RAF Rufforth is a former 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 located near Rufforth

Rufforth

Rufforth is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority of the City of York in North Yorkshire, England. It lies about west of York. The village is mentioned in the "Domesday Book" and dates from Saxon times....

 in North Yorkshire

North Yorkshire

North Yorkshire is a non-metropolitan or shire county located in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England, and a ceremonial county primarily in that region but partly in North East England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972 it covers an area of , making it the largest...

, UK.

Construction

RAF Rufforth was built by John Laing & Son Ltd for the Royal Air Force in 1941 (completed 1942), it is located on the south side of the village.

The airfield had one B1 and two T2 hangars and 36 aircraft hard standings and there was accommodation for 1,531 males and 251 females of all ranks.

Units

• No. 158 Squadron RAF
  No. 158 Squadron RAF
  No. 158 Squadron RAF was a World War I proposed ground attack squadron that did not became operational in time to see action, and a World War II bomber squadron. After World War II had ended in Europe the squadron operated in the transport role until disbandment in December 1945.-Formation in World...
  
   November 1942 - February 1943
• 1663 Heavy Conversion Unit (HCU) 7 Group Training Command 1943 - 1945

Aircraft losses

A total of 18 aircraft flying from RAF Rufforth were lost in accidents including one at Bishop Wilton Wold

Bishop Wilton Wold

Bishop Wilton Wold is the highest point of the Yorkshire Wolds in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The summit, known as Garrowby Hill, lies about 5 miles north of Pocklington....

.

Post war

RAF Rufforth was home to a gliding school for several years whilst being part of No. 60 Maintenance Unit, the RAF left in 1974 and the Ministry of Defence (MOD)

Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)

The Ministry of Defence is the United Kingdom government department responsible for implementation of government defence policy and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces....

 sold the site in 1981.

Part of the site has been retained for use by microlight and other small aircraft.

Airline TV series

The ITV fictional drama series "Airline" was partially filmed at the airfield in 1982.

Airline was a period drama series set at the end of the Second World War. Its main character is Jack Ruskin (played by Roy Marsden

Roy Marsden

Roy Marsden is an English actor, who is probably best known for his portrayal of Adam Dalgliesh in the Anglia Television dramatisations of P. D. James's detective novels.- Education :...

) who as a demobbed RAF transport pilot tries to set up his own airline using a DC3

DC3

DC3 can refer to:* Device Control Three, one of the C0 and C1 control codes* DC3 a punk band formed by Dez Cadena after leaving Black Flag * DC3 is the name of a fictional band in the TV Show "Cory in the House"* Dark Castle 3, a video game...

/C-47.

The series also starred Polly Hemingway as Jennie, Peter Witney as Richard Heffer, Sean Scanlan as Mc Evoy and Terence Rigby

Terence Rigby

Terence Christopher Rigby was an English actor with a number of film and television credits to his name. In the 1970s he was well-known as police dog-handler PC Snow in the long-running series Softly, Softly: Taskforce...

as Ernie Cade.

The series ran for 9 Episodes.