D-Day Special - Kiwis Flying From Raf Horne

Day Special!! For seven frantic weeks in May and June of 1944, RAF Horne was home to 60 Spitfires in the thick of the fight on D-Day and the invasion of Europe.
The three squadrons included four Kiwis and were led by Wing Commander Johnny Checketts. Known as No. 142 Wing, the Spitfires at RAF Horne flew 1,500 operational sorties, and 720 non-operational flights in seven weeks.
And then, just 50 days after the first Spitfire landed at RAF Horne, the 300 members of 142 Wing abandoned the airfield and it reverted to a quiet farmer’s field in a corner of rural Surrey.
Your host Chris Checketts will recount the extraordinary but short history of the airfield, and the surprising reason its life was so brief.