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RAF Harwell
RAF Harwell near the village of Harwell, 17 miles (27 km) north west of Reading, was constructed in 1935 and opened on February 1937 as a grass air field. At the outbreak of the Second World War, it became part of No. 38 Group, Bomber Command. Concrete runways were added between July and November 1941. In March 1944, Harwell was reallocated to 30 Group Airborne Forces which operated tug aircraft towing Airspeed Horsa gliders in preparation for the landings in Normandy on D-Day. RAF Harwell was also used for Special Operations Executive operations between July and September 1944. The airfield closed in 1945 and the site is now home to the Atomic Energy Research Establishment. A D-Day memorial to the men who flew from RAF Harwell is situated edge of the old airfield and a memorial service is held there annually.
Squadrons based at RAF Harwell:
- No. 75 Squadron RAF.
- No. 105 Squadron RAF.
- No. 107 Squadron RAF.
- No. 148 Squadron RAF.
- No. 215 Squadron RAF.
- No. 226 Squadron RAF.
- No. 295 Squadron RAF.
- No. 570 Squadron RAF.
- No. 15 Operational Training Unit.
3rd September 1939 To France
4th September 1939 Relocation
4th September 1939 Relocated
19th Sept 1939 Training flight crash
25th September 1939 Training reorganised
18th Oct 1939 Posting
23rd Oct 1939 Training
14th November 1939 Delivery flight
28th November 1939 Crashed in training
1940 Experiment
18th January 1940 Killed in training
4th April 1940 New Squadron titles
Oct 1941 Flight despatched to Malta
8th May 1942 Ferry trip to Egypt
6th Feb 1943 Gardening
21st Jan 1944 Wellington Lost
30th April 1944 Night exercise
5th June 1944 On the Move
6th Jun 1944 Gliders
6th June 1944 In Action
2nd Sep 1944 Standing by
3rd Sep 1944 Orders
6th Sep 1944 Plans made and postponed
7th Sep 1944 Entertainment
8th Sep 1944 Maintenance
9th Sep 1944 Orders
10th Sep 1944 Information
If you can provide any additional information, please add it here.
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Those known to have served at RAF Harwell during the Second World War 1939-1945. The names on this list have been submitted by relatives, friends, neighbours and others who wish to remember them, if you have any names to add or any recollections or photos of those listed,
please
Add a Name to this List
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The Wartime Memories Project is the original WW1 and WW2 commemoration website.
Announcements
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Want to find out more about your relative's service? Want to know what life was like during the War? Our
Library contains an ever growing number diary entries, personal letters and other documents, most transcribed into plain text. |
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Wanted: Digital copies of Group photographs, Scrapbooks, Autograph books, photo albums, newspaper clippings, letters, postcards and ephemera relating to WW2. We would like to obtain digital copies of any documents or photographs relating to WW2 you may have at home. If you have any unwanted
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Did you know? We also have a section on The Great War. and a
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Want to know more about RAF Harwell? There are:27 items tagged RAF Harwell available in our Library
These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Second World War. |
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Henrietta "Ettie" Stephenson My Grandmother, Henrietta Stephenson taught service men how to swim for which she won an award. She also "worked with photographs" and "prayed for the safe return of all pilots". I couldn't really understand her job. That is all she spoke of to her Grandchildren 30 years after the war.
I have since learned from my father that she was a photographic interpreter. When I asked my father where she was stationed he said "All personnel involved were located where there were reconnaissance planes and at one time this was Harwell, Didcot, Berkshire. My father was sent to live with many different families while his Mum served in the WAAF. There was so much secrecy. My father snuck away from those billeting him in the Blackburn area to visit his Mum. It sounds like he got a bit of a scolding and a traumatic experience. He had gone all the way on bike to see her! When he was on his way home towns and villages that had stood as he travelled through on his way to visit his Mum has been very badly bombed! He was only eleven. This would be in 1940. I think the town he referred to was Haslingden.
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AC. Cecil Hobbs (d.5th of July 1941) Cecil Hobbs (aged 21) was a RAF Air Mechanic he served at RAF Harwell and was on board SS Anselm and had gone below to write home to his pregnant wife Audrey (affectionately known as Judy) when the ship was struck by a German torpedo and sank. 1210 RAF and military personnel were on board plus the ship's crew.
He died 5th of July 1941 and is remembered on the Runnymede Memorial . Son of Fredrick William and Emma Hobbs, husband of Audrey Diana Hobbs of Chilton, Berkshire.
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P/O. Alan Richard Stewart 221 Squadron (d.8th Nov 1943)  Alan Stewart enlisted on 21st of December 1940, at Harewood, Christchurch, NZ and was initially employed on ground duties, as an Aircrafthand 2nd Class. He was posted on 25th of May 1941, to Initial Training Wing, Levin, NZ and
on 26 May 1941, was promoted to the rank of Leading Aircraftman.
On 5th of July 1941 he was posted to to No. 1 Elementary Flying Training School, Taieri, Dunedin, NZ
to commence flying training. He embarked on 4th of September 1941 for Canada
to complete flying training under the Empire Air Training Scheme and was posted on 1st of October 1941 to No. 6 Service Flying Training School at Dunnville, Ontario, Canada. 2nd of January 1942 he was awarded the Flying Badge, and promoted to the rank of Sergeant. Alan embarked on 11th of January 1942 from No. 1 Y Depot, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, for the UK
Arriving on 10th of February 1942 at No. 3 Personnel Reception Centre, Bournemouth and transferred on 24th of March 1942, to No. 3 (P) Air Flying Unit, at South Cerney, Gloucestershire
to commence advanced flying training. He was then
posted on 7th of August 1942, to No. 3 (C) Operational Training Unit at RAF Cranwell, Lincolnshire
where he completed his Wellington bomber pilot training. He was posted in late October 1942, to No. 1443 Ferry Training Flight, at RAF Harwell, Berkshire and then via Gibraltar and Mersa Matruh, Egypt.
He arrived on 5th of December 1942, at a landing field in the Western Desert,
before completing a torpedo course at No. 5 Middle East Training School, Shallufa, Egypt.
Posted on 23rd of April 1943 to 221 Squadron, RAF Coastal Command at RAF Luqa, Malta, He was promoted on 1st of May 1943, to Flight Sergeant. He received his Commission on 16th of September 1943, as Pilot Officer. Alan flew from both Luqa, Malta, and Protville in Tunisia, he
undertook 24 operational flights, 14 anti-submarine & escort flights, and
10 enemy shipping strikes.
He lost his life on 8th of November 1943 in the Mediterranean Sea, out from Malta,
aged 22. He was awarded posthumously the
1939/45 Star,
Italy Star,
Africa Star, with North Africa 1942-43 clasp
Defence Medal,
War Medal 1939-45 and
NZ War Service Medal.
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