Re Henfield landing ground.
I was born in Henfield and vividly remember the emergency airfield at Park farm. I think it would have been summer 1944 on a sunday morning, I was with my father in the garden of our remote farm cottage, when we heard a terrific noise approaching. A large airplane struggled by directly overhead. The noise was a terrible clattering and banging, sounding nothing like the engines we were used to. My father said that the plane must be heading for the emergency field at park farm. It was usual for our family to go walking on sunday evenings and end up at a local pub. As Park farm was on the Wheatsheaf Road, we would walk that way to the Wheatsheaf pub. On the airfield stood a large twin engined airplane. I was only a small boy, but to me it looked extremely damaged and was dripping oil all over.
Moving on to around the year 2000 I had decided that I would like to write a chronicle of my lifetime. The damaged plane at Park Farm came to mind, and I would like more details. I contacted the Henfield museum, and was told that no such airfield existed! Undeterred I carried on and was able to trace a man that I knew lived at Park Farm in 1944. He remembered the incident clearly, and confirmed the aircraft as a Mitchell Marauder. I also found out that when the hedgerows had been grubbed out and the field considered operational, two spitfires performed practice landings at this airfield. As for the Marauder I know nothing except it was not long at Park Farm