Royal Air Force Lindholme or more simply RAF Lindholme 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 ...
in
South Yorkshire
South Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the north, the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north-east, Lincolnshire ...
, England. It was located south of
Thorne and north east of
Doncaster
Doncaster ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don, it is the administrative centre of the City of Doncaster metropolitan borough, and is the second largest se ...
and was initially called RAF Hatfield Woodhouse.
Early years
RAF Lindholme started life as an expansion scheme aerodrome built on the wide expanse of Hatfield moors, some east of
Doncaster
Doncaster ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don, it is the administrative centre of the City of Doncaster metropolitan borough, and is the second largest se ...
. The site, to the east of the
A614 Thorne to
Bawtry
Bawtry is a market town and civil parish in the City of Doncaster in South Yorkshire, England. It lies south-east of Doncaster, west of Gainsborough and north-west of Retford, on the border with Nottinghamshire and close to Lincolnshire. ...
road, was a mile south of the small village of
Hatfield Woodhouse, the name first selected for the new station, however, stores and correspondence was getting waylaid between the station and
Hatfield Aerodrome
Hatfield Aerodrome was a private airfield and aircraft factory located in the English town of Hatfield in Hertfordshire from 1930 until its closure and redevelopment in the 1990s.
Early history
Geoffrey de Havilland, pioneering aircraft desig ...
in Hertfordshire, so in August 1940, the name was changed to Lindholme. Work began in the spring of 1938 taking in approximately of pasture for the airfield itself and a further 150 for the camp and support facilities.
Three
Type-C hangars fronted the south-west side of the bombing circle, with a fourth and fifth behind the two outer hangars. The administration, technical and barrack area lay alongside the A614. As was common with these expansion scheme airfields, the construction of buildings took place over several months and the pace was only quickened by the outbreak of war. It officially opened in June 1940 under
No.5 Group,
No. 50 Squadron RAF and its
Hampdens arrived the following month.
No. 50 was the sole resident at Lindholme until June 1941, when a new Canadian-crewed bomber squadron
No. 408 Squadron RCAF was raised there. The squadron was equipped with Hampdens and, once having found its feet, it was moved to
Syerston to begin operations in July. The following month, Lindholme was one of a number of No.5 Group stations handed over to
No.1 Group, as a result of which No.5 Group moved its No.50 Squadron to
RAF Swinderby
Royal Air Force Swinderby or more simply RAF Swinderby is a former Royal Air Force List of former Royal Air Force stations, station airfield opened in 1940, one of the last of the stations completed under the RAF's expansion plans started in th ...
. From RAF Syerston, No.1 Group moved in two of the Polish squadrons under its charge – Nos.
304 and
305
Year 305 ( CCCV) was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Constantius and Valerius (or, less frequently, year 1058 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 305 for thi ...
– both flying
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. These two squadrons, having been operational since April, continued their contribution to Bomber Command's offensive from the new station throughout the following winter. In May 1942, No.304 Squadron was detached to assist
RAF Coastal Command
RAF Coastal Command was a formation within the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was founded in 1936, when the RAF was restructured into Fighter, Bomber and Coastal commands and played an important role during the Second World War. Maritime Aviation ...
but the detachment soon became an assignment and did not return to
RAF Bomber Command
RAF Bomber Command controlled the Royal Air Force's bomber forces from 1936 to 1968. Along with the United States Army Air Forces, it played the central role in the Strategic bombing during World War II#Europe, strategic bombing of Germany in W ...
. Two months later No. 305 squadron was transferred to
RAF Hemswell
Royal Air Force Hemswell, or RAF Hemswell, is a former Royal Air Force station located east of Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, England.
Located close to the village of Hemswell in Lincolnshire, England the disestablished airfield is now in f ...
to concentrate Polish-crewed bomber squadrons on one station.
During the first two years of war, a bomb store had been constructed on the far side of the A614 as had a taxi spur with three pan hardstandings. A perimeter track and over 30 pan hardstandings had also been built during this period. By 1942 Lindholme was due for upgrading and the construction of concrete runways was put in hand. However, extension of the airfield was somewhat restricted by the Hatfield Moor Drain on the eastern boundary but more land was acquired to the north necessitating the closure of two roads, one to the hamlet of Lindholme. Because of these physical restrictions, only two runways were built, 14–32 and 04–22, both of which were extended to and respectively. A new bomb store was fashioned on land to the north of the station, which resulted in obstruction of seven pan dispersal points. Two others were lost due to the construction of a new perimeter track. Even so, the station ended up with 41 pans and one loop type. A few additional camp sites were added to the south of the main area giving the station maximum accommodation for 2,192 men and 365 women.
Heavy Conversion Unit
Re-opened for flying in late October 1942, No.1656 Heavy Conversion Unit (HCU) moved in with a few
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 ...
s and
Avro Manchester
The Avro 679 Manchester was a British twin-engine heavy bomber developed and manufactured by the Avro aircraft company in the United Kingdom. While not being built in great numbers, it was the forerunner of the more famed and more successful ...
s from
RAF Breighton to serve No. 1 Group's conversion to the former type. Now an operational training base, over the next two years Lindholme was host to other units with an instructional mission. Both Lancaster and
Handley Page Halifax
The Handley Page Halifax is a British Royal Air Force (RAF) four-engined heavy bomber of the Second World War. It was developed by Handley Page to the same specification as the contemporary twin-engine Avro Manchester.
The Halifax has its or ...
crews were tutored here with No. 1667 HCU being established on the airfield in June 1943, moving out to
RAF Faldingworth
Royal Air Force Faldingworth or more simply RAF Faldingworth is a former Royal Air Force satellite station used during and after the Second World War. It was located close to the village of Faldingworth in Lincolnshire, England.
Development
B ...
in October. In November the same year, No. 1 Lancaster Finishing School was activated using existing flights with a similar mission. On 3 November 1944, the station became No. 71 Base under the new training organisation –
No. 7 Group RAF. Meanwhile, No. 1656 HCU remained at Lindholme until November 1945 when many Bomber Command units were disbanded. During the war, a total of 76 bombers were lost on operations flying from this airfield: 40 Hampdens, 35 Wellingtons and a single Lancaster.
1946 – 1980
The immediate post-war years found Nos.
57 and
100
100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101.
In mathematics
100 is the square of 10 (in scientific notation it is written as 102). The standard SI prefix for a hundred is " hecto-".
100 is the b ...
Squadrons with their
Lincolns in residence from May to September 1946.
Wellingtons joined Lindholme with No. 5 Air Navigation School Wellington T.10s,
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 ...
s, and also 3
Vickers Valetta
The Vickers Valetta is a twin-engine military transport aircraft developed and produced by the British manufacturing company Vickers-Armstrongs Ltd. Developed from the Vickers VC.1 Viking compact civil airliner, it was an all-metal mid-wing ...
s, coded A, B, and C.
In November 1952 things changed quite dramatically, when Bomber Command Bombing School (BCBS) arrived from
RAF Scampton
Royal Air Force Scampton or RAF Scampton (formerly ) is a former Royal Air Force List of former Royal Air Force stations, station located adjacent to the A15 road (England), A15 road near to the village of Scampton, Lincolnshire, and north-wes ...
, using up to 18 Lincolns and 8
Varsities. In addition in 1958 there was an Anson C19 (
serial ''VM387''), and also the first
Hastings
Hastings ( ) is a seaside town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England,
east of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to th ...
arrived – ''TG503''.
BCBS reduced in size quite dramatically in 1959 and 1960 and in the latter year there seemed to be only 4 Lincolns left, but this type was being replaced by Hastings. All the Lincolns had gone by 1961, with 8 Hastings, including the forerunner ''TG503'', having replaced them.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, 721 Mobile Radar Bomb Score Signals Unit (721 MRBSSU) was lodged on a dispersal on the eastern side of the airfield. 721's role was to track strike aircraft (mainly from the
V-force) during simulated bombing runs at high and low-level and score the accuracy of the simulated attacks against designated targets within a radius of approximately 50 miles of Lindholme. Radar operators on the ground had to pick up and then 'lock on' to the aircraft whose track was then printed onto a chart in the operations caravan. Prior to the simulated weapon release the aircraft would transmit a steady tone on the radio which ceased at the release point. Following the simulated release the aircraft would then transmit a coded message that provided the MRBSSU with the information necessary (wind velocity etc.) to 'score' the attack, the results (in terms of bearing and distance from the designated target) being passed to the aircraft in another coded message. The unit was capable of handling aircraft at 10-minute intervals.
By 1968 the Bomber Command Bombing School had become
Strike Command Bombing School and in 1972 moved out.
Hangars were used for storage by a
USAF
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...
detachment during the height of the
Cold War
The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
and later for various RAF ground units and Strike Command stores, where parts for front-line aircraft were stored.
Lindholme also had an interesting approach pattern with a visual circuit of 800 feet. This was so that the approach did not interfere with the approach for neighbouring
RAF Finningley
Royal Air Force Finningley or more simply RAF Finningley is a former 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 bo ...
's runway 20.
During the late 1950s a site was built (later to become Northern Radar) to house the
Type 82 radar and operational control building that controlled three air defence
Bristol Bloodhound
The Bristol Bloodhound is a British ramjet powered surface-to-air missile developed during the 1950s. It served as the UK's main air defence weapon into the 1990s and was in large-scale service with the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the forces of f ...
SAM 1 missile sites distributed within a 25-mile radius of the site. The site was part of the Fighter Command air defence network and was called a Tactical Control Centre (TCC). It became operational around 1961 and undertook these tasks for the duration of the SAM 1 missile life span before going over to area radar control functions. There were similar sites at
RAF North Luffenham
Royal Air Force North Luffenham or more simply RAF North Luffenham is a former Royal Air Force station in Rutland, England. It is near to the villages of Edith Weston and North Luffenham.
History
Second World War
The station was built as ...
(Rutland) and
RAF Watton
Royal Air Force Watton or more simply RAF Watton is a former Royal Air Force List of former Royal Air Force stations, station located southwest of East Dereham, Norfolk, England.
Opened in 1937 it was used by both the Royal Air Force (RAF) an ...
(Norfolk).
Northern Radar
RAF Lindholme was home to the 'Humber Radar' installation, later called 'Northern Radar' as part of the
Linesman/Mediator
Linesman/Mediator was a dual-purpose civil and military radar network in the United Kingdom between the 1960s and 1984. The military side (Linesman) was replaced by the Improved United Kingdom Air Defence Ground Environment (IUKADGE), while the ...
system.
Northern Radar was a JATCRU (Joint Air Traffic Control Radar Unit) located at the RAF Lindholme site but housed discretely on the opposite side of the
A614 road
The A614 is a main road in England running through the counties of Nottinghamshire, South Yorkshire and the East Riding of Yorkshire.
Route
Beginning at Redhill, Nottinghamshire, Redhill, the northernmost point in the Nottingham suburb of Arno ...
to the airfield. Northern Radar was one of a number of JATCRUs around the UK whose civil task were to provide area radar cover for the then three area Air Traffic Control Centres (ATCCs), Scottish (located at Redbrae House,
Prestwick
Prestwick () is a town in South Ayrshire on the west coast of Ayrshire in Scotland about southwest of Glasgow. It adjoins the larger town of Ayr to the south on the Firth of Clyde coast, the centre of which is about south, and the small vi ...
), Preston (
Barton Hall
Barton Hall is an on-campus field house on the campus of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. It is the site of the school's indoor track facilities, ROTC offices and classes, and Cornell Police. For a long time, Barton Hall was the larges ...
), and London (at
West Drayton
West Drayton is a suburban town in the London Borough of Hillingdon. It was an ancient parish in the county of Middlesex and from 1929 was part of the Yiewsley and West Drayton Urban District, which became part of Greater London in 1965. The s ...
). JATCRUs were created to provide this area radar cover as the ATCCs did not have radar facilities and were purely procedural control centres. The JATCRUs were located at RAF units using civil and military staff and radio communications, but military radar.
Other JATCRUs in the UK included Southern Radar at
Sopley near Bournemouth, Western Radar at
Aberporth
Aberporth is a seaside village, community (Wales), community and electoral ward in Ceredigion, Wales. The population at the 2001 Census, was 2,485, of whom 49 per cent could speak the Welsh language. At the 2011 Census, the population of the co ...
in Wales, Ulster Radar at
Bishops Court in Northern Ireland, Eastern Radar at
Watton in East Anglia, Border Radar at
Boulmer in the Northeast of England, Highland Radar at
Buchan
Buchan is a coastal district in the north-east of Scotland, bounded by the Ythan and Deveron rivers. It was one of the original provinces of the Kingdom of Alba. It is now one of the six committee areas of Aberdeenshire.
Etymology
The ge ...
in the North of Scotland and Midland Radar at
North Luffenham in Rutland. All of which came under the control of Military Air Traffic Operations (MATO).
Northern Radar's role was as an ATCRU providing radar services to civil and military aircraft in the lower, middle and upper airspace within its designated area of operations. The airspace above
Flight Level
In aviation, a flight level (FL) is an aircraft's altitude as determined by a pressure altimeter using the International Standard Atmosphere. It is expressed in hundreds of feet or metres. The altimeter setting used is the ISA sea level pressur ...
245 was known as a Mandatory Radar Service Area (MRSA) within which civil and military aircraft were placed under radar control. Beneath the MRSA all aircraft operating outside Controlled Airspace (CAS) were provided with a Radar Advisory Service.
The site had a Type 82 Radar installation (known as
Orange Yeoman) but it also had remote links to other military radar heads.
Latter years
From the mid 1960s to the early 1970s, Lindholme was used as a weekend gliding airfield by the Humber gliding club, a member of the Royal Air Force Gliding and Soaring Association. It was used extensively by the Sheffield Scouting movement as a base for gliding activities to attain Scout airman badges.
By 1980, Lindholme had been reduced to the status of a relief landing ground for
RAF Finningley
Royal Air Force Finningley or more simply RAF Finningley is a former 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 bo ...
.
In 1974, RAF Lindholme became home to
643 Gliding School Air Training Corps, who moved in from
RAF Hemswell
Royal Air Force Hemswell, or RAF Hemswell, is a former Royal Air Force station located east of Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, England.
Located close to the village of Hemswell in Lincolnshire, England the disestablished airfield is now in f ...
on 1 April. They operated winch-launched Cadet Mk 3 and Sedbergh gliders, conducting air experience and glider pilot training for Air Cadets. 643 GS remained at Lindholme until the airfield closed in 1982, whereupon they moved to
RAF Scampton
Royal Air Force Scampton or RAF Scampton (formerly ) is a former Royal Air Force List of former Royal Air Force stations, station located adjacent to the A15 road (England), A15 road near to the village of Scampton, Lincolnshire, and north-wes ...
.
By 1985, the whole camp was sold and turned into
HM Prison Lindholme.
The last RAF connection, an automatic routing installation which opened on 25 May 1983 and was run by
840 Signals Unit, was closed in March 1996. It occupied the old Northern Radar building ground floor, refurbished to accommodate the Telegraphic Automatic Routing Equipment (TARE) and a manual telegraphic switching centre, and was parented by RAF Finningley. The TARE was a dual suite
Ferranti Argus
Ferranti's Argus computers were a line of industrial control computers offered from the 1960s into the 1980s. Originally designed for a military role, a re-packaged Argus was the first digital computer to be used to directly control an entire fact ...
500 computer system, each suite having a 64 k word core store and two 2 Mbyte hard drives and running software written using
Coral 66
Corals are colonial marine invertebrates within the subphylum Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical o ...
.
Before installation at Lindholme this TARE, one of two, had been installed in transportable cabins, originally destined for RAF Gan (Maldives) or RAF Episkopi (Cyprus). Though hardstandings were constructed at the intended sites the cabins were never deployed, having been overtaken by defence cuts. The TAREs were stored and then removed from the cabins. The first was installed at
RAF Boddington
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 ...
as No 9 Signals Unit, and the second eventually arrived at Lindholme. The opening of 840 Signals unit allowed the RAF to close the Signals unit at
RAF Stanbridge and sell off a large part of that site. It also gave the Defence Communications Network much-needed diversity by providing a third TARE (
RAF Rudloe Manor
RAF Rudloe Manor, formerly RAF Box, was a Royal Air Force station north-east of Bath, England, between the settlements of Box and Corsham, in Wiltshire. It was one of several military installations in the area and covered three dispersed sites. ...
and RAF Boddington being the others) at a critical point in the Cold War. The unit was commanded by a Squadron Leader of the Engineering Branch and was divided into two flights, Engineering Flight and Operations Flight. As the unit operated 24 hours a day, a watch system was worked with a small engineering shift and a larger operations shift with a Warrant Officer running each watch.
Units
The following units were here at some point:
See also
*
Lindholme Gear
*
List of former Royal Air Force stations
This list of former RAF stations includes most of the stations, airfields and administrative headquarters previously used by the Royal Air Force. They are listed under any former county or country name which was appropriate for the duration of ...
References
Sources
*
*
*
*
*
Further reading
*
Bruce Barrymore Halpenny
Bruce Barrymore Halpenny (1937 – 3 May 2015) was an English military historian and writer, specializing in airfields and aircraft, as well as ghost stories and mysteries. He was also a broadcaster''Framlington Times'' - Journal of the 390th ...
''Bomber Aircrew of World War II: True Stories of Frontline Air Combat'' ( )
*
Bruce Barrymore Halpenny
Bruce Barrymore Halpenny (1937 – 3 May 2015) was an English military historian and writer, specializing in airfields and aircraft, as well as ghost stories and mysteries. He was also a broadcaster''Framlington Times'' - Journal of the 390th ...
,
To Shatter the Sky: Bomber Airfield at War ()
External links
The Wartime Memories Project – RAF Lindholme
{{authority control
Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster
Lindholme
Aviation in Doncaster
Lindholme
Hatfield, South Yorkshire