Qualla: North Weald Airfield

North Weald Airfield: Introduction

Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Thomas Nugent, CC BY-SA 2.0. On 24 August 1940, the German bombers came in low over Epping Forest and hit RAF North Weald hard - cratering the runways, killing nine on the ground, and announcing that this small grass airfield was now a primary target. The Hurricanes of 56 and 151 Squadrons had taken off in time. They came back to a wrecked station. They would still be in the air the next morning. Eighty-five years later, the Hurricanes are gone but the Spitfires fly from here on summer weekends, and the 1952 control tower - one of only seven of its type ever built - still watches the same northwest-southeast runway.

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Image: Thomas Nugent | CC BY-SA 2.0

North Weald Airfield: The Royal Flying Corps Comes

Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Martin Addison, CC BY-SA 2.0. The story begins in the summer of 1916. The Royal Flying Corps established an aerodrome on farmland in the parish of North Weald Bassett, choosing the site for its flat ground and its proximity to London - close enough to defend, far enough to be safe. When the RAF was created on...

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Image: Martin Addison | CC BY-SA 2.0

North Weald Airfield: Hurricanes Over Dunkirk and Kent

Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Glyn Baker, CC BY-SA 2.0. When the Second World War began, the squadrons here flew Hawker Hurricanes alongside Bristol Blenheim night fighters. They covered the evacuation from Dunkirk in May and June 1940, taking heavy losses to protect the soldiers crowding the beaches below. Through the Battle of Brita...

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Image: Glyn Baker | CC BY-SA 2.0

North Weald Airfield: Jets, Hunters, and the Black Arrows

Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Glyn Baker, CC BY-SA 2.0. After the war the propellers gave way to turbines. Gloster Meteors and de Havilland Vampires were a common sight in the west Essex sky from 1949. The Control Tower was rebuilt in 1952 as part of Cold War modernisation - a hexagonal Type 5223 design that is now a Grade II listed b...

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Image: Glyn Baker | CC BY-SA 2.0

North Weald Airfield: Warbirds and Air Ambulances

Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Germany. Luftwaffe, Public domain. Civilian aviation reclaimed the runways. North Weald is now one of the busiest general aviation airfields in southern England with over 40,000 movements a year - flight training in Cessna 172s and Piper PA28s, charter operations, maintenance shops. But the real draw is the warbir...

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Image: Germany. Luftwaffe | Public domain

North Weald Airfield: The Saturday Market and the Crystal Maze

Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Glyn Baker, CC BY-SA 2.0. The other side of North Weald is gloriously unpretentious. The southern half of the field hosts what claims to be one of the largest open-air markets in the UK, drawing crowds from Essex and north London every Saturday for stalls of clothes, tools and street food. Supercar drivin...

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Image: Glyn Baker | CC BY-SA 2.0