RAF West Malling over the Channel. The three surviving aircraft were rescued only when the fight was joined by Hurricanes from No. 111 Squadron. The remainder of the unit returned north to RAF Prestwick on 25 July due to the ineffectiveness of the Defiant against single-seat fighters. No. 29 Squadron flying Bristol Beaufighters arrived for its first tour of duty on 27 April 1941. One of the Squadron's pilots, Guy Gibson VC, later officer commanding 617 Squadron on the Dambusters Raid, said of the station "Of all the airfields in Great Britain ... we have the most pleasant". A regular and long-standing inhabitant,
RAF Down Ampney also active in Operation Market Garden (Arnhem) and the Rhine crossing. A memorial has been erected at the southern end of what was the main runway. which reads: RAF Down Ampney RAF Down Ampney was a Royal Air Force station located north east of Cricklade, Wiltshire and south west of RAF Fairford, Gloucestershire. The airfield operated during World War II from February 1944 until February 1947. Down Ampney was part of a group of airfields dedicated to air transportation, alongside RAF Broadwell and RAF Blakehill Farm. No. 48 Squadron RAF and No. 271 Squadron RAF flew Douglas Dakotas on major