RAF Harlaxton
Encyclopedia
RAF Harlaxton was a Royal Air Force station near the village of Harlaxton, 3 mi (4.8 km) south west of Grantham
, Lincolnshire
, England. The airfield was located in a triangle of flat fields midway between Harlaxton Manor
(now the University of Evansville
's British campus) and the nearby village of Stroxton
.
Originally constructed as a Royal Flying Corps
aerodrome in November 1916 it closed between the wars, reopening in 1942 as a Royal Air Force flying training establishment until its final closure in 1957.
During World War II
Harlaxton Manor was requisitioned by the Royal Air Force
as the station's officers' mess and later to temporarily house the headquarters of the 1st Airborne Division.
DH marques and Sopwith Camel
s.
The Royal Flying Corps' No.98 Squadron formed at Harlaxton from elements drawn from the training squadrons. After training at the station and Old Sarum Airfield
the squadron was deployed to France in a day-bombing role flying DH-9
s.
The station was mothballed and placed on a care and maintenance basis between the wars. Surveyed in 1937 as a possible fighter base for the defence of Nottingham, Leicester and Birmingham it was decided that the terrain was unsuitable for tarmac runways. Instead the grass runways were retained and a major building expansion programme was undertaken. In 1942 RAF Harlaxton reopened as a satellite field and relief landing ground for the flying training squadron based at RAF Spitalgate, Grantham under the command of No. 21 (Training) Group RAF.
Harlaxton Manor was requisitioned by the War Department and utilised as the station's officers' mess. In the period ahead of the D-day invasion the manor also housed the Headquarters of the Army's 1st Airborne Division during their detailed preparations.
As the war came to a close the station continued in a satellite and occasional relief landing ground role but now for the flying training facility at RAF Cranwell
. When flying training at Cranwell switched to jet aircraft in the mid 1950s Harlaxton's grass runways were no longer suitable and the station finally closed in 1957.
A Royal Observer Corps
aircraft spotting post was located on the north-east perimeter of the airfield during World War II and would have been responsible for initiating air raid warnings to the Grantham area during hostilities. An underground nuclear bunker was built on the same site in the 1960s and was used throughout the Cold War
. The underground post was only abandoned in 1991 when the ROC was stood down and now stands derelict after a fire was started by vandals.
Dakota transport aircraft attempted an emergency landing at Harlaxton and suffered major airframe damage during the incident. The accident investigators found that the aircraft was damaged beyond repair and it was written off. The crew suffered only minor injuries and there were no fatalities.
UK bomb disposal teams were having continuing problems dealing with German 2 kilogram Butterfly bomb
s as no examples had been safely dismantled to learn the process. While dealing with eight, that had fallen on RAF Harlaxton and failed to explode, Flight Sergeant Hanford of RAF Bomb Disposal based at RAF Digby
noticed that the arming rods had not fully withdrawn. He screwed them back by hand into the fuze
s enabling the bomb disposal scientists to dismantle them and use them for instructional purposes. Hanford was later awarded the British Empire Medal
for this feat of extreme bravery.
Unlike many former Lincolnshire airfields no permanent memorial plaque has been erected by local community or RAFA
organisations to remember the contribution of the station to two wars or the aircrew who served there.
Grantham
Grantham is a market town within the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It bestrides the East Coast Main Line railway , the historic A1 main north-south road, and the River Witham. Grantham is located approximately south of the city of Lincoln, and approximately east of Nottingham...
, Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...
, England. The airfield was located in a triangle of flat fields midway between Harlaxton Manor
Harlaxton Manor
Harlaxton Manor, built in 1837, is a manor house in Harlaxton, Lincolnshire, England. Its architecture, which combines elements of Jacobean and Elizabethan styles with symmetrical Baroque massing, renders the mansion unique among surviving Jacobethan manors....
(now the University of Evansville
University of Evansville
The University of Evansville is a small, private university with approximately 3,050 students located in Evansville, Indiana. Founded in 1854 as Moores Hill College, it is located near the interchange of the Lloyd Expressway and U.S. Route 41. It is affiliated with the United Methodist Church...
's British campus) and the nearby village of Stroxton
Stroxton
Stroxton is a settlement of 15 households located three miles south of Grantham in South Kesteven, Lincolnshire, England.It is around half a mile from the A1 and can be reached by a bridge which spans the A1. Directly east is Little Ponton. The parish church is dedicated to All Saints. -External...
.
Originally constructed as a Royal Flying Corps
Royal Flying Corps
The Royal Flying Corps was the over-land air arm of the British military during most of the First World War. During the early part of the war, the RFC's responsibilities were centred on support of the British Army, via artillery co-operation and photographic reconnaissance...
aerodrome in November 1916 it closed between the wars, reopening in 1942 as a Royal Air Force flying training establishment until its final closure in 1957.
During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
Harlaxton Manor was requisitioned by the 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...
as the station's officers' mess and later to temporarily house the headquarters of the 1st Airborne Division.
History
The airfield opened in November 1916 as a Royal Flying Corps training aerodrome with three grassed runways laid out in an equilateral triangle, unusually oriented to the north. The aerodrome remained busy throughout World War I as a flying training establishment with a large number of aircraft present, flying mostly a motley assortment of de HavillandDe Havilland
The de Havilland Aircraft Company was a British aviation manufacturer founded in 1920 when Airco, of which Geoffrey de Havilland had been chief designer, was sold to BSA by the owner George Holt Thomas. De Havilland then set up a company under his name in September of that year at Stag Lane...
DH marques and Sopwith Camel
Sopwith Camel
The Sopwith Camel was a British First World War single-seat biplane fighter introduced on the Western Front in 1917. Manufactured by Sopwith Aviation Company, it had a short-coupled fuselage, heavy, powerful rotary engine, and concentrated fire from twin synchronized machine guns. Though difficult...
s.
Old Sarum Airfield
Old Sarum Airfield is located north northeast of Salisbury, Wiltshire, England.The aerodrome has a CAA Ordinary Licence that allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction as authorised by the licensee . The aerodrome is not licensed for night use.The site is a...
the squadron was deployed to France in a day-bombing role flying DH-9
Airco DH.9
The Airco DH.9 - also known after 1920 as the de Havilland DH.9 - was a British bomber used in the First World War...
s.
The station was mothballed and placed on a care and maintenance basis between the wars. Surveyed in 1937 as a possible fighter base for the defence of Nottingham, Leicester and Birmingham it was decided that the terrain was unsuitable for tarmac runways. Instead the grass runways were retained and a major building expansion programme was undertaken. In 1942 RAF Harlaxton reopened as a satellite field and relief landing ground for the flying training squadron based at RAF Spitalgate, Grantham under the command of No. 21 (Training) Group RAF.
Harlaxton Manor was requisitioned by the War Department and utilised as the station's officers' mess. In the period ahead of the D-day invasion the manor also housed the Headquarters of the Army's 1st Airborne Division during their detailed preparations.
As the war came to a close the station continued in a satellite and occasional relief landing ground role but now for the flying training facility at RAF Cranwell
RAF Cranwell
RAF Cranwell is a Royal Air Force station in Lincolnshire close to the village of Cranwell, near Sleaford. It is currently commanded by Group Captain Dave Waddington...
. When flying training at Cranwell switched to jet aircraft in the mid 1950s Harlaxton's grass runways were no longer suitable and the station finally closed in 1957.
A Royal Observer Corps
Royal Observer Corps
The Royal Observer Corps was a civil defence organisation operating in the United Kingdom between 29 October 1925 and 31 December 1995, when the Corps' civilian volunteers were stood down....
aircraft spotting post was located on the north-east perimeter of the airfield during World War II and would have been responsible for initiating air raid warnings to the Grantham area during hostilities. An underground nuclear bunker was built on the same site in the 1960s and was used throughout the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
. The underground post was only abandoned in 1991 when the ROC was stood down and now stands derelict after a fire was started by vandals.
Harlaxton incidents
On 29 January 1945 a USAAFUnited States Army Air Forces
The United States Army Air Forces was the military aviation arm of the United States of America during and immediately after World War II, and the direct predecessor of the United States Air Force....
Dakota transport aircraft attempted an emergency landing at Harlaxton and suffered major airframe damage during the incident. The accident investigators found that the aircraft was damaged beyond repair and it was written off. The crew suffered only minor injuries and there were no fatalities.
UK bomb disposal teams were having continuing problems dealing with German 2 kilogram Butterfly bomb
Butterfly Bomb
A Butterfly Bomb, or was a German 2 kilogram anti-personnel submunition used by the Luftwaffe during the Second World War. It was so named because the thin cylindrical metal outer shell which hinged open when the bomblet deployed gave it the superficial appearance of a large butterfly...
s as no examples had been safely dismantled to learn the process. While dealing with eight, that had fallen on RAF Harlaxton and failed to explode, Flight Sergeant Hanford of RAF Bomb Disposal based at RAF Digby
RAF Digby
RAF Digby is a Royal Air Force station which, since March 2005, has been operated by the Ministry of Defence's Joint Service Signals Organisation, part of the Intelligence Collection Group. Formerly a training and fighter airfield, it is currently a tri-service military signals installation located...
noticed that the arming rods had not fully withdrawn. He screwed them back by hand into the fuze
Fuze
Fuze Beverage, commercially referred to as just Fuze , is a manufacturer of teas and non-carbonated fruit drinks enriched with vitamins. Currently the brand consists of five vitamin-infused lines: Slenderize, Refresh, Tea, Defensify, and Vitalize...
s enabling the bomb disposal scientists to dismantle them and use them for instructional purposes. Hanford was later awarded the British Empire Medal
British Empire Medal
The Medal of the Order of the British Empire for Meritorious Service, usually known as the British Empire Medal , is a British medal awarded for meritorious civil or military service worthy of recognition by the Crown...
for this feat of extreme bravery.
List of units based at RAF Harlaxton
| Date of arrival | Unit | Notes |
| November 1916 | Opened as Royal Flying Corps Aerodrome Harlaxton | |
| 13 November 1916 | No. 44 Reserve Squadron RFC | Renamed No. 44 Training Squadron RFC in May 1917 |
| 30 January 1917 | No. 68 (Australian) Squadron RFC | Remnants of No.2 Squadron RFC arrived by boat from Kantara Egypt. Recruiting a group of Australian pilots already in the UK the new squadron formed and trained at Harlaxton. Equipped with DH5s it deployed to France in September 1917, specialising in ground attack owning to the shortcomings of its equipment. |
| May 1917 | No. 44 Training Squadron RFC | Renamed No. 26 Training Squadron RFC on 22 September 1917 |
| 22 August 1917 | No. 3 Training Squadron RFC | Disbanded 15 August 1918 |
| 30 August 1917 | No. 98 Squadron RFC | This bomber squadron was formed at Harlaxton, from a nucleus flight from No. 44 Training Squadron and in the following spring crossed to France as a day-bombing unit equipped with DH9s. |
| 22 September 1917 | No. 26 Training Squadron RFC | Disbanded November 1918 |
| November 1917 | No. 20 Training Squadron RFC | Reformed on 15 August 1918 as part of No. 40 Training Depot Station RAF |
| 6 December 1917 | No. 53 Training Squadron RFC | Reformed on 15 August 1918 as part of No. 40 Training Depot Station RAF |
| 12 December 1917 | No. 64 Training Squadron RFC | Reformed on 15 August 1918 as part of No. 40 Training Depot Station RAF |
| 1 April 1918 | RFCS Harlaxton is renamed RAF Harlaxton | |
| 15 August 1918 | No. 40 Training Depot Station RAF | Disbanded 8 May 1919 |
| June 1919 | RAF Harlaxton is mothballed and placed on a care and maintenance basis | |
| 24 February 1944 | RAF Harlaxton reopens as a relief landing ground for No. 12 Flying Training School RAF based at RAF Spitalgate | |
| November 1944 | No.12 FTS renames as No. 12 (Pilots) Advanced Flying Training Unit RAF. Disbanded February 1945. | |
| February 1945 | No. 17 Special Flying Training School | Based at RAF Cranwell, using RAF Harlaxton as a relief landing ground. |
| 1957 | RAF Harlaxton disestablished and closed down |
The airfield today
Little sign of the airfield remains today, with its runways returned to agricultural use as fields, but several wartime brick built buildings and air raid shelters still stand derelict. There is also the remains of a standard Allen-Williams Turret, a rotatable metal anti-aircraft defence installation designed to hold two men and a Lewis machine gun.Unlike many former Lincolnshire airfields no permanent memorial plaque has been erected by local community or RAFA
Rafa
-Places:*Rafah, a town in Gaza Strip*Rafa, Kuyavian-Pomeranian, a village in central northeast Poland- People :* Rafa is short for Rafael* Rafael "Rafa" Nadal , Spanish tennis player...
organisations to remember the contribution of the station to two wars or the aircrew who served there.
Main reference
- Bruce Barrymore HalpennyBruce Barrymore HalpennyBruce Barrymore Halpenny is a widely respected English military historian and author, specialising in airfields and aircraft, as well as ghost stories and mysteries. He is also a broadcaster and games inventor.-Parents:...
Action Stations: Wartime Military Airfields of Lincolnshire and the East Midlands v. 2 (ISBN 978-0850594843)