The abandoned Essex RAF base that was once crucial in WWII

WWII aeroplane formation
-Credit:SHARED CONTENT UNIT


Nearly eighty years ago, the nation successfully ended the war in Europe, with Nazi Germany surrendering. Although many of us will not have first hand accounts of the challenges that were faced, we can still see the remnants of a nation at war. With Essex being a short trip from London, we are a county that had great significance in supporting ground troops, and undercover resistant forces that made winning the second world war a possibility.

One mark that we can still see today are a number of different air bases which, in their prime, gave thousands of pilots a station to fly out from to protect our soldiers on the ground. Four miles south-east of Braintree lies one such place that has a particularly impressive history. Royal Air Force Rivenhall could be counted on not just for the sake of Britain, but also allied armies.

Used as a base for the Royal Air Force, and the United States Army Airforce, RAF Rivenhall was a base which stationed thousands of pilots. Operations which came from the Braintree base were significant in the war effort. After opening in October 1943, the American 397th Bomb Group took on major missions, flying out from the Essex station. While some of the operations involved targeting significant structures, such as bridges, the base had other important roles during the war.

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Categorised as a ‘Class A Airfield’, meaning that it was expected to be used by heavy bomber aeroplanes, as well as for aircraft that would transport ammunition and supplies, the base played a significant role in the war. Not only did the aircraft flying from Braintree deliver resources to combat soldiers, they also supported resistance forces. Communities of undercover civilians who were sabotaging enemy plans were also supplied by aircraft flying over Europe from Rivenhall.

In March 1945, just two months before the enemy surrendered, allied forces made it to the River Rhine in west Germany. In a massive show of force, paratroopers from bases over Britain were towed over the area by several thousand aircraft, in order to add to the number of soldiers on the ground. Rivenhall based pilots towed 60 paratroopers from the airfield, in a united front with other bases, as part of Operation Varsity, becoming the largest ever operation to go ahead from the air in one day.

After the Second World War, the Essex airfield became a refuge for Polish people who were displaced during the war. Much later, after being closed, the base became home for libraries in Essex, as well as for businesses and Rivenhall Parish Council.

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