Royal Air Force Lindley or more simply RAF Lindley 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 Station may refer to: Agriculture * Station (Australian agriculture), a large Australian landholding used for livestock production * Station (New Zealand agriculture), a large New Zealand farm used for grazing by sheep and cattle ** Cattle statio ...

situated in Leicestershire south east of

Polesworth Polesworth is a large village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the North Warwickshire district of Warwickshire, England. It is situated close to the northern tip of the county, adjacent to the border with Staffordshire. It is eas ...

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in close proximity to

Watling Street Watling Street is a historic route in England, running from Dover and London in the southeast, via St Albans to Wroxeter. The road crosses the River Thames at London and was used in Classical Antiquity, Late Antiquity, and throughout the M ...

. The airfield opened in 1943 before closing in 1946.

History

The first unit to use the airfield was No. 1513 (Beam Approach Training) Flight RAF (BAT Flt) flying the

Airspeed Oxford The Airspeed AS.10 Oxford is a twin-engine monoplane aircraft developed and manufactured by Airspeed Ltd, Airspeed. It saw widespread use for training Commonwealth of Nations, British Commonwealth aircrews in navigation, radio-operating, bombin ...

based at

RAF Bramcote Royal Air Force Bramcote, or more simply RAF Bramcote, is a former Royal Air Force station located south-east of Nuneaton, Warwickshire, England used during the Second World War. It was later transferred to the Admiralty and was known as Royal ...

, RAF Bitteswell and Lindley between 31 October 1942 and 13 May 1946. From 7 February 1943 until 27 March 1943 No. 18 (Polish) Operational Training Unit RAF used the airfield as a satellite from

flying

Avro Anson The Avro Anson is a British twin-engine, multi-role aircraft built by the aircraft manufacturer Avro. Large numbers of the type served in a variety of roles for the Royal Air Force (RAF), Fleet Air Arm (FAA), Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), R ...

Fairey Battle The Fairey Battle is a British single-engine light bomber that was designed and manufactured by the Fairey Aviation Company. It was developed during the mid-1930s for the Royal Air Force (RAF) as a monoplane successor to the Hawker Hart and Ha ...

s and

Vickers Wellington The Vickers Wellington (nicknamed the Wimpy) is a British twin-engined, long-range medium bomber. It was designed during the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey. Led by Vickers-Armstrongs' chief designer Rex Pierson, a key feature of t ...

s but the airfield was transferred to

RAF Transport Command RAF Transport Command was a Royal Air Force command that controlled all transport aircraft of the RAF. It was established on 25 March 1943 by the renaming of the RAF Ferry Command, and was subsequently renamed RAF Air Support Command in 19 ...

on 25 June 1943 and was home to No. 105 Operational Training Unit flying

s and

Douglas Dakota The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota ( RAF designation) is a military transport aircraft developed from the civilian Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the Allies during World War II. During the war the C-47 was used for troo ...

s until 21 November 1945. However the unit was renamed No. 1381 (Transport) Conversion Unit RAF before moving to

RAF Desborough Royal Air Force Desborough or more simply RAF Desborough is a former Royal Air Force station located near Desborough, Northamptonshire Northamptonshire ( ; abbreviated Northants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in t ...

on 10 August 1943.

United States Army use

The airfield was used by the Air Echelon of 250th Field Artillery,

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

, with the Piper L-4 Cub, 'Grasshopper' between March and June 1944 before 30 November 1945 when the airfield was placed on care and maintenance.

Current use

The

Motor Industry Research Association An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into motion (physics), mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroe ...

(MIRA) started using the airfield from October 1948 two years after it was founded.

References

External links

BBC History -Memories of a Wartime Erk in the RAF

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lindley Royal Air Force stations in Leicestershire Military units and formations established in 1942