| RAF Booker | |
|---|---|
| Active | 1941 – 1963 |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Branch | Royal Air Force |
| Type | Training |
| Role | Flying training |
| Based near | High Wycombe, England |
| Motto | Teach Learn Apply |
RAF Booker was a Royal Air Force airfield, opened as a flying training school in 1941 on the site of a civilian flying school requisitioned and closed on the outbreak of war in 1939.[1]
In 1965 the site was taken over by Airways Aero Associations (now the Airways Flying Club), who have operated the airfield as an increasingly commercial training and recreational field, now called Wycombe Air Park. Booker featured in many of the airfield scenes in the 1965 feature film "Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines".
RAF Booker was opened as the home of No 21 Elementary Flying Training School in 1941.[2] The flying school operated 72 Tiger Moths and Miles Magisters. No 21 EFTS trained 120 pupils on a seven week course - later to become 11 weeks.
In May 1942, training was also started on the airfield for the Glider Pilot Regiment.
In 1950, the University of London Air Squadron (ULAS) resumed flying out of Booker, and it also temporarily hosted the Manchester and Liverpool University Squadrons.
In 1955, a hard runway (made of 90 feet wide pierced steel planking) was added to the four wartime grass runways.
The RAF continued to base its Bomber Command Communications Flight at RAF Booker until 1963 (in close proximity to other Bomber Command stations nearby, such as RAF Daws Hill).
In 1965, the airfield became privately run, and is now Wycombe Air Park