Sitting on the outskirts of Bransgore is a Heritage Centre that remarkably few residents actually know exists
The New Forest Airfields Heritage Centre, which is run by volunteers from the Friends of the New Forest Airfields (FONFA) charity, moved to the building in Mosquito Way and opened to the public on 29th May 2016. It contains aircraft artefacts, models, dioramas, individual pilots’ stories, interactive displays of each airfield, the aircraft and the units that operated from them and CGI material. In the upstairs gallery, there are many limited-edition prints depicting the aircraft that flew here. There is also ‘Mee Mee’s Kitchen’ serving teas, coffee, etc.
The building was originally the generator house for RAF Sopley camp. After the Battle of Britain, a new radar system, called Ground Controlled Interception (GCI) was developed. The first operational unit was built in Christchurch and delivered to a field in Sopley on Christmas Day 1940. It quickly became operational using the callsign ‘Starlight’. During the war, it was constantly upgraded until it finally became a permanent station with a concrete and brick operations block. Much of the ground-breaking work done at Purbeck Radar in Swanage and at Christchurch was put into operation at Sopley. This evolved into what we now know as air traffic control.
RAF Sopley was visited by many VIPs during the war, including the King, who, having visited night fighter squadrons at RAF Middle Wallop, then travelled to Starlight to see the night fighter/GCI operation that night. RAF Sopley continued in use post-war as a GCI, fighter interception and air traffic control radar unit until 1974. In the late 1970s, the camp was used to house many of the ‘Vietnamese Boat people’ who came to England.
FONFA has a mission to inform and educate the residents and visitors to the New Forest about the local aviation heritage and the 12 airfields. It offers outreach visits to schools and groups, and is responsible for the memorial in Black Lane, which remembers those, both civilian and military, who participated in their activities.
More information, including opening times for the Heritage Centre, can be found on the FONFA website at fofna.co.uk. We are open every Sunday between April and October, so please do visit us (especially if you are also interested in volunteering!).
