# Oxfordshire Aviation Archive moves to SOFO Museum

Source: https://www.polishgenealogist.co.uk/news/oxfordshire-aviation-archive-sofo/
Last updated: 2026-11-07
Summary: Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum is now home to the Oxfordshire Aviation Archive, which documents local airfields, flying clubs, aircraft makers and RAF units.
Publisher: The Polish Genealogist (professional Polish genealogy research, polishgenealogist.co.uk)

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Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum is now home to the Oxfordshire Aviation Archive. The museum’s two-part account by Peter Burton and Peter Davis describes the collection they founded in 2024 by bringing together material on military and civilian flying in the county.

*An aerial camera being loaded into a reconnaissance Spitfire at RAF Benson. [H. Hensser / Imperial War Museums, CH 10847](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force-_Operations_by_the_Photographic_Reconnaissance_Units%2C_1939-1945._CH10847.jpg) / [Public domain](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/).*

### From airfields to flying clubs

The founders list airfield plans, photographs, station magazines and programmes alongside flying-club material and records about aircraft companies. Their account covers RAF Benson’s role in wartime photographic reconnaissance and the aircraft repair work carried out in Cowley. Some RAF and company material remains with Peter Davis while he continues adding to it.

*A wartime aerial view of RAF Benson and its surroundings. [7th Photographic Group, 8th USAAF / Imperial War Museums, C 5435](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:RAF_Benson_aerial_view_WWII_IWM_C_5435.jpg) / [Public domain](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/).*

### What a station name can tell you

A place written on a family photograph or in a logbook gives you something to compare with station material from the same period. Keep a note of the date, unit and any aircraft serial written alongside it. A station photograph can help identify a hangar or explain what work took place there. A name or service number from a separate record can help establish who served there and when.

*An Ordnance Survey sheet showing Littlemore and Sandford-on-Thames before the aviation era. [Ordnance Survey / British History Online](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Map_of_Oxford_and_its_Environs_OS_Map_name_006-12%2C_Ordnance_Survey%2C_1875-1881.png) / [Public domain](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/).*

Check period maps as well as present-day place names. The archive follows the county’s 1974 boundary, so its geographical scope includes some airfields in areas that were previously part of Berkshire.

*A 1941 recruitment poster for the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force. [Royal Air Force / Imperial War Museums, PST 3096](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Waaf.jpg) / [Public domain](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/).*

### Tracing a Polish airman’s service

A British station name is a starting point when a family is tracing a Polish airman. Our [Polish military research service](https://www.polishgenealogist.co.uk/services/polish-military-service-records-research/) can compare dates, unit clues and service numbers with Polish and other continental records and set out the evidence in an English-language report.

### Sources

- [Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum, archive history](https://www.sofo.org.uk/oxfordshireaviationarchive1/)

- [Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum, collection outline](https://www.sofo.org.uk/oxfordshireaviationarchive2/)

### Related guides

- [Polish Air Force records in Britain](https://www.polishgenealogist.co.uk/military/polish-air-force-records-uk/)

- [Polish service records and the MOD transfer](https://www.polishgenealogist.co.uk/news/mod-service-records-transfer-update/)

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Research help: The Polish Genealogist researches Polish family history, military service and citizenship evidence in Polish, British and international archives, with reports in English. Services and prices: https://www.polishgenealogist.co.uk/services/