Bournemouth Airport

Bournemouth Airport began as RAF Hurn on 1 August 1941, during World War II. It was used for paratroop training and as a glider base before the North African Landings in 1943. Prior to D-Day, it was the base of 570 Squadron, who landed agents and dropped supplies to the French Resistance. The hardened runways of the airfield saw extensive use by United States Army Air Forces in the preparations for D-Day and the subsequent Battle of Normandy. It was also the home base of 84 Group, RAF Second Tactical Air Force, comprising nine squadrons of Typhoons, who flew daily to France supporting ground forces. From November 1944 the airfield took over from Bristol's Whitchurch airport[7] as the main operating base for British Overseas Airways Corporation until Heathrow fully opened in 1948.[8]Starting in October 1945 Hurn served as London's transatlantic airport until Heathrow opened to the airlines in mid-1946. It was the starting point of the first England-Australia landplane service, which took three days in Avro Lancastrians (modified Lancaster bombers). The airport served Accra, Cairo, Calcutta, Johannesburg, New York, Sydney and Washington D.C.