RAF Hythe

RAF Hythe
Located near Hythe in Hampshire

Disused RAF building, March 2007
RAF Hythe
Coordinates 50°52′00″N 1°23′33″W / 50.8667°N 1.3924°W / 50.8667; -1.3924
Type Factory
Site information
Owner Air Ministry until 1964
Ministry of Defence
Controlled by Royal Air Force
Site history
Built 1924 (1924)
In use 1925-2006

RAF Hythe was an RAF base situated in Hythe, Hampshire, 10 miles south of Southampton on the western side of Southampton Water.

Hangars were first erected here by May-Harden-May Ltd, acquired by Supermarine in 1925. The site was used for final assembly of marine aircraft. The site again changed hands in 1937 to be acquired by Imperial Airways (later BOAC) who until November 1950 used the site for flying boat maintenance. Later, from 1967, the facilities were used by the US Field Army Support Brigade/Combat Equipment Battalion-Hythe mainly for small boat repairs. At this time, the base became known as RAF Hythe.[1]

The station, the last U.S. Army installation in the United Kingdom,[2] closed on 30 September 2006 after the American Army left following a cost-cutting exercise.[3][4] The site was acquired by the South East England Development Agency in October 2007, and has since been developed into the Hythe Marine Park, home to a number of maritime and marine production facilities.[5]

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 4/10/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.