RAF Thorney Island airfield

Thorney Island is nearly 7 miles west of Chichester. In early 1944 the airfield at RAF Thorney Island was the base for Hawker Typhoon fighter-bomber aircraft of 164, 183, 198 and 609 Squadrons RAF – though many other squadrons also used the base during the Second World War. The Typhoon squadrons were tasked with attacking radar stations on French coast in the weeks prior to the landings, thus helping to ‘blind’ the German defenders as the Allied fleet approached the beaches.

From D-Day onwards, Typhoon squadrons from Thorney Island performed ground attack roles. Twelve days after D-Day, several of these squadrons left Thorney Island for newly-created airfields in Normandy. During the Battle of Normandy (the nearly three months of fighting that followed D-Day), Typhoons became famous for using their rockets to attack German tank forces, often with deadly results.