Royal Air Force Stations in Lincolnshire

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RAF Waddington

Airfield Code: EGXW; Grid reference centred on: SK 988 642. Operational







RAF Waddington opened as a Royal Flying Corps flying training station in 1916. Student pilots, including members of the US Army, were taught to fly a variety of aircraft. Two of the Squadrons flying here were 82 Squadron RFC between 30 March 1917 and 17 November 1917, using the Armstrong Whitworth F.K.8, and 105 Squadron formed at the airfield on 23 September 1917, flying various aircraft and stayed until 3 October 1917 when it moved to Andover in Hampshire. 117 and 123 also flew from here in various types of aircraft while still RFC. The station came under the control of the Royal Air Force when it was created on 1 April 1918. It operated until 1920, when the station went into care and maintenance.
As part of the pre-war expansion programme the Waddington site was earmarked for development into a fully equipped bomber station. It reopened as a bomber base on 12 March 1937. 50 Squadron was first to arrive with their Hawker Hinds and then adding the Handley Page Hampden. 110 Squadron arrived 15 days later initially with the Hind before switching to the Bristol Blenheim. On 7 June 1937 88 Squadron reformed at Waddington with the Hind before moving to RAF Boscombe Down in Wiltshire on 17 July. On 16 June 1937 44 Squadron moved in from RAF Andover flying the Blenheim, before switching to the Avro Anson and the Hampden in February 1939. In May 1939 110 Squadron left going to RAF Wattisham in Suffolk and 50 Squadron left the following year being moved to RAF Lindholme in South Yorkshire.

RAF Waddington began the Second World War housing the Hampdens of 44 and 50 Squadron. Both squadrons were in action on the same day as Britain's war declaration, attacking German naval targets at Kiel. Waddington squadrons were also involved during the critical stages of the late summer and early autumn of 1940, attacking barges in the channel ports which were being assembled for operation Sealion as part of the invasion fleet.

In November 1940 it was the first station to receive the Avro Manchester heavy bomber. 44 Squadron RAF was the first in RAF Bomber Command to fly operationally with the Avro Lancaster on 2 March 1942 from Waddington. BT308, the first prototype Lancaster (otherwise known as the Mk III Manchester), arrived at Waddington in September 1941 for flight tests. As with RAF Scampton, the station was part of 5 Group. On 7 April 1943, seven Lancasters of 44 Squadron took off from Waddington as part of Operation Margin, a bombing raid on the MAN U-boat engine plant in Augsburg in Germany. The squadron subsequently left Waddington on 31 May 1943, moving to RAF Dunholme Lodge.
During the Second World War the following squadrons are known to have operated from Waddington.
97 Squadron reformed on 25 February 1941, with the Avro Manchester before moving to nearby RAF Coningsby on 10 March 1941.
9 Squadron arrived on 7 August 1942, initially with the Vickers Wellington III, before switching to the Lancaster I and III during September 1942. The squadron moved to RAF Bardney on 14 April 1943.
142 Squadron was briefly present between 15 June 1940 and 3 July 1940 with the Fairey Battle before moving to RAF Binbrook.
207 Squadron reformed at Waddington on 1 November 1940 with the Manchester adding the Hampden for a month in July 1941. The squadron moved to RAF Bottesford on 17 November 1941
420 Squadron of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) formed on 19 December 1941 with the Hampden before moving to RAF Skipton-on-Swale in North Yorkshire on 7 August 1942.
463 Squadron of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) formed at the airfield on 25 November 1943 with the Lancaster I and III before moving to RAF Skellingthorpe on 3 July 1945.
467 Squadron RAAF was present between 13 November 1943 and 15 June 1945 with the Lancaster Mks I and III. The squadron then moved to nearby RAF Metheringham.
617 Squadron was present between 17 June 1945 and 19 January 1946 with the Lancaster VII-FE before moving to RAF Digri in Pakistan.

During the Cold War, RAF Waddington became an Avro Vulcan V-bomber station, with 83 Squadron being the first in the RAF to receive the Vulcan in May 1957. It continued in this role until 1984 when the last Vulcan squadron, 50 Squadron, disbanded. From 1968, the UK nuclear deterrent was transferred to Polaris submarines, beginning with HMS Resolution.

During the Falklands War, Operation Black Buck saw three aircraft and crews from Waddington take part in a long-range bombing raid on Port Stanley airfield in the Falkland Islands. The three Vulcan B2s, of 44 Squadron, 50 Squadron and 101 Squadron, were twenty-two years old, and were selected because they had the more powerful Olympus 301 engines. A complicated air-to-air refuelling plan, involving fourteen Handley Page Victor K.2 tankers, was developed.
The station is operational to this day (2019) a major player in the RAF’s Intelligence Surveillance Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance (ISTAR) hub and is home to a fleet of aircraft composed of the Sentry AEW1, Sentinel R1, Shadow R1, and RC-135W Rivet Joint, and is an operating base for the RAF's MQ-9 Reaper. No. 1 Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance Wing formed on 1 April 2016. It is a mix of the staff and capabilities of the Tactical Imagery Intelligence Wing (TIW) at RAF Marham, 54 Signals Unit at RAF Digby and 5 (AC) Army Co-operation Squadron. Waddington is home to the wing headquarters.

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