Royal Air Force Bawtry or more simply RAF Bawtry is a former

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

station located at Bawtry Hall in

Bawtry Bawtry is a market town and civil parish in the City of Doncaster in South Yorkshire, England. It lies between Doncaster, Gainsborough and Retford, on the border with Nottinghamshire and close to Lincolnshire. The town is historically part of ...

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a ceremonial and metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of Doncaster and Sheffield as well as the boroughs of Barnsley and Rotherham. In N ...

, England and was

No. 1 Group RAF No. 1 Group of the Royal Air Force is one of the two operations groups in RAF Air Command. Today, the group is referred to as the Air Combat Group, as it controls the RAF's combat fast-jet aircraft and has airfields in the UK, as well as RAF Sup ...

Bomber Command Bomber Command is an organisational military unit, generally subordinate to the air force of a country. The best known were in Britain and the United States. A Bomber Command is generally used for strategic bombing (although at times, e.g. during t ...

headquarters and administration unit during and following the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The site is currently being used as a Luxury Wedding Venue, working with the Crown Hotel in Bawtry

History

Bawtry Hall itself is a large redbrick house in two storeys with attics which was erected around 1785 by Pemberton Milnes, a prosperous wool-merchant from

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 99,251 in the 2011 census.https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011/ks101ew Census 2011 table KS101EW Usual resident population, ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

. It descended in the Milnes family for several generations before being sold to Major George Peake, a well-known amateur pilot, in 1905. It is a Grade II* listed building. During the

the RAF took it over and it became an RAF command centre. RAF Bawtry did not have its own airfield but instead took advantage of

RAF Bircotes Royal Air Force Bircotes or more simply RAF Bircotes is a former Royal Air Force satellite airfield located within South Yorkshire, England. Although it was named after the town of Bircotes which is in Nottinghamshire. History RAF Bircotes was ...

, which was located literally next-door. Here the station based a number of communications aircraft. Bawtry Hall served the Royal Air Force from 1941–1984; first as HQ for No. 1 Group, Bomber Command during and after the Second World War, then as HQ No. 1 Group as part of Strike Command up to and including the later stages of the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

. The famous bombing of the airfield at

Port Stanley Stanley (; also known as Port Stanley) is the capital city of the Falkland Islands. It is located on the island of East Falkland, on a north-facing slope in one of the wettest parts of the islands. At the 2016 census, the city had a populat ...

Vulcan Vulcan may refer to: Mythology * Vulcan (mythology), the god of fire, volcanoes, metalworking, and the forge in Roman mythology Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * Vulcan (''Star Trek''), name of a fictional race and their home p ...

bombers from

RAF Waddington Royal Air Force Waddington otherwise known as RAF Waddington is a Royal Air Force (RAF) station located beside the village of Waddington, south of Lincoln, Lincolnshire in England. The station is the RAF's Intelligence Surveillance Target A ...

during the

Falklands War The Falklands War ( es, link=no, Guerra de las Malvinas) was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and its territorial de ...

was co-ordinated from the operations room at Bawtry Hall. RAF Bawtry became the centre of the RAF Meteorological Service for many years and ceased military operations in 1986. In June 1987 Bawtry Hall was purchased by The Welbeck Estate Group. No. 1 Group Bomber Command units based at RAF Bawtry comprised as follows: – +data from: During the

Miners' Strike Miners' strikes are when miners conduct strike actions. See also * List of strikes References {{Reflist Miners A miner is a person who extracts ore, coal, chalk, clay, or other minerals from the earth through mining. There are tw ...

in the mid-1980s, police officers were based at RAF Bawtry to provide a central Operations and co-ordination point on the

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...

border.

Present

The

Air Training Corps The Air Training Corps (ATC) is a British volunteer-military youth organisation. They are sponsored by the Ministry of Defence and the Royal Air Force. The majority of staff are volunteers, and some are paid for full-time work – including C ...

2008 Squadron is still located at the former site on Park Road in Bawtry, in a new building that replaced the former ones. It was sold by Defence Estates in the mid 1980s to a Roger Byron-Collins company who owned Bawtry Hall for 3 years together with the nearby technical and domestic site at

RAF Hemswell Royal Air Force Hemswell or more simply RAF Hemswell is a former Royal Air Force (RAF) station located east of Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, England. Located close to the village of Hemswell in Lincolnshire, England the disestablished airfield i ...

and the post war married quarters sites at

RAF Finningley Royal Air Force Finningley or RAF Finningley was a Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force station at Finningley, in the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The station straddled the historic county boundaries of both ...

and

RAF Scampton Royal Air Force Scampton or RAF Scampton is a Royal Air Force station located adjacent to the A15 road near to the village of Scampton, Lincolnshire, and north-west of the city of Lincoln, England. RAF Scampton stands on the site of a First ...

. Later the building was bought by Action Partners Corporation, a Christian organisation, and has been used as teaching and conference centre for the past 24 years. The trustees had taken the decision to close the hall on 31 December 2013 and a buyer was being actively sought. The hall was sold in 2014 for £1.6 million to Bawtry Hall properties who would be moving various video gaming enterprises into the building.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bawtry Royal Air Force stations in Yorkshire Aviation in Doncaster Royal Air Force stations of World War II in the United Kingdom Bawtry Grade II* listed buildings in South Yorkshire