Henley flying sites
Note: This map is I believe the location for the WW2 HENLEY airfield and quite possibly the COCKPOLE GREEN site used by the Alan Cobham tour in June 1935?
HENLEY see also COCKPOLE GREEN
HENLEY see also HARPSDEN PARK
HENLEY see also RIVER FIELD
HENLEY see also RIVER THAMES HENLEY
HENLEY: Military aerodrome
NOTES: In his book World War One Survivors Ray Rimell states, about the Airco De Havilland DH9A type, “The first squadron to receive the type was No.110 at Henley,…...” This is the first and only reference I have found to a WW1 airfield at HENLEY. But, he goes into greater detail saying, “the cost of re-equipping the the unit being met by His Serene Highness, The Nizam of Hyderabad, and an appropriate presentation inscription appeared on most of the squadron’s aeroplanes.” This would have been in 1918.
HENLEY: Military aerodrome (This site is also known as UPPER CULHAM FARM, CRAZIES HILL and COCKPOLE GREEN)
Military users: RAF Flying Training Command 50 Group
EFTS (RLG)
529 Radar Calibration Flight
Location: NW of Cockpole Green, S of A423 (now A4130?), roughly 2nm E to ESE of Henley-on-Thames, 6nm NNE of Reading
Period of operation: Military: 1940 to 1945 (one reliable source says ops started from 1935)
Runway: ‘All-over’ grass airfield with a landing area 640x732 with emphasis on SSW/NNE
NOTES: To say the least I was most surprised to discover this aerodrome listed in the excellent Willis & Holliss book of WW2 Military airfields. Having flown extensively in this area and being really quite familiar with most of it I’d have thought somebody would have mentioned it.
On the other hand with just 70 RAF personnel at best being stationed here in late 1944, (a pitiful amount by WW2 standards) it cannot have amounted to much. Much later through the help of the Museum of Berkshire Aviation I found out that locally built Spitfires, (PR versions only?), were assembled here before being delivered to BENSON. I would welcome confirmation as this does seem unlikely.
SOMETHING ELSE TO BE SORTED
It would also seem that in WW2 a ‘shuttle service’ was operated by auto-giros between here and BLETCHLEY PARK, (the famous WW2 code-breaking intelligence centre), near MILTON KEYNES. Can anybody add to this or confirm it? What we need to bear in mind here is that the major photo-reconaissance processing facilty was at Medmenham, situated close by.
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