RAF Madley was an RAF

Royal Air Force

The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...

 base situated in Herefordshire

Herefordshire

Herefordshire is a historic and ceremonial county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire" NUTS 2 region. It also forms a unitary district known as the...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

.

The site opened as a training centre for aircrew and ground wireless operators on 27 August 1941. In 1943, the grass airfield was reinforced with Sommerfeld Tracking

Sommerfeld Tracking

Sommerfeld Tracking, named after German expatriate engineer, Kurt Joachim Sommerfeld, then living in England, was a lightweight wire mesh type of prefabricated airfield surface. First put into use by the British in 1941, it was a wire netting stiffened laterally by steel rods...

 and the centre's population rose to about 5,000. The site was visited in 1944 prior to D-Day by US General George S. Patton

George S. Patton

George Smith Patton, Jr. was a United States Army officer best known for his leadership while commanding corps and armies as a general during World War II. He was also well known for his eccentricity and controversial outspokenness.Patton was commissioned in the U.S. Army after his graduation from...

, and later by Rudolf Hess

Rudolf Hess

Rudolf Walter Richard Hess was a prominent Nazi politician who was Adolf Hitler's deputy in the Nazi Party during the 1930s and early 1940s...

 (who had been held prisoner near Abergavenny

Abergavenny

Abergavenny , meaning Mouth of the River Gavenny, is a market town in Monmouthshire, Wales. It is located 15 miles west of Monmouth on the A40 and A465 roads, 6 miles from the English border. Originally the site of a Roman fort, Gobannium, it became a medieval walled town within the Welsh Marches...

) on his way to the Nuremberg Trials

Nuremberg Trials

The Nuremberg Trials were a series of military tribunals, held by the victorious Allied forces of World War II, most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of the defeated Nazi Germany....

 in 1946. Today only a few hangar

Hangar

A hangar is a closed structure to hold aircraft or spacecraft in protective storage. Most hangars are built of metal, but other materials such as wood and concrete are also sometimes used...

s remain, and Madley Communications Centre

Madley Communications Centre

Madley Communications Centre is British Telecom's earth satellite tracking station, between Madley and Kingstone, Herefordshire, England. It claims to be the largest earth station in the world.-Earth position:...

 now occupies part of the site.

Operational units and aircraft

• No. 26 Squadron RAF
  No. 26 Squadron RAF
  No. 26 Squadron of the Royal Air Force was formed in 1915 and was disbanded for the last time in 1976.The squadron motto is N Wagter in die Lug , and the squadrons badge is a springbok's head couped.-1915 to 1918:...
  
   detachment (1942) - North American Mustang I
  P-51 Mustang
  The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang was an American long-range, single-seat fighter and fighter-bomber used during World War II, the Korean War and in several other conflicts...