- RNAS Culham (HMS Hornbill)
RNAS Culham (HMS Hornbill) is the name of a Royal Naval Air Station (RNAS) near
Culham ,Oxfordshire . It opened in 1944 as an "Aircraft Receipt and Despatch Unit" for theRoyal Navy .The ground layout was typical of many bomber stations, with three runways. However it had a large number of
hangar s which were situated mostly around the field's boundary. Initially HMS Hornhill was used to train reservists based in the Thames Valley region utilising a number of different types of aircraft includingSupermarine Seafire s,Sea Fury s and Harvards. In May 1947 the "Photographic Trials and Development Unit" was based at HMS Hornbill, and in 1951 "No. 1840 Naval Air Squadron " operated at the airfield for a short time.The airfield closed on 30 September 1953 and was subsequently used by the
Admiralty as a storage facility. In 1960, the airfield was handed over to theUnited Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority for use in nuclear and atomic research. It is now home to an international, collaborative, high energy nuclear physics project — theJoint European Torus (JET).As HMS "Hornbill" II, RAF Beccles was a temporary lodging area under Culham's administration.
External links
* [http://www.controltowers.co.uk/C/Culham.htm RN Culham Airfield]
* [http://www.pixture.co.uk/Airfields/Pages/Culham.htm WW2 Airfields - Culham]
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