This history of RAF Woodcote, 70MU, Goring Heath, Oxfordshire, 1941-1959 was researched and prepared by me as part of 'The Defence of Britain Project'. This voluntary national project is based at the Imperial War Museum and aims to record and interpret the remains of the vast number of World War II military installations; coastal batteries; radar sites; airfields; pill boxes etc which natural decay; demolition; coastal erosion and agriculture are destroying at an alarming rate.
The project took me about 3 years to complete and the final archive was deposited at the Defence of Britain Database and Archive at the Imperial War Museum's base at Duxford Airfield, Cambridge in 1999.
I acknowledge the help of :-
Airfield Research Group. - Imperial War Museum, London. - Local History and Studies Library, Oxford. - Public Record Office, Kew - Royal Air Force & Defence Fire Association. - Royal Air Force Museum, Hendon. - RCHM; National Monuments Record -
I thank the following, in no particular order, for their help and memories, now forming part of the oral and written history of this project. I have not published their contact details in order to respect their privacy. :-
Ron Coles - Joan Cox - Ray Davies - Bill Deacon - Bill Fidler - Jack Hatt - Chris Hicks - Taffy Jenkins - Tony Merrill - Molly Morris - Les & Iris Novell - Vera Robbins - James Sorrie - Norman Tull - Mollie White -
I used to following printed material for follow up research :-
British Airfield Buildings of the Second World War - Graham Buchan Innes 1995
British Military Airfield Architecture - Paul Francis 1996
HM Govt; War Dept; Schedule of Prices for works and repairs to buildings etc - 1941
Police & Constabulary Almanac - 1950
Support in the sky (A History of 14MU RAF Carlisle) - 1996
The Means of Victory - 1992
20th Century Defences in Britain - 1996
Woodcote in the War Years - C1946
The end result of this project is a rare and unique in depth study of this wartime air base. Very little, if any, of the site remains today and is virtually impossible to identify. I am sorry to say that most of the people who gave me their oral histories in connection with the Maintenance Unit have since died.
I welcome any further information; pictures; memories, corrections etc in connection with this project and will be happy to add them to this site.
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Mike Millichamp © 2005