Full WW2 control tower details and photos for this wartime airfield are coming soon. Please check back later as this is work progress. If you would like to contribute information or photos please get in touch.
RAF Chipping Norton was a small but strategically useful satellite airfield in Oxfordshire, built in 1940 and brought into operational use during the height of the air war over Britain. Unlike the large ‘permanent’ bomber bases with heavy concrete runways, Chipping Norton used Sommerfeld tracking, a pierced steel matting system that could be laid quickly to create usable landing strips on prepared ground. This was an efficient solution for a training and support airfield, allowing it to accept a steady flow of aircraft without the time and cost of full concrete construction.
The station’s wartime role centred on the training pipeline. Several Service Flying Training Schools were associated with the airfield, using it as a place where pilots could build hours, practise navigation and instrument flying, and progress toward operational conversion. Aircraft commonly seen here included the Airspeed Oxford, a twin-engine trainer used for multi-engine handling, navigation and bombing instruction, and the North American Harvard, an advanced trainer that prepared pilots for high-performance fighters and tactical types. Maintenance and support functions were also present, reflecting the need to keep training aircraft serviceable and to move people and machines efficiently between stations.
Chipping Norton experienced direct enemy attention early on. The airfield was bombed twice in the autumn of 1940, during the period when the Luftwaffe attempted to disrupt RAF infrastructure as part of the wider Battle of Britain campaign. Damage was limited, and the station continued its work. For local communities, such raids were a reminder that even comparatively small training and satellite sites were part of the national defensive system, worth striking if they could be found and accurately attacked.
Beam approach training flights were another important part of the story. In an era before modern ILS, the RAF developed radio-based landing aids to help crews return safely in poor visibility. Training units taught pilots to fly disciplined, instrument-guided approaches, reducing accidents and increasing operational resilience, especially for night flying and winter conditions. Sites like Chipping Norton helped spread these techniques across the training and operational system.
- Primary wartime role: training and support as an RAF satellite station.
- Runway surface: Sommerfeld tracking on multiple landing strips.
- Notable aircraft types: Airspeed Oxford and North American Harvard.
- Notable wartime events: bombed in October and November 1940 with limited damage.
After 1945, as the RAF contracted and training needs changed, Chipping Norton was closed and eventually returned to agricultural use. Much of the wartime infrastructure was removed, but the airfield’s history remains a useful window into how the RAF generated trained aircrew at scale: not only at famous operational stations, but also across a network of smaller satellites where thousands of routine training sorties quietly underpinned the front line.