Royal Air Force Shipton (more commonly known as RAF Shipton) was a

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

era airfield located north of the village of Shipton-by-Beningbrough, in

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 ...

, England. During the First World War, it was used by No. 76 Squadron RAF whose remit was to provide Home Defence (HD). The site was utilised by the RAF in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

as a base for No. 60 Maintenance Unit and in 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 ...

as a fighter control site for

No. 12 Group RAF No. 12 Group RAF (12 Gp) of the Royal Air Force was a group, a military formation, that existed over two separate periods, namely the end of the First World War when it had a training function and from just prior to the Second World War until t ...

, and command bunker in case of a nuclear event. The bunker site buildings are still extant, though they were sold into private hands in the 1990s.

History

First World War

RAF Shipton was brought into use in September 1916 as a landing site for No. 76 (Home Defence) Squadron, RAF. The site is south east of

RAF Linton-on-Ouse Royal Air Force Linton-on-Ouse or more simply RAF Linton-on-Ouse is a former Royal Air Force station at Linton-on-Ouse in North Yorkshire, England, north-west of York. It had satellite stations at RAF Topcliffe and Dishforth Airfield (Brit ...

, north of

York 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 ...

, and north of Shipton by Beningbrough village. No. 76 Squadron had their headquarters at

Ripon Ripon () is a cathedral city and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. The city is located at the confluence of two tributaries of the River Ure, the Laver and Skell. Within the boundaries of the historic West Riding of Yorkshire, the ...

and like many other of the relief landing grounds they operated, it is unsure whether or not Shipton saw any flying activity. After the Armistice, the RAF disposed of the site in March 1919.

Second World War

It was resurrected in the Second World War as a base for No. 60 Maintenance Unit (originally No. 5 Salvage Unit) who were required to strip everything of scrap value down for components that could be used. They had a remit to recover crashed aircraft as part of their recovery process, and for a while, the guard hut at Shipton was the upturned fuselage of a wrecked aircraft. The area of responsibility that No. 60 MU covered included the

North York Moors The North York Moors is an upland area in north-eastern Yorkshire, England. It contains one of the largest expanses of Calluna, heather moorland in the United Kingdom. The area was designated as a national parks of England and Wales, National P ...

, the

Peak District The Peak District is an Highland, upland area in central-northern England, at the southern end of the Pennines. Mostly in Derbyshire, it extends into Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Staffordshire, West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire. It is subdivi ...

, and as far north as Blyth in

Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

when they went to recover a crashed

Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...

aircraft from the harbour area. No. 60 MU recovered a crashed

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 ...

from

Whernside Whernside is a mountain in the Yorkshire Dales in Northern England. It is the highest of the Yorkshire Three Peaks, the other two being Ingleborough and Pen-y-ghent. It is the highest point in the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire Mickle F ...

which was scattered over a wide area. The crash occurred in December 1943 and the extreme cold and elevated location made the recovery very difficult, but all valuable parts were returned to the main site at Shipton by 6 January 1944. During this time, Shipton was used as a ''scatter airfield'' for the

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 ...

Bombers of No. 58 Squadron from nearby Linton-on-Ouse. The Whitleys were taken there to spread out the number of aircraft across a wider geographical area in case of an enemy raid at Linton. In 1946, No. 60 MU withdrew from the site and moved to

RAF Rufforth Royal Air Force Rufforth or RAF Rufforth is a former Royal Air Force List of former Royal Air Force stations, station located near Rufforth in North Yorkshire, England. It was used by only one operational squadron on long-range bombing missions ...

, although there is possible evidence that they had a small operation still ongoing at Shipton until 1959, when the headquarters was confirmed as being at

RAF Church Fenton Royal Air Force Church Fenton or more simply RAF Church Fenton is a former Royal Air Force List of former Royal Air Force stations, station located south-east of Tadcaster, North Yorkshire, England and north-west of Selby, North Yorkshire, ne ...

Cold War

As part of Britains' early warning defence programme (known as

ROTOR ROTOR was an elaborate air defence radar system built by the British Government in the early 1950s to counter possible attack by Soviet bombers. To get it operational as quickly as possible, it was initially made up primarily of WWII-era syst ...

), a bunker with three levels was built at the north west corner of the airfield site in 1953. Initially, the operations were run from

Imphal Barracks Imphal (; , ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Manipur. The metropolitan centre of the city contains the ruins of Kangla Palace (officially known as Kangla Fort), the royal seat of the former Kingdom of Manipur, surrounded by a moat. ...

in York, but when the bunker was commissioned in 1954, the control was transferred to Shipton. Shipton was one of six ''Sector Operations Centres'' (SOCs) dotted around Great Britain, (the other five being at

Barnton Quarry Barnton Quarry is a disused stone quarry in Corstorphine Hill, Clermiston, Edinburgh, Scotland. The site was later used as a military command centre, and is now being converted into a museum. Stone was extracted from the quarry until 1914. Duri ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

Bawburgh Bawburgh () is a village and civil parish in the South Norfolk district of Norfolk, England, lying in the valley of the River Yare about west of Norwich city centre. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 466, increasing to 595 ...

near

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

Box A box (plural: boxes) is a container with rigid sides used for the storage or transportation of its contents. Most boxes have flat, parallel, rectangular sides (typically rectangular prisms). Boxes can be very small (like a matchbox) or v ...

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...

Goosnargh Goosnargh ( ) is a village and civil parish in the City of Preston district of Lancashire, England. The village lies between Broughton and Longridge, and mostly lies in the civil parish of Whittingham, although the ancient centre lies in ...

near Preston and

Kelvedon Hatch Kelvedon Hatch is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Brentwood in south Essex, England. It is situated just north of Pilgrims Hatch, approximately to the north of Brentwood and is surrounded by Metropolitan Green Belt. In 2019 the ...

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

). The initial role of the SOC was to direct air operations and counter-inception flights in the eastern side of England. Reports were fed into the site from radar stations dotted along the eastern coast of England. As befitting its air defence role, it was the headquarters of the northern sector ( No. 12 Group

Fighter Command RAF Fighter Command was one of the commands of the Royal Air Force. It was formed in 1936 to allow more specialised control of fighter aircraft. It operated throughout the Second World War, winning fame during the Battle of Britain in 1940. The ...

) and was in overall command of 19, 66, 92,

152 Year 152 ( CLII) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known in Rome as the Year of the Consulship of Glabrio and Homullus (or, less frequently, year 905 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 152 for th ...

264 __NOTOC__ Year 264 (Roman numerals, CCLXIV) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Gallienus and Saturninus (or, less frequently, year 1017 ''Ab urbe condita''). The ...

275 __NOTOC__ Year 275 ( CCLXXV) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Aurelianus and Marcellinus (or, less frequently, year 1028 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denominat ...

, 607, 608 and 609 Squadrons spread out between the airfields at Church Fenton, Linton-on-Ouse, Ouston and

Thornaby Thornaby-on-Tees, commonly referred to as Thornaby, is a town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in North Yorkshire, England, north of York and south-east of Middlesbrough. On the south bank of the River Tees, Thornaby falls within th ...

. During this period, some of the staff were drawn from the West Riding numbered Fighter Control Unit, No. 3609 Squadron. The site itself consisted of the main bunker complex, a guardhouse and a standby living accommodation, though the main living quarters were at the nearby base of RAF Linton-on-Ouse. The site was only the lead SOC for three years before the centre at

RAF Boulmer Royal Air Force Boulmer or more simply RAF Boulmer is a Royal Air Force station near Alnwick in Northumberland, England, and is home to Aerospace Surveillance and Control System (ASACS) Force Command, Control and Reporting Centre (CRC) Boulmer ...

assumed primacy in 1957. During the 1970s, 80s and 90s, the bunker was a Regional Seat of Government (RSG), which later changed to the designation of Regional Government Headquarters (RGHQ). A fourth floor was added in 1976 as part of a five-year refurbishment programme. A decision was taken in 1992 to sell off some of the nuclear bunkers deemed unnecessary after the end of the Cold War; Shipton was one of them, with closure coming in 1993 and disposal in 1996.

Notes

References

Bibliography

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External links

Diagram of typical bunker layout
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shipton Royal Air Force stations in Yorkshire Buildings and structures in North Yorkshire Royal Air Force stations of World War II in the United Kingdom Military units and formations established in 1918 Government buildings completed in 1953 Emergency management in the United Kingdom Continuity of government Nuclear bunkers in the United Kingdom British Defence Forces