RAF Tholthorpe was a

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 ...

air station operated by

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 ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. The station, which had been opened in the late 1930s as a grass airfield, was located near

Easingwold Easingwold is a market town, electoral ward and civil parish in the Hambleton District in North Yorkshire, England. Historically, part of the North Riding of Yorkshire, it had a population of 4,233 at the 2001 census, increasing to 4,627 at ...

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by national parks, including most of the Yorkshire Dales and the North York Moors. It is one of four cou ...

, UK. Tholthorpe airfield operated as a sub-station of

RAF Linton-on-Ouse RAF Linton-on-Ouse was a Royal Air Force (RAF) station at Linton-on-Ouse in North Yorkshire, England, north-west of York. It had satellite stations at RAF Topcliffe and Dishforth Airfield (British Army). The station opened in 1937. With t ...

. From August 1940 to December 1940, Tholthorpe was a landing field for Whitley bombers of No. 58 Squadron RAF and No. 51 Squadron RAF based at Linton. From January 1941 to June 1943, Tholthorpe underwent maintenance to upgrade to Class A standards, with three intersecting concrete runways designated main 10-28 at 2,000 yards, 06-24 at 1,430 yards and 16-34 at 1,400 yards. Tholthorpe was assigned to No. 6 Group RCAF in June 1943.

RCAF The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environ ...

squadrons stationed here included No. 434 Squadron "Bluenose",

431 Squadron Year 431 ( CDXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Bassus and Antiochus (or, less frequently, year 1184 ''Ab urbe c ...

"Iroquois", 420 Squadron "Snowy Owl", and 425 Squadron "Alouette". No. 434 Squadron, flying Halifax bombers, was formed and headquartered at Tholthorpe airfield from June 1943 until the squadron was moved to Croft. In July 1943, 431 Squadron moved to Tholthorpe airfield from

Burn A burn is an injury to skin, or other tissues, caused by heat, cold, electricity, chemicals, friction, or ultraviolet radiation (like sunburn). Most burns are due to heat from hot liquids (called scalding), solids, or fire. Burns occur mainl ...

. It was later moved to Croft airfield as well. Not only were the operational squadrons quartered here, also their service echelons, -respectively Nos. 9431 and 9434 Service Echelon- which were formed from the ground crew of nos. 431 and 434 Squadron on 3 November 1943 and who moved with their squadrons on to Croft in December 1943. In December 1943 No. 420 and No. 425 Squadrons (together with their service echelons, nos. 9420 and 9425 Service Echelon) were moved to Tholthorpe airfield from

Dalton Dalton may refer to: Science * Dalton (crater), a lunar crater * Dalton (program), chemistry software * Dalton (unit) (Da), the atomic mass unit * John Dalton, chemist, physicist and meteorologist Entertainment * Dalton (Buffyverse), minor c ...

and

Dishforth Dishforth is a village and civil parish in the Harrogate district of North Yorkshire, England. Dishforth translates from Old English as dic-ford; a ford by a dike or ditch. The population of the parish taken at the 2001 census as 719 and had ...

respectively. These squadrons had returned from service with

Wellingtons The Wellington boot was originally a type of leather boot adapted from Hessian boots, a style of military riding boot. They were worn and popularised by Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington. The "Wellington" boot became a staple of pr ...

in North Africa, and it took them several weeks to work up on the newly acquired Halifax bombers. They were therefore unable to fly their first raids from Tholthorpe until mid-February 1944. No. 420 Squadron flew 160 operations from Tholthorpe airfield and lost 25 Halifaxes. No. 425 Squadron flew 162 operations from Tholthorpe airfield and lost 28 Halifaxes. In all, 119 Halifax bombers were lost from Tholthorpe.RAF Bomber Command, story of Tholthorpe airfield
In April and May 1945 nos. 420 and 425 Squadron converted to

Avro Lancaster The Avro Lancaster 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 the same specification, as well as the S ...

s, which they took with them when they left for RCAF Debert,

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native En ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

in June 1945. The station closed in June 1945.

Operational units and aircraft

Postwar Tholthorpe

In the 1980s the airfield was used for a short time for private flying. Within a decade, most of the buildings were abandoned and the runways became farm roads. The control tower has been turned into a family residence. A monument of Canadian granite, and the avenue of oaks and maples between this village and the airfield, honour the fallen airmen who served in the Royal Canadian Air Force squadrons and the citizens of the community who supported them.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * *

External links

Crash Landing 16 March 1944
Story of crash landing of plane from RCAF 425 Squadron, which was for a time based at Tholthorpe.

434 (Bluenose) Squadron was formed at Tholthorpe on 13 June 1943 as a bomber unit within No 6 (RCAF) Group

Royal Air Force Bomber Command 60th Anniversary

Memorial Plaque, Tholthorpe Village Green, Tholthorpe, dedicated to 420, 425, 431, and 434 Squadrons
No. 434 (Bluenose) Squadron information from RCAF.com

"Arthur Dwight Ross"
at

Find a Grave Find a Grave is a website that allows the public to search and add to an online database of cemetery records. It is owned by Ancestry.com. Its stated mission is "to help people from all over the world work together to find, record and present f ...

– description of crash at Tholthorpe that earned Air Commodore Arthur Dwight Ross the

George Cross The George Cross (GC) is the highest award bestowed by the British government for non-operational gallantry or gallantry not in the presence of an enemy. In the British honours system, the George Cross, since its introduction in 1940, has be ...