RAF Hemswell
| RAF Hemswell
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| Hangars and buildings still standing at Hemswell | |||
| IATA: none – ICAO: none | |||
| Summary | |||
| Airport type | Military | ||
| Operator | Royal Flying Corps Royal Air Force United States Air Force |
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| Location | Hemswell Cliff, Lincolnshire | ||
| Coordinates | 53°23′56″N 000°34′26″W / 53.39889°N 0.57389°WCoordinates: 53°23′56″N 000°34′26″W / 53.39889°N 0.57389°W | ||
| Map | |||
 RAF Hemswell
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| Decommissioned and closed in 1967 Military Bomber airfield and a later Ballistic Missile base |
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RAF Hemswell was an airfield used by RAF Bomber Command for 20 years between 1937[1] and 1957[2] and saw most of its operational life during World War II. Later used by RAF Fighter Command as a nuclear ballistic missile base during the Cold War it closed to military use in 1967.[2] Located close to the village of Hemswell in Lincolnshire, England the disestablished airfield is now in full use as a civilian industrial and retail trading estate, forming part of the newly created parish of Hemswell Cliff along with the station's married quarters and RAF built primary school that are now in non-military ownership.
On 19 March 1940 RAF Hemswell-based Handley Page Hampdens of No. 61 Squadron RAF were the first Bomber Command aircraft to drop bombs on German soil during the Second World War.[1] The target was the Hörnum seaplane base on the northern Germany coast.[1]
RAF Hemswell was immortalised on film when it was used as a substitute for RAF Scampton in all the ground based filming of the 1954 war film The Dambusters. The first airfield on the site was opened in 1918 by the Royal Flying Corps and called RFCS Harpswell after the village of that name just across the A631 road.[3] During the First World War it was used as a night landing ground and two night flying training squadrons were established there.[3] In June 1919 the grass airfield was returned to its former use as farmland.[3]
Contents |
[edit] Second World War
In 1935 construction began on compulsory repurchased land. The new airbase, now called RAF Hemswell, was opened on New Year's Eve 1936 to accommodate the rapidly expanding Bomber Command. The station was a base for Hawker Hind, Hawker Audax, Avro Anson, Bristol Blenheim and Boulton Paul Overstrand aircraft in its early days. The station and its squadrons initially formed part of No. 5 Bomber Group RAF with its group headquarters at St Vincents House, St Vincents Road, Grantham,[4] transferring to No. 1 Bomber Group RAF at RAF Hucknall, Nottinghamshire in June 1941.[5]
During the war years various squadrons were based at Hemswell, including many Polish personnel flying Vickers Wellingtons. During the war a total of 122 bomber aircraft and their crews were lost on operations from Hemswell, including 38 Handley Page Hampdens, 62 Vickers Wellingtons and 22 Avro Lancasters.
Hemswell operated as a dual site with a nearby overflow airfield at RAF Ingham. RAF Ingham was a grassed field landing ground with few buildings or facilities. Between 1941 and 1943 the Polish bomber squadrons (No. 305 Polish Bomber Squadron, No. 301 Polish Bomber Squadron and No. 300 Polish Bomber Squadron) used the airfield for their Wellington operations. The squadrons used Ingham while training and also flew operations from there whilst the runways were being laid at Hemswell in anticipation of the arrival of the heavier Avro Lancaster. Ingham was later renamed RAF Cammeringham and became a full station in its own right, closing for aircraft use in 1945 when the grass runways became unstable and taking on a ground training role.[6] Cliffe House, that had been commandeered as the officers' mess and a number of pre-fabricated buildings, quonset huts and the brick built control tower still stand at the abandoned airfieldCite error: Closing </ref> missing for <ref> tag; see the help page |- | March 1937 | No. 61 Squadron RAF | 61 Sqn's Hemswell-based Handley Page Hampdens were the first Bomber Command aircraft to drop bombs on German soil during the Second World War, on 19 Mar 1940. The target was the Hörnum seaplane base. Re-equipped with Avro Manchesters the squadron left Hemswell in October 1941 and relocated to RAF North Luffenham. |- | June 1941 | No. 305 Polish Bomber Squadron | Operating Vickers Wellingtons. Left Hemswell / Ingham in August 1943 and relocated to RAF Swanton Morley. |- | June 1941 | No. 301 Polish Bomber Squadron | Operating Vickers Wellingtons. Squadron disbanded in April 1943 after major crew losses could not be restaffed. |- | July 1942 | No. 300 Polish Bomber Squadron | Operating Vickers Wellingtons. Left Hemswell / Ingham in March 1944 and relocated at RAF Faldingworth. |- | February 1943 | No. 199 Squadron RAF | Operating Vickers Wellington. Training for maritime mine laying operations. Left Hemswell in July 1943 and relocated to RAF Lakenheath. |- | July 1943 | | Concrete runways laid |- | Autumn 1943 | No. 1 (Lancaster Finishing School) Squadron RAF | Operating Avro Lancasters. Squadron disbanded at Hemswell in November 1944 |- | 1944 | No. 150 (Bomber) Squadron RAF equipped with the Avro Lancaster | No 1 Group RAF. The squadron was disbanded in November 1945. |- | November 1944 | No. 170 Squadron RAF | Operating Avro Lancasters. The squadron was disbanded in 1945 |- | March 1945 | No. 1687 (Bomber Defence Training) Flight RAF Regiment | No. 1687 Flight also maintained a Q decoy site on the far side of nearby Caenby village. |- | July 1946 | No. 83 Squadron RAF | Operating Avro Lincolns. Disbanded at Hemswell in January 1956. Reformed at RAF Waddington in 1957, flying Avro Vulcans. |- | 1946 and 1950 | No. 109 Squadron RAF | Operating de Havilland Mosquitos in a Pathfinder and Oboe role. Left Hemswell in 1947. Returned 1950 operating English Electric Canberras, departed January 1956. |- | 1946 and 1950 | No 139 Squadron RAF | Operating de Havilland Mosquitos. Left Hemswell in 1947. Returned 1950 operating English Electric Canberras, departed January 1956. |- | Oct 1946 | No. 97 Squadron RAF | Operating Avro Lancasters and later Avro Lincolns. The Squadron was disbanded in December 1955 |- | 1946 | No. 100 Squadron RAF | Operating Avro Lancasters and later Avro Lincolns. Left Hemswell in 1950, relocating to Malaysia for Operation Firedog. |- | April 1952 | No. 199 Squadron RAF | Operating at various times Avro Lincolns, de Havilland Mosquitos, English Electric Canberras. Left Hemswell in September 1957, bringing to an end Bomber Command flights from Hemswell. The squadron disbanded in 1958. |- | December 1959 | No. 97 (Strategic Missile) Squadron RAF | Operating Thor IRBM missiles for RAF Bomber Command. Left Hemswell in May 1963 and its missiles were returned to America where they were used as launch vehicles in the early development of the space programme. No. 97 Sqn disbanded, with the personnel transferred to RAF Watton to join No. 151 Squadron RAF. |- No. 542 Operating Canberras in the Nuclear Test (USSR's not ours) Sampling Role. 31 March 1957 from Weston Zoyland. 11 July 1958 TO Upwood
| 1963 | No.2 Wing of 7 School of Recruit Training RAF | Used for follow on training for senior recruits from the Recruit Training School at nearby RAF Swinderby. Closed in December 1966 |- |1967 Station on Care and Maintenance. Parented by RAF Scampton |643 Gliding School Air Training Corps, |Cadet Mk 3, Sedbergh and Prefect winch launched gliders. Moved to Lindholme 1/4/74 |RAF Hemswell finally Closed 1/4/74 |}
[edit] After closure
In 1972 the station became the temporary Hemswell Resettlement Camp when it received Ugandan-Asian refugees expelled from Uganda by president Idi Amin.[2]
After Hemswell closed the site was eventually redeveloped into a private trading estate and residential area with the former estates of officers' and other ranks' married quarters becoming what is now the new civil parish and village of Hemswell Cliff. The wartime station headquarters building still stands on the new trading estate and is called Gibson House. It is used by a number of companies as office space. Hemswell almost uniquely amongst the wartime flying stations has retained its pre-war road layout, most of its buildings and an almost "RAF feel", despite being in private ownership.
Two short lengths of the original metalled runways still exist, used as farm machinery hardstanding, as do most of the hangars and station buildings which have been pressed into alternate uses by private companies. Until 2006 a private aviation museum displayed a small collection of ex-RAF aircraft on a grassed area behind the old Station Headquarters, including two Hawker Hunters, a BAC Jet Provost, a de Havilland Vampire, an English Electric Canberra and an English Electric Lightning. The museum closed and the collection has either been dispersed to other museums or broken up for spares and scrap.
The station is now totally civilian, however, the RAF still own the community centre and have spent considerable money refurbishing it. The old H Block other rank accommodation buildings on the site have now become home to one of Europe's largest antique centres and there are also various shops, a garden centre, hairdresser, used book shop and several cafés. On Sundays there is a very large Sunday market and car boot sale. Hemswell Cliff Primary School, formally the RAF primary school, still serves the children of the nearby communities. The former station officers' mess is now known as Hemswell Court and provides an elegant venue for weddings, banqueting and conference facilities. The Hemswell hangars have been pressed into service as European Union Common Agricultural Policy Intervention Stores on several occasions as a Lincolnshire location for the occasional EU "grain mountain" excesses.
The non-profit RAF Hemswell Association's membership is open to all ranks and trades who served at Hemswell any time between 1937 and 1967. There is an annual reunion at Hemswell and the association also publishes a bi-annual magazine. Annual subscriptions are currently set at £7.
There have also been several cases of unexplained occurrences and cases of ghostly music being heard, where no music should be.[7]
[edit] 2009 Fire
In August 2009 there was a large fire at one of the former RAF hangars that was being used as a plastics recycling site by AWS Eco-plastics. Several propane gas cylinders exploded and as a result of the intensity of the fire the A631 had to be closed from Harpswell Hill to Caenby Corner.[8]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b c Halpenny, Bruce Barrymore Action Stations: Wartime Military Airfields of Lincolnshire and the East Midlands v. 2 - Page 108
- ^ a b c Halpenny, Bruce Barrymore Action Stations: Wartime Military Airfields of Lincolnshire and the East Midlands v. 2 - Page 109
- ^ a b c Halpenny, Bruce Barrymore Action Stations: Wartime Military Airfields of Lincolnshire and the East Midlands v. 2 - Page 107
- ^ 5 Gp HQ
- ^ No 1 Gp
- ^ RAF Ingham
- ^ Halpenny, Bruce Barrymore Ghost Stations Lincolnshire - Page 149
- ^ Crews tackle large plastics fire - BBC
[edit] External links
[edit] Main reference
- Bruce Barrymore Halpenny Action Stations: Wartime Military Airfields of Lincolnshire and the East Midlands v. 2 (ISBN 978-0-85059-484-3)
