km) runways; one 1600 yard (1.46Km) runway; 1 type B1 hanger; 1 type T2 hanger.
2 Report of a student project investigating the changing land use of all RAF airfields in the modern county of Warwickshire.
3 Report, not normally available to the public, of June 1976. Lists 375 buildings at RAF Gaydon, although many of these will be post WW2.
4 Vertical air photograph.
5 Leaflet.
6 Details the social history and operational use of the airbase.
7 Nuclear bomb store, known as a clutch, for V-bombers at RAF Gaydon. Clutches specific to V-bomber fields. Radioactive core kept in lead-lined compartment. Precise location on RAF airfield unknown. Also fuzzy photograph of main bunkers where assembled warheads stored.
8 The V-bombers entered service in 1955 with the Vickers Valiant.
9 Ed Wilson thinks
7 may in fact be at Kineton MWA8856. Note: he was right.
10 The nuclear bomb store
7 was definitely here.
11 Although for thirty two years Gaydon was an RAF station, it really had two separate and distinct existences. For the majority of its first four years or so it was a satellite airfield deeply engaged in operational training for crews of Bomber Command, and then briefly the airfield was used for glider pilot training until August 1946. There was an interval of 8 years and the airfield was virtually reconstructed, before reopening in March 1954 as a V-bomber crew training base. Gaydon finally closed 20 years later. Detailed information.
12Gaydon airfield, opened in 1942 and closed in 1974. The airfield was situated between the settlements of Lighthorne and Gaydon. During World War Two it was a Royal Air Force bomber base (part of 91 Group). The airfield was provided with three concrete runways and had a type T2 and a type B1aircraft hangar. There was temporary accomodation for personnel. The source includes a small thumbnail sketch plan of the airfield. In the mid 1950s Gaydon was the centre for Britain's first Valiant jet aircraft squadrons, (232 Operational Conversion Unit and 138 Squadron) which were developed as the core of the country's nuclear deterrent at that time. The Second World War phase of this military airfield has been drawn as part of the South East Warwickshire and Cotswolds HLS Target Areas National Mapping Programme. The site comprises runways, taxiways, airfield buildings, an ordnance depot, blast walls, dispersals, hangars, and hard standings. Most of the site has been redeveloped by the mid 1950s. The runways and taxiways had been replaced, and a new domestic site was constructed at Lighthorne Heath.
13 The airfield was used extensively during the Second World War, being opened in July 1942 and was immediately occupied by No. 12 Operational Training Unit (OTU) as a satellite of RAF Chipping Warden operating Vickers Wellingtons and Avro Ansons training pilots from a number of Allied nations, but mainly Canadian, Czech and New Zealanders. The OTU took newly qualified crew members and taught them how to fly on operations, including small courses about navigation. The airfield was also used by No 22 OTU from July 1943 as a satellite from the main base of RAF Wellesbourne Mountford using Wellingtons and Ansons. No. 22 OTU while at Gaydon conducted bombing and air sea rescue operations helping to aid the allied war effort. A small unit the 312 Ferry Training Unit (FTU) was deployed there training pilots to be employed in ferrying aircraft overseas
 
Sources
Source No: 4
Source Type: Aerial Photograph
Title: SP3454
Author/originator:
Date: 1947
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
   
Source No: 5
Source Type: Bibliographic reference
Title: The history of RAF Gaydon
Author/originator:
Date:
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
   
Source No: 2
Source Type: Bibliographic reference
Title: Fifty years of changing land use
Author/originator: Freeman, H
Date: 1989
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
   
Source No: 3
Source Type: Bibliographic reference
Title: [Report in WCC Planning Dept Box 5189]
Author/originator:
Date:
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
   
Source No: 8
Source Type: Bibliographic reference
Title: 20th Century Defences in Britain
Author/originator: Bernard Lowry (Ed)
Date: 1996
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
   
Source No: 13
Source Type: Bibliographic reference
Title: Premises, Sites etc. within 30 miles of Harrington Museum used for Military Purposes.
Author/originator: John Brace
Date: Before 2017.
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
   
Source No: 11
Source Type: Bibliographic reference
Title: Warwickshire Airfields in the Second World War
Author/originator: Smith G
Date: 2004
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
   
Source No: 12
Source Type: Desk Top Study
Title: SE Warwickshire and Cotswolds NMP Project
Author/originator: Russell Priest
Date: 2010-2012
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
   
Source No: 10
Source Type: Monograph
Title: Cold War: Building for Nuclear Confrontation, 1946-1989
Author/originator: Barnwell, P.
Date: 2003
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
   
Source No: 1
Source Type: Unpublished document
Title: SMR Form
Author/originator: Brace, J
Date: 1998
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
   
Source No: 6
Source Type: Unpublished document
Title: The Incomplete History of Lighthorne
Author/originator: Hinman, P
Date: 2000
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
   
Source No: 7
Source Type: Unpublished document
Title: Subterranea Britannica: Research Study Group: Sites
Author/originator: Keith Ward/Nick Catford
Date: 2001
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
   
Source No: 9
Source Type: Verbal communication
Title: Verbal communication
Author/originator: E Wilson
Date: 2002
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
   
Images:  
There are no images associated with this record.  
back to top

Glossary

 
Word or Phrase
Description  
period Modern The Modern Period, about 1915 AD to the present (the 20th and 21st centuries AD)

In recent years archaeologists have realised the importance of recording modern sites. They do this so that in the future people will be able to look at the remains to help them understand the events to which they are related.
more -> 		back
period modern About 1915 AD to the present (the 20th and 21st centuries AD)

In recent years archaeologists have realised the importance of recording modern sites. They do this so that in the future people will be able to look at the remains to help them understand the events to which they are related.
more -> 		back
monument YARD * A paved area, generally found at the back of a house. back
monument SITE * Unclassifiable site with minimal information. Specify site type wherever possible. back
monument TRAINING BASE * A military base used for training service personnel. back
monument SETTLEMENT * A small concentration of dwellings. back
monument AIRFIELD BUILDING * Non-specific building type associated with an airfield. back
monument BUILDING * A structure with a roof to provide shelter from the weather for occupants or contents. Use specific type where known. back
monument RUNWAY * A hard level roadway or other surface from which aircraft take off and land. back
monument MILITARY AIRFIELD * A landing and taking-off area for military aircraft. Often includes ancilliary structures and buildings for the maintenance and storage of aircraft, etc. back
monument DOMESTIC SITE * Sites used for the accommodation, welfare and recreation of servicemen, especially those serving in the Royal Air Force. Use only for sites associated with military installations. For non-military sites use DOMESTIC class and its narrower terms. back
monument BOMB STORE * A complex of buildings and earthworks constructed for the storage of bombs and pyrotechnics. back
monument DISPERSAL * An area of hardstanding for parking aircraft, in a state of readiness, usually around the perimeter of an airfield. back
monument CHURCH * A building used for public Christian worship. Use more specific type where known. back
monument BUNKER * A structure, often built undergound, used for defence and co-ordination of military activity. back
monument ORDNANCE DEPOT * A building or site used by the armed forces for the storage and issuing of military stores and materials. back
monument FIELD * An area of land, often enclosed, used for cultivation or the grazing of livestock. back
monument MUSEUM * A building, group of buildings or space within a building, where objects of value such as works of art, antiquities, scientific specimens, or other artefacts are housed and displayed. back
monument DEFENCE * This is the top term for the class. See DEFENCE Class List for narrow terms. back
monument TAXIWAY * A marked path along which aircraft taxi to or from a parking area, runway, etc. back
monument AIRCRAFT * An aircraft, either whole or in part. Aircraft often survive as commemorative monuments, gate guardians or crash sites. back
monument HARD STANDING * A purpose-built area of hard material of indeterminate use. back
monument AIRFIELD * An area or site used for the landing and take-off of aircraft, often including associated buildings, equipment and other installations. back
monument HANGAR * A large shed for the housing of aircraft, etc. back
monument BLAST WALL * A reinforced wall designed to reflect the blast from an explosion. Often found associated with powder magazines, pillboxes and air raid shelters. back
monument TARGET * Any structure or object, used for the purpose of practice shooting by aerial, seaborne or land mounted weapons. back

* Copyright of English Heritage (1999)

English Heritage National Monuments Record