Boreham Second World War Airfield (EHER 8943)

The site of a former military airfield opened in 1944 and closed in 1945. The airfield was used by the United States Strategic Air Force 394th Bomber Group and was designated as Station 161. The base was also used by the 9th United States Army Air Force's 315th Troop Carrier Group for Operation Varsity: this mission involved a large scale parachute drop on the Rhine crossing point at Weser. The airfield had the standard pattern of three concrete and tarmac runways; the length of which were limited by the proximity of a "B" road. There were 50 "spectacle" shaped hard standings and two T-2 aircraft hangars. After the base was closed in 1945 the site was used for motor racing, and later the Ford Motor Company used the site for testing vehicles. Much of the former airfield has been destroyed by gravel extraction. By 2002 a only short section of the runway remained, along with some taxiways and part of the perimeter track.

World War II airfield. Aerial photographs <1> - <15> Boreham was built in 1943-44 and had only a brief operational life. It housed the USAAF 394th Bomber Group Flying B-26's between March and July 1944; it closed in 1945, <9>. Boreham was built in typical American wartime fashion with 3 runways joined by a perimeter track - which remain to their original extent with modern additions. Of the 50 loop dispersals 14 remain. The land SE of the airfield beyond the perimeter track has been destroyed by quarrying which has removed all trace of the bomb stores. A T-2 hangar remains at TL7390 1151; the second hangar was built at TL7447 1250 but no longer remains. The main site was built around this hangar and several buildings remain on the site although they may be modern additions. The Control Tower (type 12779/41, 15371/41), survives at TL7400 1211 with the station letters 'J M' positioned in front. The SHQ/Ops site is at TL7388 1293 and the brick Ops building survives in an unknown condition. Dispersed sites were built to the North <2> Aerial photos <3> to <5>, <15> 1996. Site assessment. The airfield layout is well preserved including runways, perimeter track and dispersals. Numerous buildings remain, control tower, hangar and Ops. Quarrying poses the greatest threat. <10> June 2006. Site assessment. Very little now remains of the airfield as quarrying advances across the site. Almost all of the three runways have now been taken up and most of the perimeter track has gone. The Control Tower is still extant, used by Essex Police Air Support Unit, as is the T2 hangar. A small brick-built building remains at TL 7426 1249. This is identified as the Speech Broadcast Building on a wartime plan of the airfield. The Operations Block still survives on the Administrative Site to the North of the airfield (see SMR 21001). <14> Thirteen photos of site. <14> August 2018. Watching brief. Archaeological monitoring recorded a moderate density of remains of modern date, associated with the construction of the airfield in 1943, in Areas 9 and 10. In the Phase 9 area, 20 postholes forming alignments, some of which still contained concrete and wooden posts, were uncovered to the immediate West of the Easternmost bisecting access road. A number of service trenches also uncovered in the vicinity of the postholes comprised electric cable runs, sewage pipes and land drains. These below-ground remains correlate to buildings and fence lines depicted on the 1964 RAF plan of the former airfield site. To the West of the central bisecting access road, 20 short NE-SW aligned and three NW-SE aligned linear features were encountered. These measured between 10-20m long and no more than 3m wide. They evidently correlate to structures recorded on the 1946 RAF plan of the airfield and are thought to represent robbed-out foundations that would have once supported pre-fabricated buildings. Service trenches uncovered in the same vicinity included associated electrical cable trenches and drains. Elsewhere across the Phase 6, 9 and 10 quarry strip areas, a number of drains and service trenches/ducts were observed that were also associated with the wider infrastructure of the former airfield. <16> October 2021. Watching brief. Archaeological excavation following topsoil removal identified modern features probably associated with the airfield. These included areas of asphalt and concrete, churned natural clays with frequent brick and concrete, the bases of three brick and concrete structures, the concrete floor of a structure and the cut for a fuel tank containing the tank itself. These features are all located in the Technical Area of the airfield and are assumed to be of WWII or later date. <17> Information from NRHE The Willis and Holliss gazetteer includes Boreham airfield at TL 743 120 and provides a statistical profile of the site in 1944, when 2658 men were stationed there. The site was equipped with concrete/ tarmac runways and 50 "specatcle" shaped hard standings. <18> A web page concerned with aviation history details the wartime and post war history of the Boreham Airfield site, including the use of the site for the airborne element of "Operation Varsity": the crossing of the Rhine at Weser. After the war the site was used as a motor racing track and by Ford Motor Company to test cars. The site had been mostly destroyed by gravel extraction, but some parts of the runway, taxiways and perimeter track survived in 2002. The web page includes links to aerial views of the airfield. <19> The defence of Britain database catalogue briefly records the airfield at TL 740 120. <20> The 1979 edition of OS sheet TL 71 SW shows the layout of the airfield before the destruction noted in authority 2. It is marked "Boreham Airfield (disused)". Some of the "spectacle" shaped hard standings for aircraft noted in source 1 are also shown, as are encroaching gravel pits to the immediate east of the airfield. <21> An intensive survey of remains of the military airfield was carried out in 1996 by S. Thorpe on behalf of Essex County Council, in advance of gravel extraction. The report contains descriptions of the airfield remains, site plans, building plans and photographs. <15>