| Lashenden (Headcorn) Airfield Royal Air Force Lashenden USAAF Station AAF-410 |
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|---|---|---|---|
| Lashenden ALG airfield, August 1947 about two years after being closed. The reclamation by farmland is well underway with almost the entire airfield being restored to agriculture. | |||
| IATA: none – ICAO: EGKH | |||
| Summary | |||
| Airport type | Private | ||
| Operator | Mr. J.P.A. Freeman | ||
| Location | Ashford | ||
| Elevation AMSL | 70 ft / 21 m | ||
| Coordinates | |||
| Map | |||
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EGKH
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| Runways | |||
| Direction | Length | Surface | |
| m | ft | ||
| 11/29 | 799 | 2,621 | Grass |
| 03/21 Unlicensed |
n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Sources: UK AIP at NATS[1] | |||
Lashenden (Headcorn) Airfield (ICAO: EGKH) is a private airfield in Kent, England. The airfield is located 8 NM (15 km; 9.2 mi) south of Maidstone;[1] about 32 miles (51 km) southeast of London
Opened in 1943 during World War II, RAF Lashenden became a prototype for the temporary Advanced Landing Ground airfields that were built in France after D-Day, when the need for advanced landing fields became urgent as the Allied forces moved east across France and Germany. RAF Lashenden was used by the British Royal Air Force, Royal Canadian Air Force and United States Army Air Forces befgore closing in September 1945.
After the war, the airfield reverted to farmland until, with the resurgence of interest in civil aviation in the 1950s, the current private grass airfield was opened.
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Headcorn Aerodrome was first used for general aviation in 1927 when the local land owner flew with a group of friends.
Following the outbreak of World War II the airfield was requisitioned by the Airfields Board in 1942 and prepared for operational service. The USAAF Ninth Air Force required several temporary Advanced Landing Grounds (ALG) along the channel coast prior to the June 1944 Normandy Landings to provide tactical air support for the ground forces landing in France. Lashenden airfield was one of the first ALGs to be constructed in Kent, the site chosen being considered sufficiently extensive and stable to be earmarked for use by light bombers. Lashenden was to have had bomb storage facilities constructed in an adjacent forested area. However, in a review of airfield building plans, this original requirement was dropped, so Lashenden was of similar specification to other ALGs in the district.
The airfield site was to the east of the A274, about 11⁄2 mi (2.4 km) southeast of Headcorn. Although originally scheduled for completion by 1 March 1943, delays set back construction to the winter and early spring of 1943. The airfield was built by RAF 511013 and 511014 Airfield Construction Squadrons. One runway was approximately 4,200 ft (1,280 m) long and aligned 11/29, while the other was of 4,800 ft (1,463 m) aligned 01/19.
Runways, perimeter track and 70 aircraft hardstands were constructed of a steel wire surface on grass, although some areas were later reinforced with steel Marsden Matting. Tents were used for billeting and also for support facilities; an access road was built to the existing road infrastructure; a dump for supplies, ammunition, and fuel drums, along with a drinkable water and minimal electrical grid for communications and station lighting. Several local farmhouses and barns were impressed into wartime duty as offices and warehouses.
421 and 403 Squadrons of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) arrived with Supermarine Spitfire IXs in August 1943 but stayed barely two weeks. Their task was to test the runways before transferring 3 mi (4.8 km) for a similar evaluation of RAF Headcorn.
Lashenden was known as USAAF Station AAF-410 for security reasons by the USAAF during the war, and by which it was referred to instead of location.
On 17 April 1944 the 354th Fighter Group arrived at Lashenden from RAF Boxted, from where the group had already achieved fame for introducing the Rolls-Royce Merlin-engined North American Aviation P-51 Mustang into combat. Its combat squadrons were:
The group was assigned to the XIX Tactical Air Command 100th Fighter Wing.
Although assigned to Ninth Air Force, the group was under the operational control of the VIII Fighter Command and many missions flown by the 354th in April and May were long-range escorts of Eighth Air Force heavy B-17 and B-24 bombers. It was on these occasions that the group displayed its expertise in air fighting.
On 25 April, on an escort to Mannheim, the group returned to Lashenden with claims of 18 destroyed, 5 probably destroyed and 31 damaged, all for the loss of 2 Mustangs. On 11 May, claims of 11 Luftwaffe aircraft destroyed on another long-range escort included the 354th's 100th victory. Yet another high score resulted from an air battle near Magdeburg an 28 May when 19½ enemy aircraft were credited as shot down.
An increasing number of dive-bombing missions were flown during the weeks prior to the invasion, each Mustang carrying two 250 or 500 lb (110 or 230 kg) bombs on wing racks, the targets being frequently rail installations.
When D-Day arrived, the 354th's pilots were disappointed to he kept on the ground until 21:00 hours, when they took off to escort Douglas C-47 Skytrains towing gliders for a landing on the Cotentin Peninsula near Cherbourg. Following the invasion. the group's Mustangs found their primary task was to be patrols over the battlefield areas. These were often uneventful as far as contact with enemy aircraft was concerned.
The 354th group headquarters had learned that they would probably be one of the first Ninth Air Force flying units to move to one of the advanced landing strips being prepared in the Normandy bridgehead, and the advance party left Lashenden for Cricqueville-en-Bessin, France (ALG A-2) on 13 June. The main party moved on 17 June, although the group's P-51s continued to return to Lashenden throughout the following week.
The departure of the Americans to France not only terminated Lashenden's association with Ninth Air Force flying units, but also its use as an airfield.
The facility was returned by the USAAF to the War Department in September, although it had already had its metal matting runways removed by US Engineers who required the materiel for upgrading ALGs in France.
During its stay at Lashenden, the 354th lost 23 aircraft but was credited with destroying 68 of the enemy.
With the facility released from military control, farming resumed in 1945 but this was not the end of the land's association with aircraft. In the late 1960s, the landowners started using part of the former wartime east-west runway site adjacent to the A274, for private flying. A grass airstrip was built aligned 10/28 with a grass parking area for light aircraft. This led to the formation of Weald Air Services Limited, a small charter company, and later a flying school was set up and the airfield that became a busy center for light flying in the area.
Additionally, a small museum of aviation relics was established on the site, the Lashenden Air Warfare Museum.
The airfield is host to Headcorn Parachute Club, the only skydiving club in Kent. The club operates seven days a week during the summer months - it is closed on Mondays in the winter. The club operates a piston Britten-Norman Islander and a Cessna Caravan and regularly flies to altitudes between 10,000 and 12,000 ft (3,000 and 3,700 m) AGL. The club welcomes experienced parachutists and also offers introductory training (tandem, static line/RAPs and AFF). The club is home to national champions and world-record holders.
The Tiger Club is also based at the airfield after moving from Redhill Aerodrome in 1990.[2]
Lashenden (Headcorn) Aerodrome has a CAA Ordinary Licence (Number P838) that allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction as authorised by the licensee.[3]
This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Air Force Historical Research Agency.
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