Royal Air Force Wombleton or RAF Wombleton is a former Royal Air Force sub-station located 3.8 miles (6.1 km) east of Helmsley, North Yorkshire and 11.8 miles (19 km) north-east of Easingwold, North Yorkshire, England.

Station history

Wombleton opened in 1943 as a sub-station of RAF Topcliffe. It was part of RAF Bomber Command's No. 6 Group RCAF, and along with the main station at Topcliffe and the station at Dishforth, was designated part of No. 61 (Training) Base.[2][3] In November 1944, No. 61 Base was transferred to No 7 (Training) Group and it was renumbered No. 76 Training Base. No. 1666 Heavy Conversion Unit (HCU) was the first unit to move to Wombleton. Aircrew who were originally trained on twin-engined aircraft such as Vickers Wellingtons or Armstrong Whitworth Whitleys received conversion training on heavy four-engined bombers such as the Handley Page Halifax or Avro Lancaster.[4] No. 1666 HCU remained at Wombleton until the end of the war. The RAF took over the station and stayed for several years with the RAF Regiment using the site as a battle school.[5]

Units and aircraft

Unit From To Aircraft Version Notes
No. 1666 'Mohawk' HCU 21 October 1943 3 August 1945 Handley Page Halifax
Avro Lancaster		 Mks.II, III, V
Mks.I, II, III, X		 [6]
No. 1679 HCF 13 December 1943 27 January 1944 Avro Lancaster Mk.II Disbanded into 1666 HCU[6]
No. 261 Maintenance Unit RAF 15 November 1945 10 September 1946 [7]
The former Flying Control at RAF Wombleton (2007)

Current use

Wombleton airport is now used for recreational flying.[8] Under the labour government new housing rules (2024), This site is earmarked as brownfield land and will be used for building homes.

See also

References

Citations

  1. ^ a b Falconer 2012, p. 216.
  2. ^ Delve 2006, p. 272
  3. ^ Halpenny 1982, p. 195
  4. ^ Halpenny, Bruce Barrymore (1990). Action stations (2 ed.). Wellingborough: Stephens. pp. 195–196. ISBN 0-85059-532-0.
  5. ^ Otter, Patrick (1999). Yorkshire airfields in the Second World War (1 ed.). Newbury, Berkshire: Countryside Books. p. 79. ISBN 1-85306-542-0.
  6. ^ a b Sturtivant and Hamlin 2007, p. 99.
  7. ^ Sturtivant and Hamlin 2007, p. 183.
  8. ^ "Wombleton Conservation Area" (PDF). ryedale.gov.uk. 21 July 2005. p. 6. Retrieved 18 July 2017.

Bibliography

  • Delve, Ken. The Military Airfields of Britain: Northern England: Co. Durham, Cumbria, Isle of Man, Lancashire, Merseyside, Manchester, Northumberland, Tyne & Wear, Yorkshire. Ramsbury, Wiltshire, UK: The Crowood Press, 2006. ISBN 1-86126-809-2
  • Delve, Ken. The Source Book of the RAF. Shrewsbury, Shropshire, UK: Airlife Publishing, 1994. ISBN 1-85310-451-5.
  • Falconer, J. (2012). RAF Airfields of World War 2. UK: Ian Allan Publishing. ISBN 978-1-85780-349-5.
  • Halpenny, Bruce Barrymore. Action Stations: 4: Military airfields of Yorkshire. Cambridge, UK: Patrick Stephens, 1982. ISBN 0-85059-532-0
  • Sturtivant, Ray, ISO and John Hamlin. RAF Flying Training And Support Units since 1912. Tonbridge, Kent, UK: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd., 2007. ISBN 0-85130-365-X.
Allikas: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Wombleton
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