I was present at D Day 75 and asked a veteran glider pilot why was TR rwys were orientated NNW – SSW. ” walk to the N end of the airfield and look over”. There was an escarpment some 700ft deep so that if a Halifax tug lost an engine (and couldn’t climb) they could disengage and have an additional 30 seconds to find a good landing area! Can’t imagine doing that! respect
I asked some of the veteran glider pilots at D Day 75 why the longest runway was orientated NNW – SSE when the prevailing wind was westerly. He asked me to walk to the northern most end of the airfield and look over the boundary. There was a valley about 700 foot deep – so he said “if one of our Halifax tugs suffered engine failure, he would release us. So any vertical distance beneath us would save our lives even if it was a couple of hundred feet”. Enough said!
Not a bad place to walk the pooch these days, especially in winter. A few years ago some long haul BA pilots living locally tried to reincarnate the place as a light aircraft base. The taxi ways and runways still existed then but frankly were pretty awful. Probably the biggest obstacle though was the local populace, who had become accustomed to the peace and quiet. Flight Refuelling had flown Sea Vixen drones there in the 1970s and there was a gliding club too. A far cry from 1944 when so many Halifaxes towing Horsa gliders flew out in support of the invasion.
atchistory 
I was present at D Day 75 and asked a veteran glider pilot why was TR rwys were orientated NNW – SSW. ” walk to the N end of the airfield and look over”. There was an escarpment some 700ft deep so that if a Halifax tug lost an engine (and couldn’t climb) they could disengage and have an additional 30 seconds to find a good landing area! Can’t imagine doing that! respect
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I asked some of the veteran glider pilots at D Day 75 why the longest runway was orientated NNW – SSE when the prevailing wind was westerly. He asked me to walk to the northern most end of the airfield and look over the boundary. There was a valley about 700 foot deep – so he said “if one of our Halifax tugs suffered engine failure, he would release us. So any vertical distance beneath us would save our lives even if it was a couple of hundred feet”. Enough said!
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Not a bad place to walk the pooch these days, especially in winter. A few years ago some long haul BA pilots living locally tried to reincarnate the place as a light aircraft base. The taxi ways and runways still existed then but frankly were pretty awful. Probably the biggest obstacle though was the local populace, who had become accustomed to the peace and quiet. Flight Refuelling had flown Sea Vixen drones there in the 1970s and there was a gliding club too. A far cry from 1944 when so many Halifaxes towing Horsa gliders flew out in support of the invasion.
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In the days of the V force this was one of the dispersal bases.
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