World War II

A famous painting by Dame Laura Knight RA of a balloon crew in operation

Pucklechurch has a long history with the RAF, a station being built in 1939, immediately next to the village on the Bristol road on Ashfields, the site of the present remand Centre. It was used as a maintenance depot for barrage balloons during the War and in 1957 it was reported to have been taken over by one of the RAF's Language Schools, formerly being the station of the 62 Group Reserve. The balloon hangers are still on the site.

The history of the No.11 Balloon Centre and RAF Pucklechurch is well documented by John Penny who has his own website describing in great detail the history and background of the RAF Station.

A link to this external site can be found here

The war memorial at the Parish Church displays the names of those that gave their lives in the Two World Wars. A list of these people, along with some details about them is located at this external website