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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P-47 Thunderbolts lined up at RAF Ibsley in June 1944 ready for their assigned mission.
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2nd Lt. Jacob Cooper, 493rd Sq., 9th USAAF 48th Fighter Group at RAF Ibsley. Credit: nfknowledge.org
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Harry Rees was an RAF Band Sargeant and was stationed at Ibsley in June 1944. His son shared his story with a donation to our appeal.
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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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From these windows airmen and officers hopefully waited for the safe return of their squadrons.
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.
How your donation could help
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£500
could help replace lost and damaged Crittall windows with energy efficient equivalents
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£125
could support repairs to the unique concrete viewing balcony
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£60
could support the sensitive repair of crumbling and damaged brickwork
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£30
provides a tin of paint to replicate the wartime decorative scheme
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 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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“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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“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
June 2024 update
We continue to develop our project to rescue RAF Ibsley Watch Office, with ecology surveys ongoing this year as part of the planning process. Our hope is to start work in 2025, yet the project will not be possible without your support.
Other ways to donate
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.
