A NEW exhibition about the history of RAF Upper Heyford is attracting hundreds of visitors every day.

Cold War Frontier tells the story of ‘Little America’ with first-hand accounts, artefacts and stories from the Cold War period, and runs until January 7.

Dale Johnston, exhibition manager at Banbury Museum, said: "This is one of those rare exhibitions that combines an international story - the Cold War - with local stories.

"So many people seem to have memories of the Upper Heyford base and the exhibition gives visitors the chance to revisit those memories or discover for the first time the history of this special site."

The exhibition was produced Chris Prescott who has a keen interest in Upper Heyford after he spent much of his childhood at the base.

He runs a design company from Cherwell Innovation Centre and has taken an active role in the heritage efforts on the site.

With support from Dave Godhorn, Neil Chislett, Ric Batson and Amy Dudley, Mr Prescott brought together the memorabilia and information he had collected over the years to create the exhibition

In the 1970s the base was home to about 15,000 American servicemen and was the largest airfield in Europe.

The air base closed in 1994 and has been undergoing redevelopment since 2010 after sitting empty for a number of years.

Many of the buildings have been demolished and homes built in their place, with plans to take this up to 1,075 homes at the base.

The most recent addition is change of use permission for the site to create a heritage centre and a warehouse on site.

By July 1971 Upper Heyford was thought to be the largest fighter base in Europe.

Mr Johnston added that the exhibition has been extremely popular so far.

He praised the passion of volunteers who contributed to the exhibition and said their efforts stemmed from the desire to protect the site's heritage, a mission that was started by Don Todd, who successfully saw English Heritage list and schedule many areas of the former base.

The museum will be welcoming experts on November 12 and January 7 to answer any questions about the base.

And there will be a talk on November 5, led by Mark Levene, focusing on the intense period in the second great phase of the Cold War.

Tickets for The Struggle for Heyford 1979-1986 are on sale in the museum shop or online.

The exhibition is open Monday to Saturday, from 10am to 5pm.

For further information visit banburymuseum.org