Hamstead Norreys/Hamstead Norris

That’s correct, but oddly the village is Hampstead Norrys

Renamed Hampstead Norreys in the 1970s after the then-earliest known spelling. Of course since then a version of Norris earlier Norreys has turned up…

Adrian

Hi All,

Does anyone have any history on the above airfield? Only found out today there is/was an airfield at this location.

Opened ’40, closed ’45, as others have said it was a Harwell OTU satellite

I thought it was actually spelt Hampstead Norris.

That’s correct, but oddly the village is Hampstead Norrys

Nick,

There is a map on the wall and some history in “The Bell” at Aldworth – well worth a trip to one of the best real ale pubs about IMHO.

There are several footpaths crossing the old airfield and at this time of year while the land is under the plough you can see where a lot of the hardstandings etc were by the chalk in the soil where they were dug out. It was an odd-shapped airfield, with the three runways almost meeting in the middle. There are a number of air-raid shelters surviving in the woods between the airfield and the village, and a number of large earth banks which look to have once housed vulnerable buildings (fuel?) rather than aircraft, and much of the fence round the wood is still the WW2 era barbed wire. Oh, and there are AMAZING bluebells in spring!

ADrian

Nick
a very useful book – if you can find it – is the omnibus edition of Military Airfields in the British Isles, by Steve Willis/Barry Hollis. It’s very much a basic publication, but is an absolute goldmine of information. Don’t know if it’s still in print though, bought my copy ages ago. You’ll find places you never knew existed. (ISBN 0 907700 12 8)

As a young air cadet back in the seventies I was taught navigationn by an ex Wellington navigator who attended bothe Harwell and Hampstead Norris.

They received a brand new Wellington at HN and then over a week all the crew carried out tests etc in their particular fields before flying to Portreath and then Gibralter en route for N Africa. From memory he dsaid it was quite busy and they were busy themselves once crewed up at Harwell.

Try getting a copy of the relevant title in the ‘Action Stations’ series.

The Museum of Berkshire Aviation and/or the Ridgeway Military & Aviation Research Group should also have some details of this former airfield’s history. As I recall, it was a satellite to RAF Harwell’s Wellington OTU.

I thought it was actually spelt Hampstead Norris.