Sherburn-in-Elmet Airfield is located east of

Sherburn in Elmet Sherburn in Elmet (pronounced ) is a town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the North Yorkshire (district), district and county of North Yorkshire, England. It is to the west of Selby and south of Tadcaster. It was part of the W ...

village and west of

Selby Selby is a market town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England, south of York on the River Ouse. At the 2021 Census, it had a population of 17,193. The town was historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire; from 1974 until 2023, ...

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in Northern England.The Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas of City of York, York and North Yorkshire (district), North Yorkshire are in Yorkshire and t ...

, England.

Pre-War and Wartime history

In the 1920s, the Yorkshire Aeroplane Club began operating here. The novelist, pilot, and aeronautical engineer

Nevil Shute Nevil Shute Norway (17 January 189912 January 1960) was an English novelist and aeronautical engineer who spent his later years in Australia. He used his full name in his engineering career and Nevil Shute as his pen name to protect his enginee ...

was a member, and on the club's management committee. At the time, the club was flying

de Havilland Moth The de Havilland Moths were a series of light aircraft, sports planes, and military trainers designed by Geoffrey de Havilland. In the late 1920s and 1930s, they were the most common civilian aircraft flying in Britain, and during that time eve ...

s. In his memoir, ''

Slide Rule A slide rule is a hand-operated mechanical calculator consisting of slidable rulers for conducting mathematical operations such as multiplication, division, exponents, roots, logarithms, and trigonometry. It is one of the simplest analog ...

'', Shute records that ". . . the Yorkshire Club quickly attracted a fair cross-section of young Yorkshire men and women, so that a Sunday spent at the Club was a merry Sunday." He also met his future wife, Frances Mary Heaton, a physician, at the club. After establishing

Airspeed Ltd. Airspeed Limited was established in 1931 to build aeroplanes in York, England, by A. H. Tiltman and Nevil Shute Norway (the aeronautical engineer and novelist, who used his forenames as his pen-name). The other directors were A. E. Hewitt, ...

, an aircraft manufacturing firm, he personally flew the first two test flights of the company's first aircraft here. It was a glider, known as the

Tern Terns are seabirds in the family Laridae, subfamily Sterninae, that have a worldwide distribution and are normally found near the sea, rivers, or wetlands. Terns are treated in eleven genera in a subgroup of the family Laridae, which also ...

, and was launched using a "very old Buick car" pulling a steel cable.Nevil Shute, "Slide Rule", London: Heinemann, 1954 During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

the airfield was used as a

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. From 1940

Blackburn Aircraft Blackburn Aircraft Limited was a British aircraft manufacturer from 1914 to 1963 that concentrated mainly on naval and maritime aircraft. History Blackburn Aircraft was founded by Robert Blackburn (aviation pioneer), Robert Blackburn and Jessy ...

used a

Ministry of Aircraft Production Ministry may refer to: Government * Ministry (collective executive), the complete body of government ministers under the leadership of a prime minister * Ministry (government department), a department of a government Religion * Christian mi ...

factory here to build 1699

Fairey Swordfish The Fairey Swordfish is a retired biplane torpedo bomber, designed by the Fairey Aviation Company. Originating in the early 1930s, the Swordfish, nicknamed "Stringbag", was principally operated by the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy. It was a ...

naval torpedo aircraft. The Airborne Forces Experimental Establishment (AFEE) was moved from

RAF Ringway RAF Ringway was a Royal Air Force satellite station at Ringway, Cheshire, England, near Manchester. It was operational from 1939 until 1957. The site is now occupied by Manchester Airport. Prewar years Manchester's first municipal airfield w ...

to Sherburn on 17 June 1942. It was charged with developing the means to deploy allied airborne forces and supplies on operations by

Military glider Military gliders (an offshoot of common gliders) have been used by the militaries of various countries for carrying troops ( glider infantry) and heavy equipment to a combat zone, mainly during the Second World War. These engineless aircraft wer ...

Parachute A parachute is a device designed to slow an object's descent through an atmosphere by creating Drag (physics), drag or aerodynamic Lift (force), lift. It is primarily used to safely support people exiting aircraft at height, but also serves va ...

and other means. The AFEE moved to

RAF Beaulieu Royal Air Force Beaulieu or more simply RAF Beaulieu is a former Royal Air Force List of former Royal Air Force stations, station in the New Forest, Hampshire, England. It was also known as Beaulieu airfield, Beaulieu aerodrome and USAAF Station ...

on 4 January 1945. The following units were also here at some point: * No. 2 (Coastal) Operational Training Unit RAF * No. 7 Ferry Pilots Pool ATA became No. 7 Ferry Pool ATA * No. 30 Gliding School RAF *

No. 46 Squadron RAF No. 46 Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Air Force, formed in 1916, was disbanded and re-formed three times before its last disbandment in 1975. It served in both World War I and World War II. World War I No. 46 Squadron was ...

(1941) * No. 73 Squadron RAF *

885 Naval Air Squadron 885 Naval Air Squadron (885 NAS) was a List of Fleet Air Arm aircraft squadrons, Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. First formed on 1 March 1941, the squadron served as a fighter squadron during the Second World War. It opera ...

Leeds University Air Squadron Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built arou ...

Post-war operations

Post-war, Sherburn has been used by private pilots and by aero clubs for training and leisure flying. The Yorkshire Aeroplane Club was based here for many years and organised several international air rallies in the early 1950s. In addition to the listed runways, there is a closed/un-maintained paved former runway parallel to, and about northwest of, the current 06/24 grass runway.

References

External links

Sherburn Aero Club Ltd
Airports in England Transport in North Yorkshire Royal Air Force stations of World War II in the United Kingdom Airports in Yorkshire

Airfield An aerodrome, airfield, or airstrip is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for public or private use. Aerodromes in ...

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