Fairlop is one of the four airfields in Essex that could trace its origins back to the days of the First World War and the Royal Flying corps. All flying had ceased by the end of 1919, and the landing ground was returned to agricultural use.

The City of London Corporation purchased the site in the late 1930’s as they intended to develop the site into a major airport, but this never happened. The Air ministry took over the site at the beginning of the war and on the 26^th September 1940 the site was handed over to contractors to start the construction of the airfield, this was in the form of three concrete runways at 1,600 yards and two at 1,100 yards. The site also required enough accommodation for 1,200 RAF Personnel. On 1^st August 1941 the air ministry set an establishment for RAF Fairlop. A month later Group Captain Harry Broadhurst flew in and made a trial landing on each runway before pronouncing them up to standard. On the 10^th September Fairlop was declared open, with Squadron Leader H.G.P Ovendon as the first commanding officer of Hornchurch’s second Satellite airfield.

The first squadron to arrive was that of No 603 City pf Edinburgh which arrived from Hornchurch in November. This squadron left for Scotland on the 18^th December. During late January and February 1942 three Spitfire Squadrons No’s 64, 81 and 411 moved into Fairlop from Hornchurch for a couple of weeks as their landing field had become water logged. It was not until the end of April 1942 that a more permanent resident moved in, this was in the form of No 313 Squadron which was a Czech Squadron. They only stayed for a short while and moved on to the West Country in June and where replaced by No 122 Squadron. During the winter of 1942/43 No 64 Squadron occupied the airfield for several months. This squadron had already served there and had been part of the Hornchurch wing on and off for two years.

On 5^th April 1943 Fairlop moved away from being a Spitfire base when two Typhoon Squadrons No 182 and 247 arrived. When the Typhoons left they where replaced by no 164 Squadron, which was equipped with Hurricane IV’s. No 164 squadrons shared the airfield with a Squadron of Typhoons  (no 195), which had been formed at Duxford in 1942. Fairlops days as an operational station were coming to an end. The final squadron to arrive was no 193 who arrived in Feb 1944 and was equipped with Typhoons. However their stay was short and by the middle of March they had left to go join No 164 squadron at Thorney Island. By the summer of 1944 No 24 Balloon Centre with four squadrons was operating from the airfield. Balloon command was disbanded in Feb 1945 and Fairlop became vacant in September and the station was closed finally in August 1946.

 No 64 Squadron

No 122 Squadron

No 164 Squadron

No 182 Squadron

No 195 Squadron

No 247 Squadron

No 313 Squadron

No 603 City of Edinburgh Squadron

Supermarine spitfire Vs

Hawker Typhoon IB

Hawker Hurricane IVs