RAF Membury

Royal Air Force Membury or more simply RAF Membury is a former Royal Air Force station built in the civil parish of Lambourn in Berkshire, England, approximately 4.6 miles (7.4 km) north-northwest of Hungerford. The airfield was opened on the site of a civil airfield in August 1942, and closed in October 1946.

The base was used by both the Royal Air Force (RAF) and United States Army Air Forces (USAAF). During World War II it was used by several combat units with varying missions.

The airfield continued in use, but in the late 1960s, the M4 motorway was built (opening in 1971) and it ran straight through the airfield, including through the middle of the main runway. The Membury services were built on the site, in a triangle between the former two largest runways. A smaller airfield continues to operate on the southern half of the site, and the former technical site is now the Membury Business Park industrial estate.

Construction was authorised for the site in May 1941, and was originally intended to be a training airfield for 91 Group, a training group of RAF Bomber Command.

During construction, the East side of the earthworks of the Iron Age hillfort at Membury Camp were destroyed, including flanking diagonal outworks.

Construction was nearing completion in August 1942, and RAF technical staff arrived on site to install equipment, only to be withdrawn within days as the base was to be handed over the United States Army Air Force (USAAF).

On 21 August 1942, headquarters personnel from the Eighth Air Force arrived at Membury, and it was designated as USAAF Station AAF-466. Its USAAF Station Code was "ME".

Meanwhile, the Eighth Air Force VIII Ground Air Support Command, the forebear of the reborn Ninth Air Force had designated Membury for use by its reconnaissance units. These were the men of the 3rd Photographic and the 67th Observation Groups, who arrived at Membury on 7 and 8 September 1942.