RAF Riccall 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 ...

satellite station A broadcast relay station, also known as a satellite station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator (U.S.), re-broadcaster (Canada), repeater (two-way radio) or complementary station (Mexico), is a broadcast transmitter which repeats (or tran ...

located north east of

Selby Selby is a market town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England, south of York on the River Ouse. At the 2021 Census, it had a population of 17,193. The town was historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire; from 1974 until 2023, ...

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in Northern England.The Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas of City of York, York and North Yorkshire (district), North Yorkshire are in Yorkshire and t ...

and south west of Elvington, North Yorkshire,

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 ...

History

The airfield was opened in September 1942 as a satellite to

RAF Marston Moor Royal Air Force Marston Moor or more simply RAF Marston Moor is a former Royal Air Force station located near Tockwith, North Yorkshire, England. It was operational during the Second World War and was originally called RAF Tockwith, but confusio ...

. It had three runways of the A-style airfield; the longest was long, the second was long and the third was long. All were wide. The technical site consisted of six T2 hangars and one B1 hangar. The first runways built on the site sank into the soft earth of the low-lying ground, and had to be built back up again. During October 1942, No. 76 and No. 80 Conversion Flights (along with No. 10 Conversion Flight from another airfield) joined together to make No. 1658 Heavy Conversion Unit RAF. The following units were based at the airfield: * No. 35 Maintenance Unit RAF. * No. 91 Maintenance Unit RAF. * No. 261 Maintenance Unit RAF. * No. 268 Maintenance Unit RAF. * No. 939 (West Riding) Balloon Squadron AAF. * No. 1332 (Transport) Heavy Conversion Unit RAF. * No. 1341 (Special Duties) Flight RAF. *

Airborne Forces Experimental Establishment The Airborne Forces Experimental Establishment (AFEE) was a branch of the British Air Ministry, that researched and developed non-traditional airborne applications, such as gliders, rotary wing aircraft, and dropping of personnel and equipment ...

. *

York & District Flying Group York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...

. After 1945, flying ceased, although the site was used as storage until 1958. The south west side of the airfield and storage area is now part of

Skipwith Common Skipwith Common is a national nature reserve south of Skipwith, North Yorkshire, England. It is one of only three areas within the Vale of York that represent what the area was like before intensive agriculture took over. Natural England have ...

National Nature Reserve. Part of the site was also used for mining coal as part of the

Selby Coalfield Selby coalfield (also known as the Selby complex, or Selby 'superpit') was a large-scale deep underground mine complex based around Selby, North Yorkshire, England, with pitheads at ''Wistow Mine'', ''Stillingfleet Mine'', ''Riccall Mine'', ''No ...

operation between the 1980s and 2004.

Current use

The site is now used for farming.

References

Sources

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External links

Atlantik Wall - RAF Riccall

Image of RAF Riccall from 1947
{{DEFAULTSORT:Riccall Royal Air Force stations of World War II in the United Kingdom Royal Air Force stations in Yorkshire Riccall