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 Radlett is often discussed slightly differently from a typical RAF ‘station’ because its wartime importance was industrial as much as operational. Radlett Aerodrome in Hertfordshire became a key production and flight-testing airfield for Handley Page, the company behind one of Britain’s principal heavy bombers, the Handley Page Halifax. In the drive to mass-produce aircraft, Handley Page built assemblies and components at its Cricklewood works and assembled complete aircraft at Radlett, from where they were flown out for testing and delivery. The first production Halifax is recorded as flying from Radlett on 11 October 1940 – an early and significant moment in the Halifax story.
The Halifax itself was central to Bomber Command’s effort. As a four-engined heavy bomber, it served across the main campaigns of the war, flying tens of thousands of sorties in multiple theatres. Radlett’s role therefore connected directly to the operational front: each Halifax that left the aerodrome represented future aircrew, future operations and, ultimately, future losses and achievements over occupied Europe. Alongside the Halifax, Handley Page’s earlier Hampden production and associated industrial work also fed into the wider bomber expansion, but the Halifax became the enduring symbol of the Radlett output.
Wartime aircraft production was itself a battle. Factories and assembly sites faced the threat of air attack, the pressures of labour and materials shortages, and the demand to increase output rapidly. Radlett functioned as a crucial ‘final assembly and flight’ node within the broader Halifax production network, which also involved multiple partner companies and dispersed manufacturing. Aircraft left the aerodrome for acceptance testing, modifications and delivery to units, Maintenance Units or operational stations. The flow was constant: work on the ground, brief test flights and onward movement – an industrial rhythm that was essential to keeping Bomber Command and other users supplied.
Because Radlett’s primary identity was production, the aviation ‘units’ associated with it were less about squadrons and more about factory, acceptance and ferrying personnel. Test pilots and engineers played a critical role, pushing new aircraft through flight trials and resolving faults before operational crews took them into combat. Ferry pilots, including civilian and auxiliary organisations, also formed part of the delivery system that moved aircraft from factories to where they were needed. In this sense, Radlett represents the often underappreciated edge of the air war: not the raid itself, but the manufacturing and testing foundation that made raids possible.
Today, remembering Radlett is to remember wartime aircraft production as a national mobilisation. The airfield stands in the story of the Halifax – an aircraft flown by RAF and Commonwealth crews, and later adapted for transport and other roles – and it offers a different lens on airfield history: an aerodrome where the ‘mission’ was to build and launch aircraft into the wider war.
WW2 units, roles and aircraft:
- Handley Page production/assembly and flight testing at Radlett Aerodrome
- Primary aircraft: Handley Page Halifax heavy bomber (first production aircraft flown from Radlett in October 1940)
- Associated roles: factory test flying, acceptance, delivery/ferrying rather than front-line squadron operations