RAF Andover

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RAF Andover USAAF Station 406
Andover, Hampshire in England
Aerial photograph of RAF Andover oriented north, 16 January 1947
RAF Andover Shown within Hampshire
Coordinates	51°12′31″N 001°31′31″W / 51.20861°N 1.52528°W / 51.20861; -1.52528
Type	Royal Air Force station
Site information
Owner	Ministry of Defence
Operator	Royal Flying Corps Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps Royal Air Force Air Transport Auxiliary United States Army Air Forces Army Air Corps Royal Canadian Air Force
Controlled by	Air Defence of Great Britain RAF Fighter Command RAF Maintenance Command RAF Army Cooperation Command RAF Support Command
Site history
Built	1917 (1917)
In use	August 1917-1977 (1977)
Battles/wars	First World War European theatre of World War II Cold War
Airfield information
Identifiers	IATA: ADV, ICAO: EGWA
Elevation	79 metres (259 ft)[1] AMSL
Runways Direction Length and surface 01/30  Asphalt

RAF Andover (IATA: ADV, ICAO: EGWA) is a former Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force station in England, 2 miles (3.2 km) west of Andover, Hampshire. As well as RFC and RAF units, units of the Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps, Royal Canadian Air Force, United States Army Air Forces, and the Air Transport Auxiliary were also stationed at the airfield.

The airfield has a notable place in history as the site of the first attempt to develop a viable long-range electronic navigation system, during the First World War, and also of the first British military helicopter unit and first European helicopter flying training school, during the Second World War.

RAF Andover was also used before and after the Second World War for a variety of other aeronautical research and flight testing. The RAF Staff College, Andover was founded here in 1922, the first college to train officers in the administrative, staff and policy aspects of running an air force.

RAF Andover saw action during the Second World War. Corporal Josephine Robins, one of only six members of the WAAF to win the Military Medal during the War, won her award for courage while rescuing people during an air-raid on the airfield in the Battle of Britain. Three squadrons of the Royal Canadian Air Force were formed at RAF Andover. Before and during the Battle of Normandy, it was used by the United States Army Air Forces Ninth Air Force as an operational tactical fighter airfield.

The RAF station closed in 1977 and the site was later redeveloped. In 2009 part of it became Marlborough Lines, home to the Headquarters of the British Army.