RAF Ibsley Watch Office
Wartime monument to human courageDonate now to support this appeal
Help save RAF Ibsley
RAF Ibsley Watch Office once played a crucial part in Britain’s fight against the dark forces of Hitler’s planned invasion. It now stands derelict and in peril. Our project aims to rescue and restore the Watch Office at the former Second World War airfield at Ibsley, near Ringwood in the New Forest. With your support, we have the chance to save this wartime monument to human courage.
From 1941 to 1944 both the RAF and USAAF saw active service at Ibsley. And here during the punishing first years of the war Lesley Howard and David Niven made the seminal war film The First of the Few.
RAF Ibsley Watch Office’s survival is remarkable, but it is in a state of extreme dereliction. Badly vandalised, with its structure crumbling after many years of neglect, it will soon be too late to save it from decay or demolition.
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In May 1945 , RAF Ibsley was home to the Glider Pick Up Training Flight, part of Transport Command.
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A rare surviving example of its type, the Watch Office is in an extreme state of dereliction.
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As we celebrate VE Day, we remember the brave people who once worked and flew from RAF Ibsley.
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A logbook from RAF Ibsley in May 1945 shows the operations undertaken.
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P-47 Thunderbolts lined up at RAF Ibsley in June 1944 ready for their assigned mission.
With your help we can still bring this important fragment of our wartime history back from the brink of collapse, remembering the brave people who once worked and flew here.
Thank you for your support of RAF Ibsley
We are grateful to everyone who has already donated to support the rescue of RAF Ibsley Watch Office. The support of generous individuals and organisations continues to inspire us as we undertake further ecological surveys on this beautiful and highly protected site.
A wartime monument to human courage
RAF Ibsley Watch Office once played a crucial part in Britain’s fight against the dark forces of Hitler’s planned invasion. The building at the former Second World War airfield in the New Forest now stands derelict and in peril.
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“My mum's childhood home was on a main road at Blashford.
She remembered American airmen throwing chocolate for her and her sister from the back of a lorry going to Ibsley airfield.”
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The skill of flying an aeroplane so low to the ground and then ‘snatching’ at a rope to practice collecting gliders was admired by watchers.
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"My father served in the RAF at Ibsley from June 1943 to May 1944.
He was a Band Sergeant responsible for music and entertainment on the base and raising morale.”
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“I’d like to remember my father, Lt Bill Lovegrove.
He was sent on reconnaissance towards Dunkirk in June 1940, but was mortally wounded.”
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“Both my parents served in the RAF during the Second World War.
My mother worked in radar in the WAAF and my father in police and security.”
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“My father trained to be a bomb aimer and co-pilot in Bomber Command.
Luckily he and his crew returned home safely from the war and he went back to work on the farm.”
Help rescue this precious fragment of wartime history
Further information
By phone
Please call us on 01628 512124 to make a donation over the phone.
By post
Please mail any donations by cheque or CAF voucher to:
RAF Ibsley Appeal
The Landmark Trust
Shottesbrooke Park
Broadmoor Road
White Waltham
Maidenhead
SL6 3SW
Leave a gift in your Will
We depend on the generosity of individuals, and gifts in wills play a vital role. Every gift, small or large will help protect important historic buildings, as well as the flora, fauna and marine life on Lundy.
Spring 2025 update
In the 80 years since the end of the war, the surrounding airfield at RAF Ibsley has been returned to nature. The derelict Watch Office, inhabited by bats, now sits within a heavily protected site and the adjacent lakes are an important staging post for migratory birds. Our proposals for a Landmark here therefore represent a fine balance between preserving the heritage of RAF Ibsley and protecting the delicate ecology of the surrounding woodland and wetlands.
Our planning application for the building to the New Forest District Council (NFDC) remains open while we undertake a series of further ecological surveys to comprehensively answer concerns from Natural England. Supported by fresh data from these ecological surveys, our planning application will be considered by the NFDC planning committee in the summer.
We are hugely thankful to all who have generously supported this project so far.
