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RAF Hibaldstow is a former Royal Air Force satellite airfield located south of Hibaldstow in Lincolnshire and 8.3 miles (13.4 km) south east of Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England.
The airfield was built with greater things in mind, but it only became a satellite airfield for RAF Kirton-in-Lindsey in 1941. When the runways were constructed, some of the hardcore was made from material taken from demolished bungalows on the site.
The airfield was commissioned on 12 May 1941 when No. 255 Squadron RAF took up residence with their Boulton Paul Defiant night fighters. These planes had been drawn from RAF Kirton-in-Lindsey and made one 'kill': an He 111 which was shot down near Louth on 5 June 1941.
In June 1941 the Defiants were replaced by Bristol Beaufighter IIFs and on 23 September 1941 No. 253 (Hyderabad) Squadron from RAF Skeabrea, Orkney, arrived. In addition Havocs from RAF Hunsdon in Hunsdon, Hertfordshire also came to the base.
By the start of 1943, the high risk of night attacks by the Luftwaffe led to the closure of the airfield on 23 January 1943. It re-opened on 9 May 1943 for No. 53 Operational Training Unit RAF (OTU) and once again closed on 15 May 1945. Shortly before closure WAAF Margaret Horton had an 'unexpected ride on the tail of a Supermarine Spitfire' while acting as a tailweight: she was sitting on the tail of the plane, as was common practice, in order to stop it overturning while it taxied to the end of the runway, a hazard stemming from design drawbacks, strong wind and bouncy grass field. The pilot, anxious to be airborne, forgot about her and failed to stop to allow the WAAF to jump off the tail. As soon as the plane was in the air, the pilot realised that there was something very wrong with the handling of his aircraft. He radioed the control tower to report the problem. The emergency services were called out and the pilot talked back in without being told what had happened. The aircraft landed safely with Margaret Horton still in one piece.
On 6 August 1947 the station finally closed and during 1960-61 it was sold off for use as agricultural land. It was also used for Sunday markets, as a skid-pan by Lincolnshire Police and by a local parachute club. The control tower was converted to a two-storey house in 1976.
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Posted Dec 6, 2015 18:29 by Terry Boissel
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RAF Kirton in Lindsey was a Royal Air Force installation located 15 miles (24 km) north of Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England.
From the historical point of view, there is some uncertainty about the correct name of the location. Kirton Lindsey or Kirton-in-Lindsey?
It appears to have been an RAF habit (inherited from the RFC to name its bases after the nearest railway station, possibly to simplify the process of issuing Rail Warrants to personnel posted there. By that token, the site should be RAF Kirton Lindsey, Kirton Lindsey being the name of the nearby railway station constructed in 1849. No.255 Squadron's Operations Record Book (ORB) consistently uses that version of the name. So does the airfield's separate ORB, from the date of the site's WWII creation (15 May 1940) through to May 1941. After mid-1941 and the departure of No.255 Squadron, use of RAF Kirton-in-Lindsey. Kirton in Lindsey begins to appear in the site's own records - eventually dominating. By Terry Boissel
Posted Dec 6, 2015 14:31 by Terry Boissel
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RAF Woodhall Spa is a former Royal Air Force station located 2 miles (3.2 km) north of Coningsby, Lincolnshire and
16 miles (26 km) south east of Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England.
Constructed on farmland 1.2 miles (1.9 km) south of Woodhall Spa, the station opened in February 1942 as a
satellite station to RAF Coningsby. In August 1943 it became No. 54 Base Substation. After victory in Europe the
airfield was used as an assembly and kitting out point for Tiger Force (a proposed heavy bomber force for the far
east). After the end of the Second World War and with the move of No. 617 Squadron RAF to RAF Waddington the
airfield was closed and the site used by No. 92 Maintenance Unit for the storage of bombs. From the late 1950s it
was used as a base for Bristol Bloodhound Missiles until 1964 when most of the site was sold off for agriculture
or mineral extraction. The former missile site used to be under the control of RAF Coningsby having been used for
the servicing of McDonnell Douglas Phantom and Panavia Tornado aircraft engines until finally being mothballed in
2003.
Posted Dec 6, 2015 09:27 by Terry Boissel
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RAF Little Rissington (ICAO: EGVL) is an RAF aerodrome and former RAF station in Gloucestershire, England. It was once home to the Central Flying School, the Vintage Pair and the Red Arrows.
Built during the 1930s, the station was opened in 1938 and closed in 1994. The married-quarters and main technical site were sold in 1996 (the former becoming the village of Upper Rissington), but the aerodrome has been retained by the Ministry of Defence and remains active along with the southern technical sites, under the operational control of HQ No.2 Flying Training School at RAF Syerston.
It is now home to 637 Volunteer Gliding Squadron as the primary military unit, who provide elementary flying training for Combined Cadet Force and Air Training Corps cadets. The airfield is also used by the forces as a relief landing ground, training area and parachute dropping area. In previous years, the Royal Air Force estate has been used as a film set, including The Avengers, part of the ice chase in Die Another Day, and the Thunderbirds film
Souce: Wikipedia
Posted Dec 6, 2015 08:25 by Terry Boissel
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RAF Folkingham is a former Royal Air Force station located south west of Folkingham, Lincolnshire and about 29 miles (47 km) due south of county town Lincoln and 112 miles (180 km) north of London, England.
Opened in 1940, it was used by both the Royal Air Force and United States Army Air Forces. During the war it was used primarily as a troop carrier airfield for airborne units and as a subsidiary training depot of the newly formed Royal Air Force Regiment. After the war it was placed on care and maintenance during 1947 when the RAF Regiment relocated to RAF Catterick.
During the late 1950s and early 1960s, the RAF Bomber Command used Folkingham as a PGM-17 Thor Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile (IRBM) base.
Today the remains of the airfield are located on private property being used as agricultural fields, with the main north-south runway acting as hardstanding for hundreds of scrapped vehicles
Souce: Wikipedia
Posted Dec 6, 2015 08:22 by Terry Boissel
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RAF Fiskerton was a Royal Air Force station located north of the Lincolnshire village of Fiskerton, 5.0 miles east of Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England
It was one of many new bomber airfields built in the early part of World War II. The airfield was situated north of the village from where it got its name. It was one of only 15 RAF airfield equipped with FIDO, a fog-clearing system utilising petrol pumped through pipes alongside the main runway and burned via a sequence of nozzles. By Terry Boissel
Posted Dec 6, 2015 08:18 by Terry Boissel
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RAF Fulbeck is a former Royal Air Force station located 6.3 miles (10.1 km) east of Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire and 10.9 miles (17.5 km) west of Sleaford, Lincolnshire, England.
The airfield is located about 106 miles (171 km) north-northwest of London and was opened in 1940 when it was used by both the Royal Air Force and United States Army Air Forces. During the war it was used primarily as troop carrier airfield for airborne units. It was closed in 1948 and was no longer used by the military and is now privately owned.
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Posted Dec 6, 2015 08:15 by Terry Boissel
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In the late 1930s with a new war on the horizon, extra airfields were again needed to accommodate an expansion of
the RAF. Former First World War stations were surveyed for suitability, and an area just to the west of the
original Elsham site was deemed to be better suited. work began in the winter of 1939-1940, and the station opened
with the arrival in July 1941 of 103 Squadron. The station was equipped with a main runway 2,000 yards (1,829 m)
long, and two subsidiaries of 1,600 yards (1,463 m) and 1,400 yards (1,280 m). Three hangars (two T-2's and one
J-Type) and 27 aircraft hardstands (later increased to 36) were built. Three more T-2 hangars were built in 1944.
Accommodation for around 2,500 personnel was dispersed in the nearby farmland.
No. 103 is credited with more operational sorties than any other 1 Group squadron, and consequently suffered the
group's highest losses. Of the 248 bombers lost on operations flying from Elsham Wolds, 198 were from No. 103
Squadron. By type, losses were 28 Vickers Wellingtons, 12 Halifaxes and 208 Lancasters. One Elsham Wolds
Lancaster, Lancaster III ED888 M2 (Mike Squared)[3] which served with both Nos. 103 and 576, held the Bomber
Command record for operational sorties, having completed 140 between May 1943 and December 1944.[4] A total of 974
operational hours.
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Posted Dec 6, 2015 06:25 by Terry Boissel
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RAF Faldingworth was a Royal Air Force station used during and after the Second World War. It was located close to
the village of Faldingworth in Lincolnshire, England.
It was used during the war by number 300 (Polish) Squadron and a memorial is now in place to them at the end of
the main runway.
Faldingworth entered service life as Toft Grange decoy airfield and later as a satellite airfield of RAF
Lindholme. Late in 1943 it became a satellite of RAF Ludford Magna. After the war the base was used for storage of
weapons.
In 1957 the site became a nuclear weapons store for the RAF V bomber force. In times of crisis nuclear weapons
from the site would be distributed to the nearby v-bomber airfields such as RAF Scampton, RAF Finningley and RAF
Coningsby. With the transfer of the UK nuclear deterrent role to the Royal Navy's Resolution class submarines in
1968 the site was run down and finally de-activated in 1972.
Current Ordnance Survey maps show the remains of a typical wartime bomber airfield, with the former storage site
overlaying the south-western part of the airfield, about 1.25 miles (2 km) east of Spridlington. There is a
cluster of RAF-built housing north-east of the airfield area, sold to The Welbeck Estate Group in 1979 and a group
of RAF buildings used as an industrial estate.
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Posted Dec 6, 2015 06:21 by Terry Boissel
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RAF Dunholme Lodge was a Royal Air Force station located between the parishes of Welton and Dunholme in
Lincolnshire, England.
The grass airfield was first used by the Royal Air Force during 1941 and 1942 for use by Handley Page Hampden
aircraft from nearby RAF Scampton, and was officially opened as a RAF Station in September 1942 as part of RAF
Bomber Command with the building of three hard runways.
The main occupier of the station was 44 Squadron, with the Avro Lancaster four-engined heavy bomber, which moved
in from RAF Waddington in May 1943 and stayed until it moved to RAF Spilsby in September 1944.
In November 1944 flying operations ceased due the proximity of other stations which did not allow night flying. At
the end of the war 120 Lancasters had been lost on operations from Dunholme Lodge.
From 1948 the site was host to motorcycle and car racing until 1959 when the base was reopened as an active RAF
station when it became an active Bloodhound surface-to-air missile station with 141 Squadron.The Squardron in 1964
and the station finally closed in 1964.
Source Wikipedia
Posted Dec 6, 2015 06:18 by Terry Boissel