RAF Faldingworth

RAF Faldingworth
IATA: none – ICAO: none
Summary
Airport type	Military
Owner	Ministry of Defence
Operator	Royal Air Force
Location	Faldingworth, Lincolnshire
Built	1943 (1943)
In use	1943-1972 (1972)
Elevation AMSL	49 ft / 15 m
Coordinates
Map
RAF Faldingworth Location in Lincolnshire
Runways
Direction Length Surface ft m 00/00 0 0 Asphalt 00/00 0 0 Asphalt 00/00 0 0 Asphalt

Royal Air Force Station Faldingworth or more simply 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.

History

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.

In 1959 there was an oxygen production unit operating on the opposite side of the airfield to the nuclear weapons storage site. Two BA1D air separation units were operated on a 24 hour basis to provide a ready supply of breathable oxygen for the aircrew of the V bombers. At that time RAF Faldingworth was a satellite station of RAF Scampton.

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.

Operation units and aircraft

• No. 300 Polish Bomber Squadron (1944-1947) - Vickers Wellington X, Avro Lancaster I & III
• No. 305 Polish Bomber Squadron (1946-1947) - de Havilland Mosquito VI

References

Bibliography

• Halpenny, B.B. Action Stations: Wartime Military Airfields of Lincolnshire and the East Midlands v. 2. Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, Patrick Stephens Ltd, 1981. ISBN 0-85059-484-7.

External links

• Subterranean Britain description and photographs
• Airfields & Aviation Memorials