Royal Air Force Driffield or RAF Driffield is a former
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...
station in the
East Riding of Yorkshire
The East Riding of Yorkshire, often abbreviated to the East Riding or East Yorkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and west, S ...
, in England. It lies about south-west of
Driffield
Driffield, also known as Great Driffield (neighbouring Little Driffield), is a market town and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The civil parish is formed by the town of Driffield and the village of Little Driffield. By ...
and north-west of
Beverley. It is now operated by the
Defence Infrastructure Organisation
Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) is an operating arm of the Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), Ministry of Defence (MoD) in the United Kingdom, which is responsible for the built and rural estate. Its chief executive is Mike Green.
...
, as the Driffield Training Area.
History
The site was first opened in 1918 by the Royal Air Force under the name of RAF Eastburn, and closed in 1920. In 1935 a new airfield was built, initially training bomber crews. In 1977 the site was turned over to the
British Army
The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...
for use as a
driving school, and was renamed Alamein Barracks, a satellite to
Normandy Barracks of the
Defence School of Transport at
Leconfield.
The station was the initial posting of
Leonard Cheshire VC, who was at that time a member of
102 Squadron.
On 15 August 1940 there was a German air raid on the airfield. Casualties included the first fatality in the
Women's Auxiliary Air Force
The Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF), whose members were referred to as WAAFs (), was the female auxiliary of the British Royal Air Force during the World War II, Second World War. Established in 1939, WAAF numbers exceeded 181,000 at its peak ...
(WAAF).
On 4 June 1941 RAF Driffield was attacked by German aircraft which resulted in one Wellington, of No. 405 (RCAF) Squadron, being destroyed and another damaged.
On 1 August 1959, the station was armed with
PGM-17 Thor
The PGM-17A Thor was the first operative ballistic missile of the United States Air Force (USAF). It was named after the Thor, Norse god of thunder. It was deployed in the United Kingdom between 1959 and September 1963 as an intermediate-range b ...
ballistic missiles, which were subsequently decommissioned by April 1963.
Units
The following units were here at some point:
References
Citations
Bibliography
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External links
UK Airfields – DriffieldDerelict Places – RAF Driffield – May 2011Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust – RAF Driffield (Eastburn)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Driffield
Military units and formations established in 1918
Buildings and structures in the East Riding of Yorkshire
Royal Air Force stations in Yorkshire
World War I airfields
1918 establishments in the United Kingdom
Royal Air Force stations of World War II in the United Kingdom
Driffield
World War I sites in England