70 years later, fighter pens still tell story

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Joel Mease
  • 501st Combat Support Wing Public Affairs
RAF CROUGHTON, United Kingdom --  It's a cold, windy night in 1941; the village nearby is in a blackout. Everything and everyone is trying to hide from German warplanes except here, the airfield on RAF Brackley, with its flare paths illuminated so damaged aircraft on their way back from Germany can find a safe haven to land. You hear the air raid sirens - the Luftwaffe is coming - you and your crew maintaining the trainer aircraft run from your spots to the relative safety the aircraft's pen provides.

Today three of those original type c fighter pens still exist on the outskirts of an old airfield now known as RAF Croughton, and they will continue to be there for future generations to see as they were recently named a protected site by the English Heritage Foundation.

Kevin Bartof, assistant to the RAF commander at RAF Croughton, has been striving to keep this part of English history preserved for the last two years.

"The RAF commander at the time and myself both knew how rare and important these pens were to our English heritage," Bartof said. "We wanted people in the future to understand that as well, so I started the process of getting it recognized by the English Heritage Foundation."

After filing the paperwork and making the necessary confirmation with the English Heritage Foundation, they were able to confirm that not only did they have a historical British site, but a rare one as well.

"It is very rare to have intact fighter pens," Bartof said. "These pens are a type c and are even rarer as most pens could only take fighters, but these could take both fighters and bombers."

Each pen at RAF Croughton provided protection for two Bristol Blenheim-sized or similar twin-engine medium sized bombers.

"The pens were made of concrete and brick, and then covered in earth designed to protect the ground crew and the aircraft," Bartof said. "Nets were put over the aircraft, so if you flew over them it would look like hills."

Besides the safety of camouflage from the sky, the pens also provided blast protection.

"If a bomb were to hit an aircraft in the pen, the walls around the pen would hold the blast from damaging the aircraft and personnel on the other side," Bartof said. "In the center of each pen was also a shelter, which could hold up to 25 men if there was a bombing raid."

Over the years many of these World War II fighter pens either were destroyed or have collapsed, leaving a piece of British history neglected never to be seen again.

"The English Heritage Foundation was very pleased I had contacted them, because so many of these important World War II sites are disappearing across Britain," Bartof said. "At the end of the day the people who built these and worked in them need to be remembered. They need to be preserved so that our younger generation can see them and understand the importance of the war efforts."

While Airmen at RAF Croughton don't have to worry about air raid sirens anymore, these pens still offer a reminder of the sacrifices both British and American Airmen made in the past so future generations don't live in fear.