RAF Catfoss was a Royal Air Force

Royal Air Force

The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...

 station during the Second World War. Located just to the West of Hornsea

Hornsea

Hornsea is a small seaside resort, town and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England at the eastern end of the Trans Pennine Trail.-Overview:According to the 2001 UK Census, Hornsea parish had a population of 8,243....

, Yorkshire, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. The nearest village is Brandesburton

Brandesburton

Brandesburton is a village and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is situated approximately west of Hornsea and north-east of the market town of Beverley....

.

History

Originally used as a grass airfield in the 1930s. On 1 January 1932 No. 1 Armament Training Camp was formed at Catfoss, it had a wide variety of aircraft which used the nearby gunnery ranges to teach both air-to-air and air-to-ground gunnery and bombing. In 1935 a number of Handley Page Heyford

Handley Page Heyford

The Handley Page Heyford was a twin-engine British biplane bomber of the 1930s. Although it had a short service life, it equipped several squadrons of the RAF as one of the most important British bombers of the mid-1930s, and was the last biplane heavy bomber to serve with the RAF.-Design and...

 heavy bombers were based with 97 Squadron

No. 97 Squadron RAF

No. 97 Squadron, was a Royal Air Force squadron formed on December 1, 1917 at Waddington, Lincolnshire, first as a training unit, until moving to Netheravon in March 1918, and re-equipping with the Handley Page O/400 heavy bomber. The squadron served in France for the remainder of the war...

. The armament camp continued to be busy into the late 1930s but with the approach of war it was decided the east coast was too vulnerable to attack for training.

With a detachment of Spitfire

Supermarine Spitfire

The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was used by the Royal Air Force and many other Allied countries throughout the Second World War. The Spitfire continued to be used as a front line fighter and in secondary roles into the 1950s...

s for air defence arriving in 1940 the airfield was expanded and re-opened in August 1940. From July to October No. 16 Operational Training Unit used the station and nearby ranges for night-bomber training. The airfield was then transferred to Coastal Command and No. 2 Operational Training Unit. was formed on 1 October 1940 to train crews on the commands twin-engined fighter and strike aircraft. The airfield became very busy with different aircraft types and training courses and three concrete runways were built at the end of 1942.

The unit also trained Bristol Beaufighter

Bristol Beaufighter

The Bristol Type 156 Beaufighter, often referred to as simply the Beau, was a British long-range heavy fighter modification of the Bristol Aeroplane Company's earlier Beaufort torpedo bomber design...

 crews for deployment to far east and middle east squadrons but as this work was completed the OTU was disbanded in October 1944.

The next occupant was the Central Gunnery School with a varied fleet of aircraft from Spitfire fighter to Wellington

Vickers Wellington

The Vickers Wellington was a British twin-engine, long range medium bomber designed in the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey, by Vickers-Armstrongs' Chief Designer, R. K. Pierson. It was widely used as a night bomber in the early years of the Second World War, before being displaced as a...

 bomber and support aircraft for roles such as target towing. With the end of the second world war the number of students reduced and the school moved out to RAF Leconfield

RAF Leconfield

The former RAF Leconfield, or 'Leconfield Camp' was a Royal Air Force airbase in Leconfield , East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The site is now used by the MoD Defence School of Transport Leconfield .-History:...

 in October 1945. The station was closed down.

A proposal announced in 1947 to turn Catfoss into a civil airport did not happen and was abandoned. In 1958 the need to base the new Thor

PGM-17 Thor

Thor was the first operational ballistic missile of the U.S. Air Force . Named after the Norse god of thunder, it was deployed in the United Kingdom between 1959 and September 1963 as an intermediate range ballistic missile with thermonuclear warheads. Thor was in height and in diameter. It was...

 intermediate range ballistic missile a massive concrete launch site was built in the centre of the airfield. The missiles were withdrawn from service in 1963 and the airfield again was abandoned.

RAF units and aircraft

Unit	Dates	Aircraft	Variant	Notes
No. 97 Squadron RAF No. 97 Squadron RAF No. 97 Squadron, was a Royal Air Force squadron formed on December 1, 1917 at Waddington, Lincolnshire, first as a training unit, until moving to Netheravon in March 1918, and re-equipping with the Handley Page O/400 heavy bomber. The squadron served in France for the remainder of the war...	1935	Handley Page Heyford Handley Page Heyford The Handley Page Heyford was a twin-engine British biplane bomber of the 1930s. Although it had a short service life, it equipped several squadrons of the RAF as one of the most important British bombers of the mid-1930s, and was the last biplane heavy bomber to serve with the RAF.-Design and...	IA	Twin-engined heavy biplane bomber only based for a few weeks in September.
No. 616 Squadron RAF No. 616 Squadron RAF No. 616 Squadron was a unit of the British Auxiliary Air Force and later the Royal Auxiliary Air Force between 1938 and 1957.-Formation:...	1939-1940	Supermarine Spitfire Supermarine Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was used by the Royal Air Force and many other Allied countries throughout the Second World War. The Spitfire continued to be used as a front line fighter and in secondary roles into the 1950s...	I	Air-defence fighter, detachment from RAF Leconfield RAF Leconfield The former RAF Leconfield, or 'Leconfield Camp' was a Royal Air Force airbase in Leconfield , East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The site is now used by the MoD Defence School of Transport Leconfield .-History:...
No. 2 (Coastal) Operational Training Unit	1940-1944	Bristol Blenheim Bristol Blenheim The Bristol Blenheim was a British light bomber aircraft designed and built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company that was used extensively in the early days of the Second World War. It was adapted as an interim long-range and night fighter, pending the availability of the Beaufighter... Avro Anson Avro Anson The Avro Anson is a British twin-engine, multi-role aircraft that served with the Royal Air Force, Fleet Air Arm and numerous other air forces prior to, during, and after the Second World War. Named for British Admiral George Anson, it was originally designed for maritime reconnaissance, but was... Bristol Beaufighter Bristol Beaufighter The Bristol Type 156 Beaufighter, often referred to as simply the Beau, was a British long-range heavy fighter modification of the Bristol Aeroplane Company's earlier Beaufort torpedo bomber design...		Coastal command training unit
No. 226 Squadron RAF No. 226 Squadron RAF First formed on 1 April 1918 at Pizzone, Italy, by re-designating the Bombing School Pizzone, No. 226 Squadron RAF operated fast bombers and fighter aircraft and formed No. 472, 473 and 474 Flights within it in September 1918...	1959-1963	Douglas PGM-17 Thor		Intermediate range ballistic missile.

• Central Gunnery School (1944-1945)
• No. 1 Armament Training Camp (1932-1938)
• No. 1 Armament Training Station (1938-1939)