Beaulieu Airfield Overview
A 1946 RAF aerial image of Beaulieu airfield and 1946 asset plan of the site compiled by the Air Ministry Works Directorate in preperation for closing and returning the site to original landowners provide a fascinating picture of how much work and activity went into Beaulieu Airfield. Even though the site was meant to be returned to how it was before it was requisitioned, there are numerous echoes of its past that can still be found on the ground.
RAF Beaulieu was a Class A airfield built and opened in 1942. It was used by RAF Coastal Command and briefly by the Second Tactical Air Force before it was handed over to the USAAF in 1944. The airfield was used by both fighter and bomber squadrons before it was occupied by the Airborne Forces Experimental Establishment, who remained there for six years. In 1953 the site was briefly upgraded in expectation of reactivation, but instead the site was closed in 1955 and the land relinquished in 1959
There are numerous articles about Beaulieu Airfield which we have tried to pull together here as potential further reading:
Beaulieu Airfield WWII activity
- Pre-construction excavations
- No.311 Czech Squadron – Liberator LV343
- No.311 Czech Sqaudron
- Flight Officer David Makie Sleep (89329)
- Post war AFEE parachute testing activities
- Post war AFEE log book
- Living at Beaulieu post war
- (Archive Film Clips) Beaulieu Airfield – D-Day
Oral Histories
Airfield Features
- Pundit Code
- Bomb Preperation Area
- Airfield Accommodation at Stockley
- WAAF Air raid shelters
- Modelling Beaulieu Airfield