Royal Air Force Melbourne or more simply RAF Melbourne 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 near

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

East Riding of Yorkshire The East Riding of Yorkshire, often abbreviated to the East Riding or East Yorkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and west, S ...

, England.

History

East Common just outside the village of Seaton Ross was requisitioned for use as a grass airfield in November 1940. In late 1940 the airfield was used by

Armstrong Whitworth Whitley The Armstrong Whitworth A.W.38 Whitley was a British medium/heavy bomber aircraft of the 1930s. It was one of three twin-engined, front line medium bomber types that were in service with the Royal Air Force (RAF) at the outbreak of the World W ...

s of 10 Squadron as a relief landing ground for

RAF Leeming Royal Air Force Leeming or more simply RAF Leeming is a Royal Air Force station located near Leeming, North Yorkshire, England. It was opened in 1940 and was jointly used by the RAF and the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). Between 1950 and 19 ...

. The airfield soon closed for re-development as a standard

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 ...

airfield with three concrete runways and three hangars. The first user of the re-built airfield was again 10 Squadron but by this time operating the

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 ...

four-engined heavy bomber, little time was wasted before the aircraft were used on operational sorties from Melbourne. The squadron continued with operation until March 1945 and lost 109 aircraft on operations. Melbourne was one of seventeen sites equipped with FIDO fog dispersant system. This made the airfield a popular diversion for other squadrons returning from operations to Yorkshire in extreme bad weather conditions. In May 1945 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 19 ...

and 575 Squadron moved in with the

Douglas Dakota The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota ( RAF 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. During the war the C-47 was used for troo ...

. The squadron only stayed for a few months operating transport flight to and from continental Europe. With the departure of the Dakota a number of specialised Flights used the airfield for six months but by the middle of 1946 the airfield was no longer used for flying.

RAF units and aircraft

Other units: * No. 4 Group Communication Flight RAF (1945–1946) * No. 91 Maintenance Unit RAF (1949–1954) * No. 10 Conversion Flight RAF * No. 1658 Heavy Conversion Unit RAF *

No. 2820 Squadron RAF Regiment This is a list of units of the Royal Air Force Regiment. The RAF Regiment is the ground fighting force of the Royal Air Force and is charged mainly with protecting military airfields, among other duties. First formed in 1942 to protect the airfi ...

* No. 4275 Anti-Aircraft Flight RAF Regiment * Aircrew Testing and Grading Unit RAF * Transport Command Aircrew Examining Unit RAF

Current use

The site was used for a farmers market in the 1970s, but was gradually adapted into a racing track. Until 2017 the airfield was home to York Raceway running drag racing throughout the summer. York Raceway did not operate at Melbourne in 2018 or 2019. After a fundraising effort a new drag strip was laid and drag racing returned to Melbourne in August 2020. The airfield strip is now home to Melbourne Raceway running drag racing under the organisation of Straightliners. The runway is also used for flying by Pocklington Gyroplane School for Saturday afternoon meets.

References

Citations

Bibliography

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External links

RAF MelbourneYork Raceway
{{DEFAULTSORT:Melbourne Drag racing venues in Europe Royal Air Force stations in Yorkshire Royal Air Force stations of World War II in the United Kingdom Transport in the East Riding of Yorkshire