Bovingdon
Bovingdon is a large
village in the
Chiltern Hills, in
Hertfordshire,
England, close to the
town of
Hemel Hempstead and within the local authority area of
Dacorum.
The name is first mentioned in deeds from 1200 as
Bovyndon. It could originate from
Old English Bufan dune meaning "above the down" or from
Bofa's down , the down belonging to someone called Bofa.
Next to Bovingdon is the site of a former
World War II,
Eighth Air Force and post-war
Royal Air Force airfield.
The airfield was built in
1942. Between
1943 and
1946 it became a B-17 operational training base for units such as the 92nd Bomber Group,
B-17 Combat Crew Replacement Centre (CCRC), 11th CCRC, and 8th USAAF HQ Squadron. The RAF resumed control until
1951, then the
USAF took over again until
1962 flying
B-26 Marauders,
B-29 Superfortresses, and
B-50 Superfortresses. Flying ceased in
1969, though some flying scenes for the film
Hanover Street were shot there in
1978. The field served as a defacto airport for nearby Hemel during most of the postwar period.
Several films were made here including
The War Lover,
633 Squadron, Hanover Street, and
Mosquito Squadron.
The airfield site still houses a
VOR navigational beacon, code BNN. The airspace above the airfield and nearby
Chesham is known as the
Bovingdon stack and is a holding area for
aircraft approaching
Heathrow Airport, 20 miles / 30 km to the south. At busy times on a clear day a dozen planes may be seen circling overhead.
Part of the airfield site has been used to build
The Mount prison during the
1980s. The remainder of the airfield site is used for a regular
Sunday market and there is also a permanent circuit for
banger racing. The main runway and taxiways, which are still intact though in a poor state of repair, are also sometimes used for other events such as the occasional
car rally. There is also large weekly market there every Saturday and Bank Holidays.
In
1971 the poisoner
Graham Frederick Young committed two murders whilst working for a local electronics company.
The village name is sometimes confused with
Bovington Camp in
Dorset. Halfpenny Green Airfield in
Shropshire was renamed from
Bobbington, the name of the local village, during WWII after a B-17 tried to land there when the crew became lost.
*Ex-England goal keeping legend
David Seaman lives here and has done for many years, he has also appeared on Dancing On Ice and looked a right prat. He has recently cut off his pony-tail for charity.
*
Bovingdon history group
