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.
Overview
RAF Turweston was a wartime airfield at near Brackley on the Buckinghamshire/Northamptonshire border. During the Second World War it served as a bomber and medium-bomber training field supporting OTUs and ferry training, with substantial target-towing and gunnery activity. opened 23 November 1942; operated to September 1945.
Like most British wartime stations, RAF Turweston functioned as a small, self-contained town. Beyond the runways were technical areas for maintenance and armament, dispersed hardstandings to reduce losses during raids, and domestic sites where airmen, WAAFs or naval personnel lived, trained, and waited for the next tasking. On operational nights or intensive training days the routine revolved around briefings, meteorology, aircraft servicing, and a tight rhythm of take-off and recovery windows.
Units and aircraft
Aircraft commonly associated with wartime flying here: Vickers Wellington, Avro Anson, North American Mitchell, Douglas Boston, Miles Martinet, Airspeed Oxford, Westland Lysander, de Havilland Mosquito, Hawker Hurricane.
Records for RAF Turweston show a mix of operational and support activity. Some units were long-term residents with a stable identity, while others arrived as detachments – often for conversion training, gunnery work-ups, dispersal, or to cover a specific operational requirement. That pattern is typical of the RAF’s wartime system: stations were constantly re-tasked as the air war shifted from defence to offence, from the Battle of the Atlantic to the bomber offensive, and later to preparations for the invasion of Northwest Europe.
- No. 12 OTU (Wellington, Anson) until April 1943
- No. 13 OTU (North American Mitchell)
- No. 307 Ferry Training Unit (Douglas Boston)
- No. 17 OTU Gunnery Flight (Wellington; later Miles Martinet)
What happened here
Turweston’s wartime flying mixed multi-engine navigation and bombing training with gunnery and target-towing – skills that directly affected survivability on operations.
Like many training stations it also had its share of accidents; the pressures of intensive training, weather, and engine failure were constant threats.
How the station ‘worked’: aircraft were usually kept on dispersal pans connected by a perimeter track. Crews moved between briefing rooms, parachute/oxygen sections, and the flight line; ground crew handled refuelling, re-arming and engine changes. The watch office coordinated flying, and on busy days the airfield operated like a factory – turning time, fuel and maintenance hours into sorties.
Legacy and remains
The surviving runway and business/aviation activity on site sit on top of a classic OTU landscape of pans, perimeter track and hangars.
Landscape and flying conditions: RAF Turweston’s geography influenced operations. Prevailing winds dictated runway selection, while local terrain and weather shaped training and safety. In winter, short daylight and low cloud increased the workload; in summer, longer hours enabled intensive training programmes and high sortie rates. These practical factors are often reflected in accident reports and ORBs, which mention crosswinds, icing, fog, and diversion landings.
Landscape and flying conditions: RAF Turweston’s geography influenced operations. Prevailing winds dictated runway selection, while local terrain and weather shaped training and safety. In winter, short daylight and low cloud increased the workload; in summer, longer hours enabled intensive training programmes and high sortie rates. These practical factors are often reflected in accident reports and ORBs, which mention crosswinds, icing, fog, and diversion landings.