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RAF Tempsford

Coordinates: 52°09′34″N 0°15′52″W / 52.159323°N 0.264487°W / 52.159323; -0.264487
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The Control Tower at Tempsford during WWII
The 138 and 161 Squadron badges on display inside St Peter's Church, Tempsford
The memorial plaque inside St Peter's Church, Tempsford

RAF Tempsford in Bedfordshire, England was perhaps the most secret Royal Air Force airfield in World War II. It was home to the Special Duties Squadrons, No. 138, which dropped Special Operations Executive (SOE) agents and their supplies into occupied Europe, and No. 161, which specialised in personnel delivery and retrieval by landing in occupied Europe. Adolf Hitler personally knew of the existence of an airfield[citation needed] from which the RAF was carrying out these activities, but the Germans were never able to find its location in order to bomb it.[citation needed]

RAF Tempsford is very close to Little Gransden Airfield and can be clearly seen from flights climbing out from the westerly runway 28. Other active airfields nearby include the former RAF bases at Gransden Lodge and Bourn.

By 2002 part of the former Tempsford airfield was a concrete-making facility and some of the main airfield buildings had been turned into various commercial workshops. A nearby public footpath led to the end of a substantially intact runway and then on to Gibraltar Farm, the agents' final dispatch point. This barn contained several plaques and memorials to the agents, both men and women, who were flown from the airfield, many of whom were later killed after being captured and tortured. A memorial is also to be found in St Peter's Church, in the nearby village of Tempsford.

People

  • Andrée Borrel and Lise de Baissac (Odile), were the first female SOE agents to be parachuted into occupied France. They flew out from RAF Tempsford on 24 September, 1942.
  • Flying Officer Gerald Cruwys was awarded the Croix de guerre for his work with the French Resistance while at RAF Tempsford.
  • Group Captain Edward 'Mouse' Fielden, Station Commander of RAF Tempsford (1942-1944) and a former royal pilot
  • Air Chief Marshal Sir Lewis Macdonald Hodges was the Commander of 161 Squadron from May 1943 to 1944.
  • Group Captain Percy Charles Pickard was awarded a second bar to his DSO in March 1943 for his outstanding leadership in command of 161 Squadron
  • Group Captain Hugh Verity, author of We Landed by Moonlight
  • Violette Szabo flew out on both her missions from RAF Tempsford.
  • Wing Commander F. F. E. Yeo-Thomas, otherwise known as the White Rabbit, was dropped in France on 27 February 1943 having been flown out from RAF Tempsford by Pilot Officer Foster.
A Westland Lysander of the type that was used to drop and pick up SOE agents from Occupied Europe

Operational units and aircraft

Bibliography

  • Clark, F. Agents by Moonlight: The Secret History of RAF Tempsford during the Second World War. Stroud: Tempus Publishing Ltd., 1999.
  • Clark, F. Peter Five. Bromley: Independent Books, 1993.
  • Griffiths, Frank "Winged Hours". London: William Kimber, 1981. ISBN 0-7183-0128-5.
  • O'Connor, B. Tempsford Airfield: Now the story can be told… 1998. ISBN 1-902810-03-1
  • Verity, H., We Landed By Moonlight (revised edition). Manchester: Crecy Publishing, 2000. ISBN 0-947554-75-0.

52°09′34″N 0°15′52″W / 52.159323°N 0.264487°W / 52.159323; -0.264487

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