Boxted Airfield Historical Group
Group History
The group based in Colchester Essex was formed in the year 2000 by Richard Turner. Richard has researched the history of Boxted airfield since 1995 and has staged exhibitions with the material collected since January 1999.
There was a lot of local interest and so he decided that if this project was going to continue, more help was needed. So after a meeting of enthusiasts, the first committee was formed in February 2000.
Membership now stands at almost 100 worldwide, including airfield veterans, both American servicemen and RAF personnel, who were based at Boxted. The group holds regular meetings with guest speakers, film evenings, etc. Full details can be found on the “Group Events” page on this web site.
We would welcome your comments on the layout and information contained in this site - please use the form on the "Contact Us" page.
If you would like to become a member of our group, please go to our "Group Membership" page for details. We also offer free life membership to any personnel who served at Boxted, whether it was with the US Army Air Corps or the RAF.
Refurbishment of airfield memorial
During 2007, a grant was given to Langham Parish Council to repair the village war memorial. Included in the application was a request for money to refurbish the airfield memorial. Our group was asked if we would like to be involved in the design process and, after some deliberation, we suggested a wall should be built about 5 feet high around the present monument, which was agreed by the Parish Council. Carved into the granite are the names of the American units and the dates that they were stationed at Boxted, and also details of the RAF use of the field. The refurbishment was completed in April 2008.
Annual Report by the Committee for year ending 28 February 2025
The year ending 28 February 2025 was another good year for the Group and the Museum.
Committee: The committee only meet physically once due to new ways of operating in the modern World but kept in touch and consulted digitally and by phone during the year to carry out the essential business of the Group.
Number of members: Total of 75, including 5 honorary members, compared to a total of 87 in the previous year.
Club nights & Social activities: Thanks to the efforts of a small group of members it has been possible to reintroduce these evening meetings and 4 were held, in addition to the AGM.
Museum: The museum opening season was well supported with 360 visitors plus 11 on the guided walk.
The museum again participated in the Heritage Open Days on 7th and 8th September which were well attended by about 130 visitors, an increase on last year. Whilst these two days were admission free, the museum benefited by sales of refreshments, souvenirs, and donations.
There have, again, been several visits to the museum by various groups and relatives of personnel who served at the airfield.
We have had lots of compliments from visitors, both on open days and private visits.
A big vote of thanks is extended to all our stewards who made the opening season a success.
There have been several items donated to the museum, including the uniform jacket of a 56th Fighter Group pilot who flew from Boxted. Conservation of the mobile compressor has been completed and research continues.
Work on refreshing displays, maintenance tasks and care and conservation of the uniforms collection have continued, as well as the cataloguing and presentation of new acquisitions.
It has been possible to demonstrate the motion section of the Link Trainer with power supplied by the newly installed solar panels.
Both parts of our “Buildings Then and Now” photo exhibition have been displayed again, for the first time since 2019.
The airfield book continues to sell well and so far, a total of 193 have been sold since the launch in June 2023. The DVD is also continuing to sell well with 7 sales, and 6 copies of Peter Potter’s book were sold.
Publicity /website: The Museum continues to receive regular publicity in the local press and through the distribution of flyers and posters to other museums, libraries, and locations. The website plays a valuable role in raising the profile of the museum and the Group’s activities. A copy of this report will be placed on the website. The website has had 3422 hits in the past 12 months. Additionally, the museum has been publicised on Google Earth. A new source of publicity has been a short series of film clips about the Link Trainer, on You Tube and accessible through the museum website. In addition, the museum especially the Uniforms Collection and the Marauder Collection were featured in an article in Flypast by its former editor, Ken Ellis.
Our Chairman has given a number of talks to outside groups and the museum has again been represented by a stand at the Galleywood Remembrance Day in November.
Good progress has been made on digitalising files previously obtained from US websites. This completed to date but there are more files available to download when time permits.
Future plans:
2025 marks the 80th anniversary of VE-Day and there will be an event on Saturday 10 May with a guided walk in the morning around the airfield buildings not normally viewable. In the afternoon, there will be a Tea Party outside the museum and both will need to be booked in advance.
Work will continue on carrying out research and also on the Link Trainer project. (Jeremy-is it completed?)