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 Sutton Bridge
Airfield Code: ?; Grid reference centred on TF 483 201[Link
] [Link] 
 |
|
The airfield at Sutton Bridge arose thanks to the existence of the bombing ranges around The Wash. In September 1926 the Air Ministry established RAF Practice Camp Sutton Bridge on 289 acres of acquired agricultural land south of Sutton Bridge village from Guy's Hospital Agricultural Estates.
The flying ground was used to set up, operate and maintain ground and towed targets for practice machine gun firing and bomb dropping just north of Gedney Drove End by the RAF and Fleet Air Arm (FAA) biplane squadrons. From 1 January 1932 it was officially renamed to 3 Armament Training Camp Sutton Bridge, subsequently 3 Armament Training Station Sutton Bridge.
After the outbreak of WW2, in October 1939, RAF 266 Squadron reformed at Sutton Bridge as a fighter squadron and from January 1940 operated the Supermarine Spitfire, becoming the RAF’s second Spitfire fighter Squadron after RAF Duxford’s 19 Squadron. In March, 266 Squadron also moved to RAF Martlesham Heath. Transferring from 11 Group to 12 Group Fighter Command 6 OTU (Operational Training Unit) was re-numbered in November 1940 to 56 OTU RAF and remained at RAF Sutton Bridge until relocating in March 1942 when and the station transferred to 25 (Armament) Group, Training Command, concentrating on gunnery instruction.
All three runways were grass two of which had Sommerfeld steel tracking, (nicknamed "tin lino") laid to prevent deterioration of the runway surface. Two Bellman hangars, six blister hangars and an aircraft repair shed, along with accommodation for 1869 personnel. The airfield was retained until 1958
Note. Sommerfeld tracking, named after its Austrian inventor, can best be described as a very heavy wire netting which was laid on grass and fixed in place. It was used at many Landing grounds, but was replaced because it tended to work loose and was noted for ripping tail wheels off aircraft.
![Creative Commons Licence [Some Rights Reserved]](https://s1.geograph.org.uk/img/somerights20.gif)
Images used on this page, © Copyright Adrian S Pye;
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.
( Page < < prev 1 ... 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 ... next >> )
