Listed Airfields

although Northolt, up the road, is an active airfield, the listed part is, I think, just the Polish memorial which is actually outside the airfield boundary.

There are three buildings Listed at RAF Northolt.

Three buildings at the heart of operations during the Second World War at RAF Northolt have been listed at Grade II

The buildings comprise a C-type hangar, former Squadron Watch office, and former ‘Z’ Sector Operations Block. The hangar was used throughout the Second World War to house Churchill’s personal aircraft in which he flew to many important meetings of the Allied leaders. The Watch office which also served as the Aircraft Readiness room during the Second World War had an undisputed role in the Battle of Britain and was the building from which RAF Northolt’s pilots were scrambled. The Operations Block was the prototype for the ‘Dowding System,’ a method of communication allowing the command chain to communicate to intercept enemy aircraft, the first such system in the world. It was recently named the Sir Keith Park Building in honour of the man who developed the air defence system with Lord Dowding and then ‘fought it’ as the 11 Group commander – the busiest Group throughout the Battle.

https://www.raf.mod.uk/rafnortholt/newsweather/index.cfm?storyid=1B8CBA81-5056-A318-A87A03440EF101D4

Brian

Define the word “listed”

The official definition is : A building, object or structure that has been judged to be of national importance in terms of architectural or historic interest
and included on a special register, called the List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest.

I hope they preserve some of Debden, maybe the flying side ?
I have many memories of going there for ATC Wing Parades, and gliding. Also seeing aircraft from the BoB film all lined up.
My mother saw Glenn Miller play there.

Define the word “listed”. Preservation of a lot of these sites will be very limited indeed. Little Walden’s control tower has been a private house for some time now and Debden is due to close in the near future and has already been selected for housing development. Quite a few of the others in East Anglia have already been used for other purposes and North Weald is under constant pressure for housing, business and a hospital development too.

It’s more of a list of aviation-related sites where an element is listed. RAF Uxbridge was never an airfield, for instance, and the only part that’s listed is the bunker (about the only part that’s left!) Similarly, although Northolt, up the road, is an active airfield, the listed part is, I think, just the Polish memorial which is actually outside the airfield boundary.

A few surprises in there for me, not sure what the current status is on a few of the locations.

Thanks for that Howard. Looking at that list I’m really surprised that Bassingbourn isn’t on there!

Rob