Monument record 8630/1 - Silverstone Airfield (WWII)

A former World War Two military airfield, now a motor racing circuit. The airfield opened in 1943 and closed in 1946. During World War Two it was a Royal Air Force Bomber Command station, used by an Operational Training Unit, part of 92 Group. The airfield consisted of three concrete runways and was equipped with four aircraft hangars of Type T2 design and one aircraft hangar of Type B1 design. In 1948 the airfield was converted into a Grand Prix Formula 1 motor racing circuit, initially utilizing the runways and perimeter track. The airfield is visible on historic aerial photographs and was mapped as part of Historic England’s North Buckinghamshire Aerial Investigation and Mapping project.

{1} Summary: Silverstone was opened on March 20th 1943 with 17 Operational Training Unit. Offensive sorties commenced in July. The station was put onto Care and Maintenance in 1946 and sold in 1947. Two years later the British Grand Prix was run at Silverstone. Silverstone parish at SP67704230 (note that southern part of the airfield is in Buckinghamshire).

{2} Plan of the airfield and associated sites in June 1945. Identification of resident flying unit and aerial photo from January 1947 on pp.272-73. Descriptive summary. Aircraft code: SV. Elevation 506ft amsl.

{3} Photo of double turret trainer and text ref. to there being 'a rare triple bombing teacher'. Also a Procedure centre, now being used by an agricultural firm whose address is listed as Airmanship Hall, Silverstone.

{4} "Turret and Bombing Trainers, messes etc. Limited access."

{5} Used for training pilots and navigators of Wellington bombers. Article about the movement of a memorial stone because of development at the racing circuit.

{6} Programme of work comprising supervision of the removal of existing hardstanding and WWII runways and dispersal pans, stripping to the base of construction level and mapping of any revealed archaeological remains was agreed. The site is mostly under grass except for the concrete runways and dispersal pans from the old airfield.

{10} Silverstone, Northamptonshire, SP 676 418. A former World War Two military airfield, now a motor racing circuit. The airfield opened in 1943 and closed in 1946. During World War Two it was a Royal Air Force Bomber Command station, used by an Operational Training Unit, part of 92 Group. The airfield consisted of three concrete runways and was equipped with four aircraft hangars of Type T2 design and one aircraft hangar of Type B1 design.

{11} The wartime control tower at Silverstone (a Watch Office for All Commands 12779/41 with 1943 pattern windows) was extant in 2002. It was in use as an office for the British Racing Driver's Club. A number of other former airfield buildings were demolished between 2001-2002.

{12-} The airfield is visible on historic aerial photographs and was mapped as part of Historic England’s North Buckinghamshire Aerial Investigation and Mapping project. Located about 2 kilometres SSE of Silverstone village and centred at SP 67485 41902, airfield construction began in 1942. The airfield became operational in 1943 and hosted No. 17 Operational Training Unit, operating Vickers Wellington bombers. The airfield had three runways, with a sinuous perimeter track that led to 30 dispersals scattered around the west, north and eastern periphery of the airfield. To the south was a large bomb store area served by a network of roads. The main technical working site was on the west side of the airfield, running north-south parallel with Dadford Road. The airfield was a Class A standard design, with three concrete crossed runways resembling a capital letter A at 60 degree angles to each other. The longest runway is the main strip, being about 1,800 metres in length and 46 metres wide, aligned roughly SSW-NNE for take-off and landings into the prevailing winds. The remaining two runways, at 1,250 metres long aligned SW-NE and 1,160 metres long aligned SE-NW, were used when the wind blew from other directions. The runways were connected by a 16 metres wide concrete perimeter track that ran around the outside of the airfield. From the ‘peri-track’ are 30 dispersal areas or ‘hardstanding areas’, 6 being of the ‘spectacle loop’ type and the remaining 24 being of the ‘frying-pan’ design. The airfield has five hangars, four being the T2 type and the fifth being a B1 type. The technical site comprises a hangars, workshops, stores of various types, armoury, motor transport, bulk fuel installations, firing range, fire section, watch office and squadron offices, along with air raid blast shelters scattered around the site. RAF Silverstone comprised 14 sites, Site 1 being the operational airfield and technical site. The Bombs Stores are isolated to the SW end of the airfield. The remaining satellite sites were located in fields and woodlands to the west of Dadford Road, comprising the Admin Site, Site 2 (Instructional), Site 3 (Communal), Site 4 (Sick Quarters), Site 5 (Living Site 1), Site 6 (Living Site 2), Site 7 (Living Site 3), Site 8 (Living Site 4), Site 9 (WAAF Communal), Site 10 (WAAF Site 2), Site 11 (the sewage disposal works for the airfield and camps) and Site 12 (the HF/DF station) located in fields to the SW of the bomb store. The airfield ceased military operations in 1946 and by 1947 some informal racing was taking places on the former airfield. The creation of a more formal circuit was instigated in 1948 and the first Grand Prix race was held at the airfield in May 1950. By 1963, the hangars and ancillary buildings on the east side of the airfield have been demolished. On the technical site to the west side of the airfield, a hangar, bulk fuel installations and buildings in the northwest corner are demolished. Many of the bomb store buildings have also been removed, though the earthworks remain. The airfield’s runways, perimeter track and many other buildings remain untouched, although and some new buildings constructed at the north end of the airfield on the former dispersal areas. By 1973, many more of the airfield’s technical buildings and two dispersal areas have been demolished, along with the remaining blast shelter structures and the bomb store’s earthwork banks. During the 1990s, more of the dispersal areas are demolished to be replaced by a new road system and a major redesign of the racing circuit layout takes place, though the runways remain relatively intact. However, by 2006 most of the remaining dispersal are removed and large car parking areas and new buildings constructed in their place. A central section of the main runway is demolished, along with small portions of the other runways at the east side, being replaced by racing circuit upgrades that remain extant on aerial photographs taken in 2019. Some of the course of the perimeter track remains intact, partly forming the Silverstone circuit, though the original concrete surface appears to have been demolished and replaced.

<1> Bowyer M.J.F., 1990, Action Stations 6: Military Airfields of The Cotswolds and The Central Midlands, (unchecked) (Book). SNN39505.

<2> Gibson M.L., 1982, Aviation In Northamptonshire: An Illustrated History, (unchecked) (Book). SNN100276.

<3> Smith D.J., 1989, British Military Airfields 1939-45, p.98 (unchecked) (Book). SNN39512.

<4> OSBORNE M., 1998, Information Supplied to DoB, (unchecked) (Notes). SNN48122.

<5> 2002, Fliers Scramble For Reunion, (checked) (Newspaper cuttings). SNN107576.

<6> Sims M., 2013, Silverstone University Training College, Silverstone Circuit, Northamptonshire: Archaeological Strip and Map Report, p.3 (checked) (Report). SNN109177.

<7> Cadman G., 2000, Silverstone Airfield, Site Number 4: Rapid Inspection Of Two WWII Structures, (unchecked) (Notes). SNN100560.

<8> Cadman G., 2000, Slides, (unchecked) (Photographic prints (COL)). SNN100561.

<9> Oxford Archaeology (South), 2023, Data from Archaeological Recording at Silverstone Technical College, Silverstone Circuit, Northamptonshire, 2012-2013 (Digital archive). SNN115687.

<10> Willis, S. and Holliss, B., 1987, Military airfields in the British Isles 1939-1945, p. 174 (Book). SNN111556.

<11> Truman, R, 2003, Control Towers: Silverstone, accessed 05/05/2005 (Website). SNN116270.

<12> RAF, 1945, RAF Silverstone Record Site Plan All Sites 1/2500 scale No. 1757/45, June 1945, [Accessed 08-SEP-2022] (Plan). SNN116527.

<13> Royal Air Force, Vertical Aerial Photography, RAF-HLA-544 RV 6104 20-MAY-1942 (Photographs). SNN104890.

<14> Vertical Aerial Photograph, US-7PH-GP-LOC201 STBD 12052 06-MAR-1944 (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN112695.

<15> Vertical Aerial Photograph, US-7PH-GP-LOC201 STBD 12053 06-MAR-1944 (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN112695.

<16> Vertical Aerial Photograph, US-7PH-GP-LOC201 STBD 12054 06-MAR-1944 (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN112695.

<17> Vertical Aerial Photograph, US-7PH-GP-LOC201 PORT 13054 06-MAR-1944 (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN112695.

<18> Royal Air Force, Vertical Aerial Photography, RAF-106G-UK-1380 RP 3321 09-APR-1946 (Photographs). SNN104890.

<19> Royal Air Force, Vertical Aerial Photography, RAF-3G-TUD-UK-86 RV 6045 26-MAR-1946 (Photographs). SNN104890.

<20> Royal Air Force, Vertical Aerial Photography, RAF-3G-TUD-UK-86 RV 6046 26-MAR-1946 (Photographs). SNN104890.

<21> Vertical Aerial Photograph, MAL-63617 V 117989 12-OCT-1963 (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN112695.

<22> Vertical Aerial Photograph, MAL-63617 V 117991 12-OCT-1963 (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN112695.

<23> Vertical Aerial Photograph, MAL-63617 V 117992 12-OCT-1963 (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN112695.

<24> Vertical Aerial Photograph, MAL-63617 V 117993 12-OCT-1963 (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN112695.

<25> Vertical Aerial Photograph, OS-67277 V 023 17-JUL-1967 (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN112695.

<26> Vertical Aerial Photograph, OS-73336 V 598 24-JUN-1973 (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN112695.

<27> Vertical Aerial Photograph, OS-73336 V 600 24-JUN-1973 (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN112695.

<28> Vertical Aerial Photograph, OS-91166 V 12 16-AUG-1991 (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN112695.

<29> Vertical Aerial Photograph, OS-91166 V 14 16-AUG-1991 (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN112695.

<30> Vertical Aerial Photograph, OS-91166 V 27 16-AUG-1991 (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN112695.

<31> Vertical Aerial Photograph, OS-91166 V 30 16-AUG-1991 (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN112695.

<32> Vertical Aerial Photograph, OS-93323 V 18 22-MAY-1993 (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN112695.

<33> Vertical Aerial Photograph, OS-93361 V 20 13-JUL-1993 (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN112695.

<34> Vertical Aerial Photograph, OS-95265 V 125 19-OCT-1995 (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN112695.

<35> Vertical Aerial Photograph, EARTH.GOOGLE.COM Dated 01-JAN-2004 Accessed Online 27-JUN-2023 (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN112695.

<36> Vertical Aerial Photograph, EARTH.GOOGLE.COM Dated 19-JUN-2004 Accessed Online 27-JUN-2023 (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN112695.

<37> Vertical Aerial Photograph, EARTH.GOOGLE.COM Dated 01-JAN-2006 Accessed Online 27-JUN-2023 (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN112695.

<38> Vertical Aerial Photograph, EARTH.GOOGLE.COM Dated 08-APR-2017 Accessed Online 27-JUN-2023 (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN112695.

<39> Vertical Aerial Photograph, Next Perspectives APGB Imagery 14-SEP-2019 SP6741-6742 (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN112695.

Record last edited

Feb 10 2025 8:19PM