RAF Merryfield

RAF Merryfield RAF Isle Abbots USAAF Station AAF-464
Fivehead, Somerset
Merryfield airfield in 1943, having just been turned over to the USAAF by the contractors, shown with the village of Ilton.
Coordinates	50°58′N 2°56′W / 50.97°N 2.94°W / 50.97; -2.94
Type	Royal Air Force station
Code	HI, MF
Site information
Controlled by	United States Army Air Forces Royal Air Force
Site history
Built	1942/3
In use	1944-1946,1951-1958
Battles/wars	European Theatre of World War II Air Offensive, Europe July 1942 - May 1945
Garrison information
Garrison	Ninth Air Force RAF Transport Command
Occupants	441st Troop Carrier Group

RAF Merryfield (also known as Isle Abbotts) is a former Second World War airfield in the village of Ilton near Ilminster in southwest Somerset, England. The airfield is located approximately 7 miles (11 km) north of Chard, about 130 miles (210 km) southwest of London. It is now RNAS Merryfield and serves as a satellite to the larger RNAS Yeovilton; it is used mainly as a training facility for helicopter pilots.

The airfield was built on or near the historic estate of Merryfield (alias Merrifield, Murefeld, Merefeld, Muryfield, Merifield, Wadham's Castle, etc.), the former fortified manor house of which was situated about 1 mile west-north-west of the parish church of Ilton, and immediately south of the present airfield, and of which only a moated site remains, in the middle of farmland. The estate was the seat, from mediaeval times until 1609, of the Wadham family which founded Wadham College, Oxford in 1610, and whose monuments survive at the Church of St Mary, Ilminster. Today a large grade II listed 19th century mansion called Merryfield House is situated immediately south of St Peter's Church, Ilton.

Opened in 1944, the airfield was used by both the Royal Air Force and United States Army Air Forces. During the Second World War it was used primarily as a transport airfield. After the war it was provided to the Royal Navy.

Merryfield airfield was to be built to the Class A airfield standard for bomber use, with a set of three converging concrete runways for takeoffs and landings, optimally placed at 60 degree angles to each other in a triangular pattern. John Laing Ltd was the main contractor. Work commenced late in 1942 and on 11 November the airfield was listed as one of 16 to be made available for the USAAF to meet the number of troop carrier groups projected for the UK.