On 11 th April 2025 a group of 12 Society members paid a visit to RAF Benson at the invitation of Benson Historical Group. We travelled in three cars and arrived at the Guardhouse clutching our pre-vetted i.d. and were issued with passes.
This museum is not exactly a state secret but they are not allowed to advertise to the public and visits are mostly restricted to personal invitations.
On arriving at the museum it looked a bit underwhelming in size and we thought that our visit would be short and sweet. How wrong we were!
Two hours later some of us were still looking at the exhibits. The building was like a Tardis crammed with photos and memorabilia of the base from pre-WW2 to the present day.
The subjects included the compulsory purchase of the farmland in 1937 and subsequent opening in 1939 and further expansion throughout the war.
The first photo reconnaissance flights in conjunction with RAF Mount Farm (Berinsfield) flew on the day after night time bombing raids over Germany using Spitfires and Mosquitos, stripped of their guns but equipped with long range cameras. This was very dangerous work because of the fact that the enemy knew they would be coming. But because they were not carrying guns they could out-fly most of the they could out-fly most of the enemy fighters. A major triumph for the unit was locating the German battleship Bismarck hiding in a fjord near Bergen, Norway, which was later sunk by the RAF.
Bombers and flight training were also stationed there throughout the war.
After the war, the King’s Flight arrived from 1947, later renamed the Queen’s Flight in 1953. At that time the base also became part of Transport Command training pilots to convert to the Armstrong Whitworth Argosy freighter.
From then until late 1990 the main use of the Station was the maintenance of the Queen’s Flight.
From 2001 helicopters became the main aircraft based there, initially
with Merlins and later the Puma. Six Chinooks transferred from RAF
Odiham in 2015. The last three Pumas left the base in March 2025.
The Chinooks are now part of Support Helicopter Force where pilots are
trained in support for ground troops and heavy lifting. Some light aircraft
Grob trainers are currently based there used by Oxford University Air
Squadron along with Thames Valley Police and Air Ambulance, frequent
visitors to the skies over our villages, night and day.
Our visit was oversubscribed very quickly so it is proposed to run it again
later in the year so watch this space!