Dunsfold Aerodrome

Dunsfold Aerodrome (ICAO code EGTD) is an unlicensed airfield in Surrey, England, near the village of Cranleigh. It extends across land in the villages of Dunsfold and Alfold.

It was built by the Canadian Army and civilian contractors as a class A bomber airfield for Army Co-operation Command. It was commanded by the Royal Canadian Air Force from 1942–1944 and was known as Royal Canadian Air Force Station Dunsfold. Under RAF control it was RAF Dunsfold.

Post war it was used by Hawker Siddeley and then its successor British Aerospace.

History

Construction and military use

Canadian engineers were charged with the construction of the aerodrome. Such projects had previously taken up to a year to complete and this site was complicated by the two hundred acres of woodland that first had to be cleared. The Canadian sappers had access to large-scale earth moving equipment from North America obtained under Lend-Lease arrangements. The Canadians also had pipe-pushing apparatus place explosives under trees thereby facilitating their rapid removal. The aerodrome was completed in just six months.

Dunsfold

Coordinates: 51°06′58″N 0°33′50″W / 51.1161°N 0.5638°W / 51.1161; -0.5638

Dunsfold is a village in the borough of Waverley, Surrey, England, 8.7 miles (14 kilometres) south of Guildford. It lies in the Weald and reaches in the north the southern escarpment of the Greensand Ridge. It includes the Wey and Arun Canal, and just under half of Dunsfold Aerodrome, which is shared with Alfold.

History

Norman English (Middle Ages) building and records

The village's name was recorded as Duntesfaude in 1259, Duntesfaud in 1272 and Duntesfalde in 1291, apparently meaning Dunt's fold. Alternatively it may be derived from the Old English (and Celtic) dun (hill i.e. down) and fold (enclosure). Either way folding means enclosing with fences, a way of moving sheep around the land to graze off the remains of previously harvested crops. It still emulated in modern sheep farming with and without pens around the village. There are some prize-winning Aberdeen Angus cattle farmed here but the last dairy herd has now closed.