Bovingdon
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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 disused site of a former World War II, Eighth Air Force and post-war Royal Air Force airfield, RAF Bovingdon.
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 photographic company, John Hadland Ltd.
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.
