HER 21459 DESCRIPTION:-

AIRFIELD HISTORY:

Opened as Haresfield in 1939 Moreton Valence was used by 6 AONS Staverton for staff pilot training (Ansons). In 1941 it was rebuilt with three runways and two Blister hangars and renamed Moreton Valence. B and C flights of 6 AONS moved into the airfield on permanent detachment and on the 17th January 1942 the unit was renamed 6 Air Observers School (6 (Observer) Advanced Flying Unit ( (O)AFU ) in June 1943). The Pilot Refresher Training Unit also shared the accomodation in 1942 for a few weeks before moving to Scotland.

Following a Ministry of Aircraft Production proposal, aircraft assembly sheds were built in the north east corner of the airfield for a flight test facility for Gloster who moved in in October 1943. All Gloster F9/40 and Meteor test flying was undertaken at Moreton alongside a Bell YP-59A shipped to Britain for evaluation alongside the Meteor.

(O)AFU closed in December 1944 but Moreton was taken over immediately by 3 (P)AFU South Cerney as a satellite. After VE day the AFU closed down and the station was transferred to 6 (P)AFU Little Rissington from July to December 1945. On October 13th 1946 the airfield was handed to the Gloster Aircraft Company and several experimental Meteor flights were made from the airfield. The factory area subsequently increased and a single lengthened runway was prepared for the testing of the Javelin. The last production Javelin flew in from Brockworth on the 8th April 1960 but modification work on Meteors continued. The last flight by Gloster was made on the 25th July 1962 and within days the airfield was inactive. The M5 motorway now bisects the airfield leaving only the derelict ATC tower and a piece of perimeter track still visible. {Source Work 6714.}

2006 - Frampton on Severn NMP

Moreton Valence Airfield, Gloucestershire, SO 796 100. It opened in 1939 and closed in 1962. According to the sketch plan accoppamying the statistical profile of the airfield in the Willis and Holliss gazetteer, the airfield was situated between the A38 and B4008 roads east of Moreton Valence. During World War Two it was equipped with three concrete runways and a range of aircraft hangars including A1, blister, B1 and B2 types. It was a satellite of Staverton Airfield and was used by an Advanced Flying Unit of Royal Air Force Flying Training Command. Use of the site in 1985 was said to be for industry.

The Second World War airfield referred to abovE is visible on aerial photographs. The airfield covers an area that measures approximately 1377m by 1275m and is orientated northeast/southwest. The airfield comprises three runways in a triangular formation, which is surrounded by a perimeter track. The M5 motorway now follows the line of the main runway orientated northeast/southwest. The south end of the airfield has been mapped and contains blister hangers, nissen huts, possible bunkers, blast pens and bomb stores. The majority of these structures were demolished by 1958. {Source Work 4249.}

2015 - Severn Vale NMP Project.

According to public feedback the site was the main Gloster Test Airfield throughout the 1950s. (5) The site of a 20th century military airfield, RAF Moreton Valence, is visible on historic aerial photographs and was mapped as part of the Severn Vale NMP project. In a field 288 metres from the north end of the airfield runway at SO 80234 11287, a rectangular open structure about 24 metres long and 13.5 metres wide, is directly aligned with the runway. There appears to be no entranceway to the walled open structure, but within it is a further cruciform structure, about 14.5 metres long and 9.45 metres at its widest. The function of this is uncertain but the exact NNESSW alignment with the runway suggests it is associated with the military airfield. The structure was no longer visible on aerial photographs taken in 1999, where its location now forms part of Junction 12 of the M5 motorway. On the north-east perimeter of the airfield, six sections of linear and curvilinear barbed wire sections extends from SO 79999 10497 to SO 80084 10214, incorporating what appears to be two open-topped rectangular emplacements (known in the RAF as sangars), measuring 6.5 x 5 metres and presumably gunposts, at SO 80195 10502 and SO 80112 10267. The two sangars are still visible in aerial photographs taken in 1947, though the barbed wire has been removed. Both sangars and all of the airfield buildings from the north-east side of the airfield have been demolished in aerial photographs taken in 2006, with only the concrete hangar floors and access roadways remaining. (6-8) September 1939: RAF Haresfield opened with Avro Ansons from No. 6 Air Observers Navigation School. In 1941, the airfield closed for reconstruction. September 1941: the airfield reopened as RAF Moreton Valence, hosting No. 6 (Observer) Advanced Flying Unit. December 1944: the airfield hosted No. 3 (Pilot) Advanced Flying Unit with Oxfords until December 1945. October 1943 until July 1962, Gloster Aircraft Company’s flight test factory opened at the airfield, flight testing Gloster Meteors and Gloster Javelins. On RAF Moreton Valence’s Technical Site was located the airfield code letters ‘MV’, above which was the signal square, at SO 79280 10280. In addition to the various hangars and military buildings, also on the site were 8 ‘openmaze’ type brick-built blast shelters, 2 earth-covered air raid shelters and a static water tank. Aerial photographs taken in 2010 shows that these buildings and structures have been demolished, with the exception of the two air raid shelters at SO 79205 10357 and SO 79283 10464, which are still extant structures, though have had the earthwork protection removed from around them. {Source Works 4249, 6880, 7270, 7823, 13513 & 13513.}

2021 - Evaluation carried out at Symmetry Park, Gloucester. Features relating to the airfield were recorded in trenches 5, 16, 19, 22 and 23. {Source Work 17537.}