Sissinghurst
Note: This map only shows the position of Sissinghurst within the UK.
SISSINGHURST: Military airstrip
Military user: RAF (Royal Air Force) Army Co-operation
Note: In 1943 transferred to II Group, Fighter Command
653 Sqdn (AOP - Auster Mk.1)
Note: Based at RAF PENSHURST
Location: Sissinghurst village is on the A262, 1nm E of the A229, 12nm E to ESE of Royal Tunbridge Wells, 11nm SSE of Maidstone
Period of operation: Mid August to mid September 1943
NOTES: It appears that, for about a month in 1943, 653 Squadron were involved in Exercise Peacock. This seems a bit early for the D-Day invasion in Normandy, but I suppose we must remember that the senior U.S. military staff were very much in favour of conducting this campaign a year earlier.
Which of course would probably have had disasterous results. It is one thing to attack a small island in the Pacific, with overwhelming forces - quite another to overcome a massive military presence spread across most of western Europe. And as seen, even with superior numbers, and almost total air supremacy, the Allied forces had a long and bitter campaign before the Nazi regime eventually surrendered.
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