RAF Bisterne

Infobox Military Structure
name= Royal Air Force Station Bisterne
USAAF Station 415
location= Located Near Ringwood, Hampshire, England
coordinates=coord|50|47|58|N|001|47|19|W|


caption= Aerial Photo of Bisterne Airfield - 22 May 1944
type= Military airfield
code=BS ?
built=1944
builder=
materials=
height=
used=1944
demolished=
condition=
ownership=
controlledby=United States Army Air Forces
garrison=Ninth Air Force
commanders=
occupants=371st Fighter Group
battles= European Theatre of World War II
Air Offensive, Europe July 1942 - May 1945 Location map|Hampshire
caption= RAF Bisterne, shown within Hampshire
lat= 50.85
long= -1.78
width= 200

RAF Bisterne is a former World War II airfield in England. The field is located 1 mile N of Bisterne near Ringwood in Hampshire.

The airfield was opened in March 1944 and was used by the United States Army Air Force Ninth Air Force. It was also known as USAAF Station 415.

After D-Day the field was closed.

Origins

Bisterne airfield was one of a group of World War II airfields established in the "New Forest" of Hampshire, first surveyed in 1942 and scheduled for construction in 1943. The site lay half a mile north of the village of Bisterne to the east of the main A338 Christchurch to Ringwood road in the Avon valley.

Work on the airfield began in the spring of 1943 and two hard earth runways were laid down. The taxiways were covered with wire mesh as were the aircraft dispersal points. Four Blister hangars were erected on the east side of the main strip and facilities for fuel and ammunition storage on the west.

It was not anticipated that the airfield would be used until 1944 by which time the regrowth of grass would help to consolidate the runways. However, to accommodate USAAF Ninth Air Force fighter groups, additional aircraft hardstands, marshalling areas and perimeter track extension were required, the work being completed in January 1944.

371st Fighter Group

Al the end of February 1944, US Army engineers started the erection of a large number of tents along woodland fringes and in fields adjacent to the landing ground and on 7 March the 371st Fighter Group arrived, having disembarked at Liverpool the previous day. Equipped with Republic P-47 Thunderbolts, the 347th FG arrived from Richmond AAF Virginia. Tactical squadrons of the group and squadron fuselage codes were:

* 404th Fighter Squadron (9Q)
* 405th Fighter Squadron (8N)
* 406th Fighter Squadron (4W)

The 371st was a group of Ninth Air Force's 70th Fighter Wing, IX Tactical Air Command.

After a hectic period of theatre indoctrination and training, the 371st made a fighter sweep over France. A variety of missions were flown during the rest of April and May, escorts, sweeps and fighter-bombing specified targets, all with little opposition from the enemy.

The more serious problem during this period was the deteriorating state of the Bisterne runways. and the number of blown tires and bent propellers increased as the condition of the metal track became progressively bulged and rutted under the weight of the eight-ton Thunderbolts. Conditions became so bad that on 21 April, the serviceable P-47s were flown to RAF Ibsley, three miles to the north which had hard-surfaced runways. The air echelon was finally able to resume operations from Bisterne on May 14.

The 371st had their first combat with the Luftwaffe on 8 May near Le Havre resulting in two BF 109s being credited as shot down for the loss of one P-47. In another encounter on 20 June during an armed reconnaissance, four enemy aircraft were shot down without loss.

The 371st moved from Bisterne between June 17 and June 29, using both its British base and its assigned Normandy Advanced Landing Ground (ALG) at Beuzeville France (ALG A-6), until 3 July, with the rear party leaving England on 29 June.

During its sojourn at Bisterne. the 371st lost 10 P-47s on operations and three in flying accidents.

On the continent, the 371st FG used the following ALGs providing tactical air support in support of U.S. First Army:

* A-6 Beuzeville, France 3 July 1944
* A-65 Perthes, France 18 September 1944
* Y-7 Dole/Tavaux, France 1 October 1944
* Y-1 Tantonville, France 20 December 1944
* Y-74 Frankfurt/Eschborn, Germany 7 April 1945
* R-10 Furth/Industriehafen, Germany 5 May 1945

The 371st flew its last mission in early May 1945 then moving to Horsching, Austria then Stuttgart Germany for occupation duty in August. The group returned to the US during October and November 1945, inactivating on 10 November at Camp Shanks, New York.

Post Invasion Military Use

In view of its troubled history, and the surplus of UK airfields following the transfer of many RAF and USAAF units to the Continent during the summer of 1944, Bisterne airfield was not used by another flying unit. The facility was de-requisitioned in the late summer of 1944.

Civil Use

With the facility released from military control, it was cleared of metal tracking, hardcore and hangars. However, it proved impossible to separate the runway tracking from soil and turf so the bulldozers simply pushed it up into a long ridgeline. This was one of the few traces that remained of the airfield in 1946 and traces can still be seen today

Today, the land that was once RAF Bisterne is unrecognizable as a former airfield and had returned to farm and pastureland. In 2004 a small memorial was dedicated on the outskirts of a Ringwood farm yard barn at the end of a dusty gravel track as a lasting memorial to the men and machines who flew from the wartime Bisterne airfield.

ee also

* List of RAF stations
* USAAF Ninth Air Force - World War II

References

* Freeman, Roger A. (1994) UK Airfields of the Ninth: Then and Now 1994. After the Battle ISBN 0900913800
* Freeman, Roger A. (1996) The Ninth Air Force in Colour: UK and the Continent-World War Two. After the Battle ISBN 1854092723
* Maurer, Maurer (1983). Air Force Combat Units Of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0892010924.
* [http://armyairforces.com www.armyairforces.com 371st Fighter Group]

External links

* [http://www.geograph.org.uk/gridref/SU1489500071 Photographs of RAF Bisterne from the Geograph British Isles project]
* [http://daveg4otu.tripod.com/airfields/bis.html Full listing of units at RAF Bisterne]
* [http://archive.thisisdorset.net/2004/6/4/66436.html Wartime US pilot returns for flying visit to Blisterne Airfield]
* [http://www.multimap.com/map/photo.cgi?client=public&X=415000&Y=100000&width=700&height=400&gride=415000&gridn=100000&srec=0&coordsys=gb&db=freegaz&pc=&zm=0&scale=10000&out.x=4&out.y=5 Aerial photo of RAF Bisterne from Multimap.Com]