RAF Coolham

RAF Coolham
Coolham, West Sussex in England
A view from near the eastern edge of the main east-west runway in 2009 looking westward down its length
Site information
Type	Advanced Landing Ground
Code	XQ
Owner	Air Ministry
Operator	Royal Air Force
Controlled by	RAF Second Tactical Air Force * No. 84 Group RAF
Open to the public	Yes
Location
RAF Coolham Shown within West Sussex RAF Coolham RAF Coolham (the United Kingdom)
Coordinates	50°59′20″N 0°24′05″W
Grid reference	TQ123223
Area	113 acres (46 ha)
Site history
Built	August 1943 (1943) – Beginning of March 1944 (1944)
Built by	Airfield Construction Service RAF
In use	1 April 1944 (1944) – 4 July 1944 (1944)
Battles/wars	European theatre of World War II — Operation Ramrod — Operation Neptune — Operation Overlord — Operation Diver
Garrison information
Garrison	2 Wings of No. 84 Group RAF
Occupants	No. 133 (Polish) (Fighter) Wing: — No. 129 (Mysore) (Fighter) Squadron — No. 306 (Polish) (Fighter) Squadron — No. 315 (Polish) (Fighter) Squadron No. 135 (Fighter) Wing: — No. 222 (Natal) (Fighter) Squadron — No. 349 (Belgian) (Fighter) Squadron — No. 485 (New Zealand) (Fighter) Squadron See Based Units section for full list
Airfield information
Elevation	17 metres (56 ft) AMSL
Runways Direction Length and surface 12/30 4,500 feet (1,372 m) Grass-seeded Sommerfeld tracking 05/23 3,600 feet (1,097 m) Grass-seeded Sommerfeld tracking

Royal Air Force Coolham, or more simply RAF Coolham, also known as Coolham Advanced Landing Ground (ALG), is a former Second World War Royal Air Force Advanced Landing Ground located in Coolham, West Sussex, England, United Kingdom.

Background

During June and July 1942, Southern England was combed by Air Ministry surveyors attempting to identify suitable sites for the construction of Advanced Landing Grounds (ALGs). The main purpose of the Southern England ALGs was, owing to their close proximity to Nazi-occupied Europe, to provide air support to allied forces prior to, during, and after an anticipated future liberation of the European mainland, which later manifested on 6 June 1944 as the Normandy Landings (Operation Neptune, AKA D-Day) and the Battle of Normandy (Operation Overlord). In total, 72 such sites were located, although this figure was considerably whittled down to just 23 sites which were eventually used to construct ALGs upon, this being mainly due to the war agricultural executive committees' fierce opposition to such large swathes of agricultural land being requisitioned and thus no longer being agriculturally productive. One of these sites was located on land near the small village of Coolham, West Sussex, England. A top-level Air Ministry conference was held at Coolham on 8 October 1942 when it was at last agreed that an ALG would indeed be constructed on the previously identified site at Coolham.

The site consisted of land accessed by, and to the east of, the B2139 Thakeham Road, and just south east of Coolham crossroad, with Saucelands Lane itself adjoining the southern perimeter. This ALG, which would be known as Royal Air Force Coolham, or more simply, RAF Coolham, was situated roughly 6 miles (9.7 km) southwest of Horsham and would be one of 7 ALGs eventually constructed in Sussex for use by RAF Fighter Command along with its allies. The other 6 Sussex ALGs constructed were RAF Appledram, RAF Bognor, RAF Chailey, RAF Deanland, RAF Funtington, and RAF Selsey. On account of the Coolham site's level terrain and the area's excellent transport infrastructure connections via road and rail, specifically Billingshurst, Christ's Hospital, Southwater, and Horsham, it was considered to be an ideal location.

Construction

Preparation

In total, 113 acres (46 ha) of both wooded and agricultural land was requisitioned by the Air Ministry at Coolham. Original estimates were that 700–800 hedgerow trees would need to be cleared, and approximately 8,400 feet (2,600 m) of high-tension electrical cable would need to be laid and buried, along with wiring for telex and PBX telephone facilities. The area's natural flatness, although partly why it was chosen as an ALG site, also meant that, in conjunction with the heavy topsoil of Weald Clay present in the area, under-drainage would be required to prevent the strip area becoming boggy after rainfall, and this initially made planners believe preparation of the site would be slow.

The 10-month-long construction of the airfield commenced during August 1943 with 156 personnel of Nos. 4661 and 4663 AC Flight, of 5004 Airfield Construction Squadron, Airfield Construction Service RAF, commanded by Squadron Leader J. K. Lancaster. 5004 Squadron utilised a large arsenal of plant to carry out construction including (but not limited to) bulldozers, tractors, dump trucks, road rollers, a paint sprayer, and a concrete mixer. A number of airmen constructing the ALG at Coolham were billeted at the prisoner-of-war camp at Barn House Farm, Shipley, (POW Camp 658) at the southern end of the airfield, while others were billeted in numerous farm buildings along Saucelands Lane. As a temporary measure, those who happened to live nearby could apply for a 'living out' pass and cycle/commute to and from RAF Coolham. H. Kay, a local Horsham contractors, were also employed in the initial ground clearance and levelling and Ronald Coleman, a civil engineer who had been seconded to the War Office, worked with both civilians and RAF personnel in constructing RAF Coolham from the very beginning.

The north-south runway's southern end was initially obstructed by buildings. Five Mile Ash, situated on the south side of Saucelands Lane, was demolished as it directly obstructed the southern end of the north-south runway. An adjacent historic property, Saucelands, was saved from destruction after West Sussex County Council objected to its demolition. Bridge Hill House, situated on the B2139 Thakeham Road at the western end of the main east-west runway, had its roof removed due to safety concerns about its height possibly hindering clearance at the end of the runway, making it uninhabitable until the roof was restored after the end of the war.

Runways

Two runways were constructed in total. The larger main runway running east-west (12/30) for 4,500 feet (1,372 m) and the smaller second runway running north-south (05/23) for 3,600 feet (1,097 m), with both runways constructed using Sommerfeld tracking. Sommerfeld tracking was a relatively light weight, inexpensive, quick, and easily assemblable method of reinforcing a ground bearing surface for use by heavy vehicles and high volumes of traffic, preventing the bearing surface from wearing away or rutting, and preventing vehicles from sinking and becoming bogged down or stuck, and thus was ideal for constructing ALGs' runways which were only intended to be used temporarily, had to be built quickly, and would see heavy aeroplanes taking off and landing regularly. It consisted of rolls, 23 metres (75 ft) long and 3.25 metres (11 ft) wide, of metal wire mesh, similar to chicken wire or chainlink fencing, with round iron bars at regular intervals all along its length running widthways and looped at either end. It was then rolled out flat on the ground like a mat, and flat iron bars were then threaded through the loops to physically anchor each track together, before it was all anchored to the ground using 2ft and 3ft iron pickets.

At RAF Coolham, 5004 Airfield Construction Squadron laid most of the Sommerfeld tracking down. A mobile crane was used to move the rolls into place as the weight of each roll, although lighter than other alternatives, meant that it would otherwise take 6 personnel to move each roll into position. One row of tracking was laid along the entire length of each of Coolham's runways and secured by a group of 3 personnel with sledgehammers driving the 2ft and 3ft iron pickets into the ground one at a time, swinging in harmony on the same picket. Once this initial length of tracking was laid, other rolls of tracking were laid next to, and adjoined with, the side of the initial length, until the required width of the runway was completed. A tractor was used to stretch the width of the tracking taut so it could be secured in place with further pickets until the whole length was taut. Although the Sommerfeld tracking patent states that asphalt or a similar material should then be added onto the mesh to cover it, at Coolham this was not the case due to the temporary nature of advanced landing grounds. Instead, grass seed was sown over the tracking; the grass' roots would help to consolidate the soil together and to aid in the drainage of rainwater.

Traffic barriers were erected on Saucelands Lane because the lane crossed the north-south runway's southern end. The barriers were to be brought down to close the lane off to the public when the runway was in use in order to prevent traffic from crossing the north-south runway which could otherwise cause a collision with aircraft during take offs and landings. The control tower at RAF Coolham was a moveable caravan and the ALG was designated by the airfield identification letters XQ. There was no instrument landing system to aid aircraft in landing at night or bad weather and sorties were monitored by the personnel of ROC Group No. 2, Royal Observer Corps, based nearby at Denne Road, Horsham.

Installations

36 aircraft dispersal hardstandings were constructed which intended to space aircraft apart from each other when not in use in order to mitigate aircraft losses if the airfield suffered enemy bombing, sabotage, or accidents. Five blister hangars were also erected along with an armoury, pyrotechnic dumps, a defence post, a technical and communal site, two refuelling points, a bulk oil compound, eight marshalling areas (two situated opposite each other at each of the four ends of the two runways), two refuelling points (both situated opposite each other outside of the perimeter track at the eastern end of the main east-west runway), five small arms ammunition stores (dispersed across the empty space of the requisitioned area), and a 24,000 gallon capacity petrol installation. Marquees and tents were used for squadron offices, the canteen, motor transport buildings, and stores. Virtually all accommodation for operational airmen was tented, and medical facilities were also tented but included a mobile surgery. Conditions in the tented accommodation were cold, wet, and sometimes cramped, and a number of NCO airmen resorted to sleeping on wooden boxes. Toilet and bathing facilities were present but extremely basic. Part of Farleys Farm, which was situated to the east of Thakeham Road and within the requisitioned site for the airfield, was used as an administration centre and nursing ward.

Although transport links from elsewhere to nearby areas was good, the majority of the airmen at RAF Coolham did not possess motorised transport of their own, and during their brief off-duty periods they would visit the Selsey Arms pub at the nearby Coolham Crossroads, or cycle to nearby villages.

Crash Landing of 'Flounder Gus'

In February 1944, the runways at RAF Coolham were still under construction with the laying of Sommerfield tracking actively ongoing. On 15 February, the American B-26 Marauder No. 41-34913 'Flounder Gus', of the 323rd Bombardment Group, 454th Bomb Squadron, 2nd Air Division, Ninth Air Force, USAAF, had taken off at 8:45AM from its base in RAF Earls Colne, Essex, on a bombing mission to destroy a V-1 flying bomb launch site in the Cherbourg Peninsula, Normandy, France. 12 planes had set off on this mission consisting of 2 flights. Flounder Gus was the lead aircraft of the 2nd flight, but upon bombing their target and turning to leave the Cherbourg Peninsula, the lead aircraft of the 1st flight was hit by accurate German anti-aircraft fire and so Flounder Gus assumed the role of lead aircraft for the first flight. Upon pulling into position, Flounder Gus was subsequently also peppered by German anti-aircraft fire, knocking out her right engine and causing her left engine to spew oil.

The Captain, 1st Lieutenant Richard H. Lightfine, asked his engineer-gunner, Staff Sergeant Fay C. Kruger, what they should do in light of the damage. Kruger replied "Get home as quickly as we can 'cos I doubt we'll get there unless we start right now and the first field you see, land.". Flounder Gus limped back towards England, but due to the loss of one engine, lagged behind the rest of the flight and had to drop from 12,000ft to 5,000ft to maintain airspeed. The radio being made inoperable by the anti-aircraft fire, the crew could not locate RAF Manston or one of the other larger airfields on which they could attempt a landing, and knew that even if they could, they likely wouldn't make it in time. The crew threw out flak vests, ammunition, guns, and anything of weight they could no longer use, fearing they would have to ditch the plane into the English Channel, whilst the left engine was running at full throttle to maintain minimum altitude and necessary airspeed. As Flounder Gus approached the English coast, Lightfine stated "Boys, you have a choice, you can bale out over water, you can bale out over land, or we can take it in" to which the bombardier-navigator Arthur Hanni replied "I've bailed out once, landed on the slate roof of an English mansion, bounced off that into oak trees and got beat up and under no circumstances am I going to bale out, we'll ride it in". With that, the crew of Flounder Gus committed to attempting to land the aircraft on the first appropriate field or airstrip they could locate by sight.

Visibility was initially poor, but by pure chance, Hanni spotted what looked like a small grassy landing strip in a field which was the then-incomplete RAF Coolham. Hanni pointed it out to the pilot who began to descend for a landing. With the right engine knocked out and the left engine still spewing oil, they began to circle the airfield to line up with the runway and could see personnel on the ground watching them, who assumed Flounder Gus was conducting a dummy run. The crew were oblivious to the fact that the airfield was still under construction and that they would soon be the first plane to land at RAF Coolham. Flounder Gus then came in to land from the east on the main 1500m east-west runway, but at an altitude of just 100ft, right before the aircraft touched down on the incomplete runway, the left engine finally failed and shut off. With the trim controls engaging and the right propeller wind-milling, Lightfine could no longer control the plane as it started to yaw sharply to the left. Upon seeing this the construction personnel on the ground began to scatter as Flounder Gus endeavoured to avoid hitting them.

The crew tried to straighten out the plane's approach and Hanni pulled up the landing gear for a belly landing to slow their speed before Flounder Gus touched down. Heading directly towards a large oak tree, Flounder Gus collided with it, sheering off its left wing but considerably slowing its speed in the process and inadvertently saving many lives, skidding along the newly laid runway and causing considerable damage ripping up some 100ft of Sommerfield tracking. Sergeant Charles Gordon of 5018 Airfield Construction Squadron who was overseeing a Sommerfield track laying party, was hit in the head by the propeller of the left wing which had broken off upon hitting the oak tree and was killed instantly. An eye witness said that had he laid flat like the rest of the construction personnel the propeller would have missed him. Flounder Gus was completely destroyed and had broken in two with the tail section of the aircraft, still with rear gunner Staff Sergeant Lloyd A. Raymond inside, soaring over Thakeham Road and a hedgerow at the end of the field and landing in the farmyard of Bridge Hill Farm. The other part of the fuselage came to a stop at the end of the field underneath telephone wires just across Thakeham Road also near to Bridge Hill Farm.

Wreckage of B-26 Marauder 'Flounder Gus' after crash landing on RAF Coolham on 15 February 1944.

Raymond managed to escape the incident badly bruised with minor cuts but alive. A lady walked out of the cottage and upon seeing the fuselage and Raymond laying on the ground she asked "Would you like a cup of tea?" to which Raymond replied "Yes, I will have a cup of tea." Remarkably, after crash landing in a B-26 Marauder at RAF Coolham, he then proceeded to have a cup of tea and talk with the lady for roughly 15 minutes, clearly in a state of shock after the event. Meanwhile, the radio operator-gunner Staff Sergeant Rue Farnum had received a broken nose and was knocked unconscious in the crash and had to be picked up and rescued from the wreckage by Hanni and Kruger and they, along with Lightfine began looking for Raymond, who eventually appeared having walked back to meet them. The whole crew of Flounder Gus were taken as a precaution by the Canadian forces in the area via ambulance to the Canadian Base Hospital in Roffey, Horsham, where Raymond and Farnum were detained for 24 hour observation, with the others being released and taken to RAF Dunsfold shortly after where they were flown back to their base at RAF Earls Colne.

Construction of the airfield to an operational standard was completed not long after by the beginning of March 1944.

Operational History

RAF Coolham was operational from 1st April 1944 until 4th July 1944.

Based Units

Mustang Mk III flown by fighter ace and Wing Commander Stanisław Skalski of No. 133 (Polish) (Fighter) Wing RAF, June 1944, RAF Coolham.

Mustang Mk III flown by fighter ace and Wing Commander Tadeusz Nowierski of No. 133 (Polish) (Fighter) Wing RAF, July 1944, RAF Coolham.

It is believed that c. 700 personnel served at RAF Coolham at some point, 15 of whom were killed whilst carrying out their duties at or from RAF Coolham (each denotated below with a †).

The following order of battle shows all units which were stationed at RAF Coolham at any point during its construction and its operational history (August 1943 – July 1944) as well as deconstruction efforts as the aerodrome was reverted back to agricultural land (September 1945 – October 1945):

Second Tactical Air Force, Royal Air Force

No. 84 Group

— No. 18 (Fighter) Sector

—— No. 133 (Polish) (Fighter) Wing

• No. 129 (Mysore) (Fighter) Squadron †††††
• No. 6129 Servicing Echelon
• No. 306 (Polish) (Fighter) Squadron ††††
• No. 6306 Servicing Echelon
• No. 315 (Polish) (Fighter) Squadron ††††
• No. 6315 Servicing Echelon
• No. 411 (Polish) Repair and Salvage Unit †

—— No. 135 (Fighter) Wing

• No. 222 (Natal) (Fighter) Squadron
• No. 6222 Servicing Echelon
• No. 349 (Belgian) (Fighter) Squadron
• No. 6349 Servicing Echelon
• No. 485 (New Zealand) (Fighter) Squadron
• No. 6485 Servicing Echelon

— No. 84 Group Signals

• No. 5090c (Polish) Mobile Signal Unit
• No. 16 Advanced Landing Ground Signal Section

Royal Air Force Regiment

• No. 1314 Mobile Wing RAF Regiment
• No. 2701 (Light Anti-Aircraft) Squadron RAF Regiment
• No. 2722 (Light Anti-Aircraft) Squadron RAF Regiment
• No. 2800 (Light Anti-Aircraft) Squadron RAF Regiment
• No. 2829 (Field) Squadron RAF Regiment

Airfield Construction Service

• No. 5003 Airfield Construction Squadron
• No. 5004 Airfield Construction Squadron
• No. 5018 Airfield Construction Squadron †
• No. 5027 Airfield Construction Squadron
• No. 5206 (Plant) Airfield Construction Squadron

Maintenance Command

No. 40 Group

• No. 49 (Faygate) Maintenance Unit

No. 42 Group

• No. 422 Aviation Fuel and Ammunition Park
  • No. 8 Section

RAF Fire and Rescue Services

• RAF Fire and Rescue Services

References

Websites

• "Coolham". Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust. 1 September 2011. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
• Flagg, Richard E. (27 May 2024). "Coolham, Sussex". UK Airfields. Retrieved 25 August 2024.
• Flute, Richard (2014). "Coolham: Advanced Landing Ground in WW2". UK Airfield Guide. Retrieved 26 August 2024.
• "Expedient Pavements and Surfaces". GlobalSecurity.org. 2024. Retrieved 26 August 2024.
• "Method of reinforcing a top layer of a ground, as well as reinforcing mat applied therefor". Google Patents. 1989. Retrieved 26 August 2024.
• Harris, Richard (2020). "Horsham Heritage Trails New Beginnings" (PDF). Horsham Museum. Retrieved 15 July 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
• Matthews, Rupert (20 December 2010). "RAF Advanced Landing Grounds in Sussex". Blogger. Retrieved 25 August 2024.
• "Coolham Advanced Landing Ground". Shipley Parish Council. 29 June 2023. Retrieved 15 July 2025.
• Thomas, Roger J.C. (2003). "Twentieth Century Military Recording Project: Prisoner of War Camps (1939 – 1948)". Historic England. Retrieved 25 August 2024.
• Page, Sarah (22 November 2023). "War-time village airfield near Horsham where 15 airmen died faces new battle". Sussex World. Retrieved 19 July 2025.

Bibliography

• Ashworth, Chris (1985). Action Stations 9: Military Airfields of the Central South and South-East. Wellingborough: Patrick Stephens Limited. ISBN 0-85059-608-4.
• Falconer, J. (2012). RAF Airfields of World War 2. UK: Ian Allan Publishing. ISBN 978-1-85780-349-5.
• Hamlin, Paul; Davies, Ann (1996). Coolham Airfield Remembered: Memories and anecdotes of a Sussex D-Day Fighter Station and village. Irthlingborough: Paul Hamlin. ISBN 0-9527968-0-5.
• Jefford, C.G. (1988). RAF Squadrons. A comprehensive record of the movement and equipment of all RAF squadrons and their antecedents since 1912. Shrewsbury: Airlife. ISBN 1-85310-053-6.