442d Troop Carrier Group Douglas C-47A-15-DK Skytrain 42-92879

Royal Air Force Fulbeck or more simply RAF Fulbeck 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 ...

located east of

Newark-on-Trent Newark-on-Trent () or Newark is a market town and civil parish in the Newark and Sherwood district in Nottinghamshire, England. It is on the River Trent, and was historically a major inland port. The A1 road (Great Britain), A1 road bypasses th ...

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...

and west of

Sleaford Sleaford is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. On the edge of the The Fens, Fenlands, it is north-east of Grantham, west of Boston, Lincolnshire, Boston, and sou ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

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 ...

. The airfield is located about north-northwest of

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and was opened in 1940 when it was used by both the

and

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

. During the war it was used primarily as troop carrier airfield for airborne units. After the war it was closed in 1948.

History

The airfield was initially used by the Royal Air Force as a satellite of RAF Syerston from 1940 until October 1943.

USAAF use

It was known as USAAF Station AAF-488 for security reasons by the USAAF during the war, and by which it was referred to instead of location. Its USAAF Station Code was "FB".

434th Troop Carrier Group

In October 1943, the

434th Troop Carrier Group 434th may refer to: *434th Air Refueling Wing, one of the key refueling units in the US Air Force Reserve * 434th Bombardment Squadron, an inactive United States Air Force unit * 434th Fighter Training Squadron (434 FTS), part of the 47th Flying Tr ...

arrived at Fulbeck from Baer AAF,

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

. The group was assigned to the 53d Troop Carrier Wing and flew Douglas C-47/C-53 Skytrains. Operational squadrons of the 434th and fuselage codes were: * 71st Troop Carrier (CJ) * 72d Troop Carrier (CU) * 73d Troop Carrier (CN) * 74th Troop Carrier (ID) The 434th TCG had 56 C-47s and started training with some detachments elsewhere until finally moving to RAF Welford on 10 December 1943.

442d Troop Carrier Group

At the end of March 1944 the 442d Troop Carrier Group arrived at Fulbeck from Baer AAF,

. The group was assigned to the 50th Troop Carrier Wing and flew Douglas C-47/C-53 Skytrains. Operational squadrons of the 442d and fuselage codes were: * 303d Troop Carrier (J7) * 304th Troop Carrier (V4) * 305th Troop Carrier (4J) * 306th Troop Carrier (7H) The 442d TCG moved to

RAF Weston Zoyland Royal Air Force Westonzoyland, or more simply RAF Westonzoyland, is located approximately east-southeast of Bridgwater, Somerset; about west-southwest of London. It was opened in 1925 with summer camps lasting from May until September each ...

in mid-June after having taken part in the D-Day operations.

440th Troop Carrier Group

During the following two months there was little activity at Fulbeck until some C-47s of the 440th Troop Carrier Group arrived in September 1944 from

RAF Exeter Exeter ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and the county town of Devon in South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter w ...

to use Fulbeck as part of Operation Market, the air component of Operation Market-Garden.

RAF Bomber Command use

The IX Troop Carrier Command relinquished the airfield back to the RAF in late September and No. 5 Group Bomber Command moved in the distinguished No. 49 Squadron from Fiskerton, an airfield which was transferred to No. 1 Group the following month. On 2 November the recently formed No. 189 Squadron arrived from

Bardney Bardney is a village and civil parish in the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. The population of the civil parish was 1,643 at the 2001 census increasing to 1,848 (including Southrey) at the 2011 census. The village sits on the e ...

having taken part in its first operation the previous day. Both Nos. 49 and 189 Squadron's Lancasters remained based at Fulbeck until April 1945. No. 49 flew some 60 raids from the airfield losing 15 aircraft and No. 189 took part in 40 raids with 16 aircraft lost. No. 189 moved back to Bardney on the 8th of the month and No. 49 moved to Syerston on the 22nd. On the morning of transfer, a No. 49 Squadron Lancaster making a low farewell pass across the airfield crashed into the technical area and of the resulting 24 casualties among air and ground personnel, 15 were fatal. Bomber Command operations from Fulbeck cost 38 Lancasters, either failing to return or destroyed in crashes.

1945 Avro Lancaster Crash

on the 22 April 1945 a Royal Air Force,

Avro Lancaster The Avro Lancaster, commonly known as the Lancaster Bomber, is a British World War II, Second World War heavy bomber. It was designed and manufactured by Avro as a contemporary of the Handley Page Halifax, both bombers having been developed to ...

Mk III (PB463) of the 49 Squadron had taken off from the base bound for RAF Syerston. Shortly after lifting off the aircraft caught fire & crashed into a depot. All six crew & fifteen on the ground died.

Units

The following units were also here at some point:

Current use

The runways, apart from narrow strips used as farm roads, were removed in the 1970s and all but three of the hardstandings but the perimeter track was kept intact. Small sections of the 30 and 01 runway ends, however, still exist in their full width. Fulbeck karting circuit use sections of the old runway for racing on. At one time Fulbeck was proposed for a nuclear waste disposal site.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * * *

External links

Photographs of RAF Fulbeck from the Geograph British Isles project

434th, 442d Troop Carrier Wings
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fulbeck Royal Air Force stations in Lincolnshire Airfields of the IX Troop Carrier Command in the United Kingdom 1945 disasters in the United Kingdom Aviation accidents and incidents locations in England