RAF Madley

RAF Madley
RAF Madley;
	Madley Communications Centre earth satellite tracking station
	IATA: none; ICAO: none;
Summary
Airport type	Military
Operator	Royal Air Force
Location	Madley
Elevation AMSL	265 ft / 81 m
Coordinates	52°01′55″N 002°50′56″W / 52.03194°N 2.84889°W
Map
	RAF Madley Location in Herefordshire
Runways

Royal Air Force Madley, or more simply RAF Madley, was a Royal Air Force station situated 6.2 miles (10 km) south west of Hereford in Herefordshire, England.^[1] The station was in use during the Second World War as a training base and was located between the villages of Kingstone and Madley.

History[edit]

The site opened as a training centre for aircrew and ground wireless operators on 27 August 1941.^[2] In 1941, No. 4 Signals School RAF was stated up at the base. The school was disbanded and renamed as No. 4 Radio School RAF in January 1943.^[3]

In 1943, the grass airfield was reinforced with Sommerfeld Tracking and the centre's population rose to about 5,000.^[4] Also in 1943, RAF Madley became a base for one of ten Royal Air Force Mountain Rescue Teams (MRT) that had been set up to rescue lost aircrew.^[5] The site was visited in 1944 prior to D-Day by US General George S. Patton, and later by Rudolf Hess (who had been held prisoner near Abergavenny) on his way to the Nuremberg Trials in 1946.^[6]

The station was not bombed by the Luftwaffe, however, as with other bases, crashes of friendly aircraft were commonplace. On Christmas Day 1944, a Liberator crashed in the station environs which precipitated the usual search for the crew.^[2] This had proved fruitless as the crew had baled out over Belgium as they assumed the heavily flak-damaged aircraft was about to crash. However, the aircraft somehow made it all the way to Madley without its aircrew.^[7]

The comedian and actor Eric Sykes was a radio operator at RAF Madley during the Second World War.^[8]

Units posted here[edit]

No. 4 Radio School (January 1943 - December 1946)
No. 4 Signals School (August 1941 - January 1943)
No. 8 Anti-Aircraft Co-operation Unit RAF (July 1941 – 1943)
No. 25 Maintenance Unit (April 1952 - March 1954)
No. 26 Squadron RAF detachment during 1942 using the North American Mustang I
No. 50 Gliding School RAF(January 1946– January 1947)^[9]

Current use[edit]

Today only a few hangars remain, and Madley Communications Centre now occupies part of the site.^[10] Other parts of the site have been converted into a wildlife wetlands centre that is used for study.^[11] The B4352 and an unclassified road now cut what was the airfield area in two.^[2]^[1]

References[edit]

^ ^a ^b "189" (Map). Hereford & Ross-on-Wye. 1:25,000. Explorer. Ordnance Survey. 2015. ISBN 978-0-319-24382-4.
^ ^a ^b ^c McLelland 2012, p. 151.
^ Lake, Alan (1999). Flying units of the RAF : the ancestry, formation and disbandment of all flying units from 1912. Shrewsbury: Airlife. p. 186. ISBN 1-84037-086-6.
^ "History of RAF Madley". www.mesc.org.uk. Retrieved 11 February 2017.
^ Card, Frank (2001). "Squadron Leader G D Graham DSO MBE". Journal of the Royal Air Force Historical Society (24): 50. ISSN 1361-4231.
^ Historic England. "Madely[sic] Airfield (1402537)". Research records (formerly PastScape). Retrieved 12 February 2017.
^ Smith, David J. (1981). Military airfields of Wales and the North-West (1 ed.). Cambridge: P. Stephens. p. 121. ISBN 0-85059-485-5.
^ "The vision of gliders high above brings back so many memories". Evesham Journal. 1 October 2009. Retrieved 11 February 2017.
^ "Madley - Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust UK". www.abct.org.uk. Retrieved 11 February 2017.
^ "RAF Madley (No 4 Radio School), airfield, Madley". Historic Herefordshire Online. Retrieved 11 February 2017.
^ "About us". www.mesc.org.uk. Retrieved 11 February 2017.

Bibliography[edit]

McLelland, Tim (2012). Action stations revisited volume 5. Manchester, UK: Crecy. ISBN 978-0-85979-111-3.

External links[edit]

MESC-RAF History

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[:OS:-1] "189" (Map). Hereford & Ross-on-Wye. 1:25,000. Explorer. Ordnance Survey. 2015. ISBN 978-0-319-24382-4.

[FOOTNOTEMcLelland2012151-2] McLelland 2012, p. 151.

[3] Lake, Alan (1999). Flying units of the RAF : the ancestry, formation and disbandment of all flying units from 1912. Shrewsbury: Airlife. p. 186. ISBN 1-84037-086-6.

[4] "History of RAF Madley". www.mesc.org.uk. Retrieved 11 February 2017.

[5] Card, Frank (2001). "Squadron Leader G D Graham DSO MBE". Journal of the Royal Air Force Historical Society (24): 50. ISSN 1361-4231.

[6] Historic England. "Madely[sic] Airfield (1402537)". Research records (formerly PastScape). Retrieved 12 February 2017.

[7] Smith, David J. (1981). Military airfields of Wales and the North-West (1 ed.). Cambridge: P. Stephens. p. 121. ISBN 0-85059-485-5.

[8] "The vision of gliders high above brings back so many memories". Evesham Journal. 1 October 2009. Retrieved 11 February 2017.

[9] "Madley - Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust UK". www.abct.org.uk. Retrieved 11 February 2017.

[HertGov-10] "RAF Madley (No 4 Radio School), airfield, Madley". Historic Herefordshire Online. Retrieved 11 February 2017.

[11] "About us". www.mesc.org.uk. Retrieved 11 February 2017.

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