Bovingdon

Bovingdon is a village in the Chiltern Hills, in Hertfordshire, England, close to the town of Hemel Hempstead.

The village is the site of a former World War Two, Eighth Air Force and post-war Royal Air Force airfield, which is now houses The Mount Prison, as well as a popular open air market on Saturdays and a banger racing circuit.

The airfield was built in 1942. Between 1943 and 1946 it became a B-17 operational training base for units such as the 92nd Bomber Group, B-17 Combat Crew Replacement Centre (CCRC), 11th CCRC, and 8th USAAF HQ Squadron. The RAF resumed control until 1951, then the USAF took over again until 1962 flying B-26, B-29 and B-50's. Flying ceased in 1969. The field served as a defacto airport for nearby Hemel during most of the postwar period.

Several films were made here including The War Lover, 633 Squadron, Hanover Street, and Mosquito Squadron.

The airspace above the airfield is a turning point for aircraft approaching Heathrow Airport, 20 miles / 30 km to the south, as the field is still the site of a VOR navigational beacon, code BNN.

In 1971 the poisoner Graham Frederick Young committed two murders whilst working for a local electronics company.

The village name is sometimes confused with Bovington Camp in Wiltshire. Halfpenny Green Airfield in Shropshire was renamed from Bobbington, the name of the local village, during WWII after a B-17 tried to land there when the crew became lost.