Royal Air Force Lindley or more simply RAF Lindley 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) an ...

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 stati ...

situated in Leicestershire south east of

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

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

in close proximity to

Watling Street Watling Street is a historic route in England that crosses the River Thames at London and which was used in Classical Antiquity, Late Antiquity, and throughout the Middle Ages. It was used by the ancient Britons and paved as one of the main ...

. 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 This is a List of Beam Approach beacon system Units of the Royal Air Force. The first system to guide RAF aircraft safely down onto a runway was called the Standard Blind Approach (SBA) system and was trialled in the late 1930s. It was also being ...

(BAT Flt) flying the

Airspeed Oxford The Airspeed AS.10 Oxford is a twin-engine monoplane aircraft developed and manufactured by Airspeed. It saw widespread use for training British Commonwealth aircrews in navigation, radio-operating, bombing and gunnery roles throughout the Seco ...

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 later became HMS Gamecock and then Gamecock Barracks. Royal A ...

RAF Bitteswell Royal Air Force Bitteswell or more simply RAF Bitteswell is a former Royal Air Force satellite station located west of Lutterworth, Leicestershire and north of Rugby, Warwickshire, England. Construction of the grass airfield at RAF Bitteswe ...

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 18 (eighteen) is the natural number following 17 and preceding 19. In mathematics * Eighteen is a composite number, its divisors being 1, 2, 3, 6 and 9. Three of these divisors (3, 6 and 9) add up to 18, hence 18 is a semiperfect number. ...

used the airfield as a satellite from

flying

Avro Anson The Avro Anson is a British twin-engined, 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) ...

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 ...

s and

Vickers Wellington The Vickers Wellington was 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 the aircraft is it ...

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 1967. ...

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, RAAF, RCAF, RNZAF, and SAAF 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 and remain ...

s until 21 November 1945. However the unit was renamed

No. 1381 (Transport) Conversion Unit RAF Conversion units and operational conversion units (OCUs) were training units of the Royal Air Force (RAF). History With the introduction of new heavy bombers, the four-engined Short Stirling, Avro Lancaster, and Handley Page Halifax, the Roya ...

before moving to

RAF Desborough Royal Air Force Desborough or more simply RAF Desborough is a former Royal Air Force airfield located in Northamptonshire, England History The following units were here at some point: * Satellite of No. 102 Flying Refresher School RAF (May - N ...

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 land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

, with the

Piper L-4 Cub The Piper J-3 Cub is an American light aircraft that was built between 1938 and 1947 by Piper Aircraft. The aircraft has a simple, lightweight design which gives it good low-speed handling properties and short-field performance. The Cub is P ...

, '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 mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gen ...

(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