RAF Thurleigh

Royal Air Force Station Thurleigh or more simply RAF Thurleigh is former Royal Air Force station located 5 miles (8.0 km) north of Bedford, Bedfordshire, England. Thurleigh was transferred to the United States Army Air Forces Eighth Air Force on 9 December 1942 and designated Station 111, and used for heavy bomber operations against Nazi Germany.

History

Thurleigh (pronounced "thur-lye") was built for RAF Bomber Command in 1940 by W & C French Ltd. 1 mile (1.6 km) north of the village of Thurleigh on farmland between the farms of Buryfields, Bletsoe Park, Manor, and Whitwickgreen. It was eventually modified to Air Ministry Class A airfield specifications, with three converging runways, extended in 1942 to lengths of 6,000 feet (runway 06-24) and 4,200 feet (runways 18-36 and 12-30). Thurleigh was unique among bomber bases in having four T2 type metal hangars where most bases had only two.

RAF Bomber Command use

Its first use was by No. 160 Squadron RAF, forming on 16 January 1942 as a ground echelon then deployed to the China-Burma-India Theater at Drigh Road on 4 June 1942.

Thurleigh

Coordinates: 52°12′53″N 0°27′28″W / 52.21468°N 0.457835°W / 52.21468; -0.457835

Thurleigh is a village and civil parish in north Bedfordshire, England.

History

Excavations have shown evidence the locality was occupied in the Iron-Age, Roman and Saxon periods.

In Domesday of 1086 it is referred to as LaLega, and by 1372 it is Thyrleye. In 1813, Thurleigh, or Thurley, is recorded as being in the Hundred of Willey and the Deanery of Eaton.Lega is a Latinized form of leigh. The name may derive from Anglo-Saxon (æt) þǣre Lēa = "(at) the clearing".

There was a church here in Saxon times. The current church has some parts still dating from around 1150, and at about that same time a castle was built here.

The deanery of Eaton contains the rectories of Bolnhurst, Colmworth, Shelton, Staughton Parva, Tilbrook, Wilden and Yielden; the vicarages of Eaton Socon, Keysoe, Melchburn, Pertenhall, Renhold, Ravensden, Riseley, Roxton, Great Barford and Thurleigh; and the perpetual curacy of Dean.

Airfield