Ibsley
IBSLEY: Military aerodrome
Note: This picture was obtained from Google Earth ©
The WW2 airfield extended from, in the north, Ibsley Water and Mockbegger Lakes, to Linbrook Lake in the south.
Note: Other pictures by the author
Military users: WW2: RAF Fighter Command 11 Group
66, 118, 234 & 501 Sqdns (Vickers-Supermarine Spitfires)
421 (RCAF) Sqdn (Spitfires)
616 Sqdn (Spitfires)
US Army Air Corps
Location: E of A338, SE of Ibsley village, 2.5 nm N of Ringwood
Period of operation: 1941 to 1947
Runways: 01/19 1463x46 hard 05/23 1234x46 hard
14/32 1280x46 hard
NOTES: Main ‘jumping off’ point for US liaison aircraft during the D-Day invasion.
In 2010 I heard that the control or watch tower at IBSLEY can still be seen, albeit with some difficulty, and in March 2011 was driving past the old aerodrome site towards Ibsley village. Pulling in on a hunch I saw a gentleman walking towards me on a path through the woods and said, “Excuse me, but you look like the sort of person who might know this area?”
He was too, being the Park Warden. The old airfield site has mostly been dug up for gravel excavations since the airfield closed and since many of these have long since been exhausted the ensuing lakes have become a nature park and doubling as resevoirs. Being a kindly person he took me to one of the few locations where the control tower can be seen, (the site it is on is not open to the public), and along the way explained that much of the airfield infrastructure still exists. He thought that possibly the remains of 169 items have been listed?
He also told me that the main ‘house’ of the Moyles Court Boarding School in Ibsley village had served as the Officers Mess. Also that a small section of one of the runways, (the south end of 01/19 probably?), and a couple of small areas of hardstanding are attributed to the original site. Like me he could also not quite understand how the control tower has survived? Probably that nobody could be bothered to spend the money needed to demolish it?
Even so, and this applies to hundreds of sites in the UK, it still strikes me as astonishing that so much evidence remains of these sites over sixty years later as they were after all, by and large, built as temporary establishments. One answer, and possibly the main reason, is that they were mostly built to survive the shock blast from a bomb landing nearby?
Gary Norton
This comment was written on: 2016-08-06 21:06:05I was a member of 130 Sqn ATC in the early 70's and we used the indoor rifle range at Ibsley. If my memory serves me there was a serving RAF airman stationed there at the time(1975) .The airfield, or at least some of the concrete runway was still in existence up to 1978 as my father used to take me there when I was learning to drive. I also remember a motorcycle sidecar outfit there at the time conducting race practice and speed trials.
Reply from Dick Flute:
Hi Gary, Many thanks for these memories. As it happens I did some of my early driving practice on a disused airfield in the New Forest. Happy days. Best regards, Dick
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