History
Raf Rivenhall is a former WW2 airfield located between the villages of Silver End & Rivenhall in Essex. It was built mid war and was opened in October 1943 and It was and used initially by the Americans and then English with number of types of aircraft including B26 bombers, P51 Mustang fighters, C47's, Short Sterling’s and gliders all flew from here. Being a late war build to my knowledge there are/were no pill boxes built to defend it.
The airfield was built to the Class A Heavy Bomber standard consisting of three runways of 6,000 ft (10/28), 4,200 ft (04/22), and 4,200 ft (16/34). Sadly almost all of this has gone destroyed to quarrying.
The ground support station consisted of Nissen Huts of various sizes mostly on the south side of the airfield. The support station was where the group and ground station commanders and squadron headquarters and orderly rooms were located. Also on the ground station were where the mess facilities; chapel; hospital; mission briefing and debriefing; armoury and bombsite storage; life support; parachute rigging; supply warehouses; station and airfield security; motor pool and the other ground support functions necessary to support the air operations of the group.
The technical site, also on the south side of the airfield, was connected to the ground station and airfield consisted of at least two T-2 type hangars (which still remain as grain stores) and various organizational, component and field maintenance shops.
Various domestic accommodation sites were constructed dispersed away from the airfield on the south side and most remain today converted and in use by local business.
The base was closed in September 1946. It was kept on care and maintenance and then was used to house Polish servicemen released from PoW camps who did not want to return to their homeland.
June 1956 After the land was handed back it was divided up between the 4 original farms that had parts of their land used up to make the place. Marconi's took out a lease on the majority of it and many buildings and tested radar for a number of years until they were shutdown in 2005.
Back in May 2002 when I first visited (report also on the forum) Marconi were still present and had a live radar system in operation but all this has since gone.
The perimeter track of the airfield has been reduced to a single track agricultural road; however some of the loop hardstands still remain in the south-western area. All three runways either have been quarried and there are plans to install a waste incinerator which will ruin everything!. A very small portion of the main runway still exists at full width. Both T-2 hangars remain, along with a few buildings. An automobile salvage yard has taken over some of the hardstands in the east end of the airfield,
On the western side there were a number of Marconi sheds, huts and other workshops. In September 2010 all of these including a number of concrete buildings and nissen huts were destroyed as they were unsafe. Sadly that side of the airfield is closest to a housing estate and as such was Chaved to destruction. A number of landmark buildings are also missing there is no control tower or main guard room all long since demolished. There are two memorials one only created in the last 2 years outside the airfield.
During one of my visits I found a hidden building which blew me away as it contains offices from the 1940’s still with the Airmans names on the doors!.
Below is a small selection of the many photos I took.
Raf Rivenhall is a former WW2 airfield located between the villages of Silver End & Rivenhall in Essex. It was built mid war and was opened in October 1943 and It was and used initially by the Americans and then English with number of types of aircraft including B26 bombers, P51 Mustang fighters, C47's, Short Sterling’s and gliders all flew from here. Being a late war build to my knowledge there are/were no pill boxes built to defend it.
The airfield was built to the Class A Heavy Bomber standard consisting of three runways of 6,000 ft (10/28), 4,200 ft (04/22), and 4,200 ft (16/34). Sadly almost all of this has gone destroyed to quarrying.
The ground support station consisted of Nissen Huts of various sizes mostly on the south side of the airfield. The support station was where the group and ground station commanders and squadron headquarters and orderly rooms were located. Also on the ground station were where the mess facilities; chapel; hospital; mission briefing and debriefing; armoury and bombsite storage; life support; parachute rigging; supply warehouses; station and airfield security; motor pool and the other ground support functions necessary to support the air operations of the group.
The technical site, also on the south side of the airfield, was connected to the ground station and airfield consisted of at least two T-2 type hangars (which still remain as grain stores) and various organizational, component and field maintenance shops.
Various domestic accommodation sites were constructed dispersed away from the airfield on the south side and most remain today converted and in use by local business.
The base was closed in September 1946. It was kept on care and maintenance and then was used to house Polish servicemen released from PoW camps who did not want to return to their homeland.
June 1956 After the land was handed back it was divided up between the 4 original farms that had parts of their land used up to make the place. Marconi's took out a lease on the majority of it and many buildings and tested radar for a number of years until they were shutdown in 2005.
Back in May 2002 when I first visited (report also on the forum) Marconi were still present and had a live radar system in operation but all this has since gone.
The perimeter track of the airfield has been reduced to a single track agricultural road; however some of the loop hardstands still remain in the south-western area. All three runways either have been quarried and there are plans to install a waste incinerator which will ruin everything!. A very small portion of the main runway still exists at full width. Both T-2 hangars remain, along with a few buildings. An automobile salvage yard has taken over some of the hardstands in the east end of the airfield,
On the western side there were a number of Marconi sheds, huts and other workshops. In September 2010 all of these including a number of concrete buildings and nissen huts were destroyed as they were unsafe. Sadly that side of the airfield is closest to a housing estate and as such was Chaved to destruction. A number of landmark buildings are also missing there is no control tower or main guard room all long since demolished. There are two memorials one only created in the last 2 years outside the airfield.
During one of my visits I found a hidden building which blew me away as it contains offices from the 1940’s still with the Airmans names on the doors!.
Below is a small selection of the many photos I took.
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