RAF Sleap
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RAF Sleap opened in 1943 as a Bomber Satellite Airfield to RAF Tilstock, and home to the 93rd Group Bomber Command as well as various OTU`s, Operational Training Units.
The airfield also became the home to the 38th Airborne Forces Group. Who trained aircrews in special operations including Horsa Gliders that where used in the D-Day invasions and the battle of Arnhem.
The main aircraft stationed at Sleap where Whitley Bombers and later Wellington Bombers and Horsa Gliders. The Gliders were also constructed at Sleap.
During 1943 there where two fatal air crashes at Sleap both through pilot error, on each occasion both aircraft collided with the watch office and control tower killing the pilots and some of the ground crew.
In 1945 Raf Sleap was closed down and put on care and maintenance until 1956 when it was reopened as a satellite airfield to RAF Shawbury and redesignated Central Navigation and Control School for RAF air traffic controllers.
By 1964 the RAF decided it no longer needed Sleap and since then it has been run by the Sleap Aero Club.
The first thing you notice as you enter Sleap is the scale of the place and the amount of original buildings that still remain, despite natural decay the place is almost intact including the blast walls and air raid shelters.
By far the most interesting building is the AM Bombing Teacher and Turret Trainer which is hidden in the woods just of the main road. It is thought to be the only one left in existance which still has the original steel framework inside, still complete.
These where used to train air crews on accurate bombing of targets before progressing to an actual aircraft.
Sleap also is now home to the Wartime Aircraft Recovery Group which is run by volunteers and has a small museum on the site behind the watch office, which is now the club house.
The entire airfield is amazing and the amount of buildings that remain is astounding. The variety as well as the condition really does transport you back in time almost. There is even an ex RAF Provost sat in the far corner of the technical site and original bombs outside the Wartime museum.
RAF Sleap does not fail to impress. From its size and condition. Its rare buildings and its impressive history. Its definatley one of the finest examples of a WWII airfield still standing.
