RAF Chailey
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| Chailey, East Sussex in England | |||||||||
| Site information | |||||||||
| Type | RAF advanced landing ground | ||||||||
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| Owner | Air Ministry | ||||||||
| Operator | Royal Air Force | ||||||||
| Controlled by | RAF Second Tactical Air Force * No. 84 Group RAF RAF Fighter Command No. 11 Group RAFLua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found. | ||||||||
| Location | |||||||||
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| Site history | |||||||||
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| Built by | RAF Airfield Construction Service | ||||||||
| In use | June 1943 - January Script error: No such module "Date time". | ||||||||
| Battles/wars | European theatre of World War II | ||||||||
| Airfield information | |||||||||
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Royal Air Force Chailey or more simply RAF Chailey is a former Royal Air Force advanced landing ground close to the village of Chailey near Burgess Hill in East Sussex during the Second World War. It was an example of an Advanced Landing Ground (ALG),[1] a type of simple, temporary airfield designed to support the invasion of continental Europe.
History
The airfield was on the site of Bower Farm, and was surveyed and commenced in 1942 by Fighter Command with the intention of creating a fighter station as part of the expansion following the Battle of Britain. It was not laid out until 1943, by which time the strategy was different and it was passed to the RAF Second Tactical Air Force to become an operating station for the invasion of continental Europe, codenamed Operation Overlord.[citation needed]
In order to construct the airfield, the RAF demolished the local pub, 'The Plough', which was at the end of the runway, and reconstructed it about half a mile away near Plumpton, and this is now the site of the RAF Chailey memorial.[2]
RAF Chailey hosted No. 131 Airfield Headquarters RAF which became No. 131 (Polish) Wing,[3] with three squadrons: 302,Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found. 308Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found. and 317.Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found.)
The station's officer commanding was the highest ranking Pole in the RAF, Group Captain Aleksander Gabszewicz.[citation needed]
The airfield was also host to No. 1312 Mobile Wing RAF Regiment and No. 2882 Squadron RAF Regiment[3]
The airfield was de-requisitioned in 1945 and returned to farm use.[3]
References
Citations
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- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Volume 8 - Heavy Conversion & Miscellaneous Units 1939-47 amendments and additions".
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."History of the Plough". The Plough at Plumpton. Retrieved 27 May 2011.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link) - ^ a b c Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Chailey". Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust. Retrieved 1 October 2021.
Bibliography
- Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Falconer, J (2012). RAF Airfields of World War 2. UK: Ian Allan Publishing. ISBN 978-1-85780-349-5.
- Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Jefford, C.G. (1988). RAF Squadrons. A comprehensive record of the movement and equipment of all RAF squadrons and their antecedents since 1912. Shrewsbury: Airlife. ISBN 1-85310-053-6.
External links
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- Wikimapia map of RAF Chailey
- Pictures from Chailey Airshow 2004 Script error: No such module "webarchive".
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