Royal Air Force Stations in Lincolnshire
Great Britain 1:50 000 Scale Colour Raster Mapping Extracts © Crown copyright Ordnance Survey. All Rights Reserved. Educational licence 100045616.
Contents
- Expansion of RAF Airfields in the 1930s
- International Bomber Command Centre.
- RAF Anwick
- RAF Bardney
- RAF Barkston Heath
- RAF Binbrook
- RAF Blyton
- RAF Bottesford
- RAF Caistor
- RAF Coleby Grange
- RAF Coningsby
- RAF Cranwell
- RAF Digby
- RAF Donna Nook (Range)
- RAF Dunholme Lodge
- RAF East Kirkby
- RAF Elsham Wolds
- RAF Faldingworth
- RAF Fiskerton
- RAF Folkingham
- RAF Fulbeck
- RAF Goxhill
- RAF Grimsby / Waltham
- RAF Harlaxton
- RAF Hemswell / Harpswell
- RAF Hibaldstow
- RAF Holbeach Range
- RAF Ingham / Cammeringham
- RAF Kelstern
- RAF Kirmington
- RAF Kirton-in Lindsey
- RAF Ludford Magna
- RAF Manby
- RAF Metheringham
- RAF North Cotes
- RAF North Killingholme
- RAF North Witham
- RAF Saltby
- RAF Sandtoft
- RAF Scampton / Brattleby
- RAF Skellingthorpe
- RAF Spilsby
- RAF Spitalgate (Grantham)
- RAF Strubby
- RAF Sturgate
- RAF Sutton Bridge
- RAF Swinderby
- RAF Waddington
- RAF Wainfleet Range
- RAF Wellingore
- RAF Wickenby
- RAF Woodhall Spa
- FIDO
- High Flight
- Folkingham in 1944
- Fulbeck 1944
- Goxhill 1947
RAF Spitalgate (Grantham)
Airfield Code: ; Grid reference centred on SK 939 345
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RFC Station Grantham off the A52, was a flying field used for training pilots and should not be confused with HQ of 5 Group that was located in a large private house, St Vincents Hall, Grantham (SK 92479 35066) from October 1937 to November 1943 and also known as RAF Grantham during its final years there.
The station opened in 1915 as Royal Flying Corps Station Grantham, becoming RAF Station Grantham on 1 April 1918 - a name it bore until 1942 when it was renamed as RAF Station Spitalgate. The site was involved with teaching pilots to fly and it was in this role that it entered WW2, with No.12 Service Flying Training School (SFTS) based there since its formation on 1st December 1938.
In April 1942, the school was renamed No.12 (P) AFU ((Pilot) Advanced Flying Unit) and it operated a large number of Blenheim and a lesser number of Ansons and Oxfords. In March 1943, 1536 BAT (Blind Approach Training) Flight formed at the airfield and saw out the European War, disbanding in May 1945. Between March and August 1944, 1544 (P) AFU operated from Grantham. Towards the end of that year, No.12 (P) AFU moved to Hixon, Staffordshire. The Communications Flight of 7 (Training) Group Bomber Command arrived in March 1945 and the following May, No.17 SFTS, (Service Flying Training School) the last training unit of WW2 arrived, staying until 1948.
Post War the station became an Officer Cadet Training Unit (OCTU) in the 1950s. Much later it became the Women's Royal Air Force (WRAF) Depot, responsible for the recruitment and training of all non-commissioned females in the RAF, until this moved to RAF Hereford and later again to RAF Swinderby.
Grantham was always a grass airfield, although two of the three runways were covered in Sommerfeld tracking. The buildings had undergone numerous changes since 1920, being completely rebuilt between 1925 and 1927. Further development continued and by 1944, it had nineteen hangars of various types. Today the site is owned by the Army who acquired it in 1975, now known as Prince William of Gloucester Barracks.
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licensed for re-use under a Creative Commons Licence. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/Great Britain 1:50 000 Scale Colour Raster Mapping Extracts © Crown copyright Ordnance Survey. All Rights Reserved. Educational licence 100045616.
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