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Part Three :: World War Two
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Updated: 9 Sep 06
World War Two
The Second World War was a period of intensive air force activity spanning all the disciplines of offensive and flying operations and ground-based defence. Air roles included offensive bomber, day fighter, night fighter, anti-shipping strike, transport and flying training. Land-based roles included the Chain Home High and Chain Home Low RADAR stations at RAF Stenigot, RAF Skendleby and RAF Ingoldmels, schools covering air armaments, air gunnery and other ground defence disciplines. The sea-based air-sea rescue launches of Coastal Command should not be overlooked. Finally, the RAF Regiment was born in the county at Alma House in Dec 1941, with RAF Regiment Depots at Belton Park, RAF Folkingham and RAF North Witham.
In Sep 1939, when war was declared, there were 10 operational or near-operational military airfields in Lincolnshire. The onset of war completely changed the strategy of airfield construction, focussing resources on runways and technical accommodation while living accommodation and domestic buildings became much more rudimentary. Older airfields had been designed with all the buildings close together for efficiency; new airfields saw buildings widely dispersed in small clusters to complicate any aerial attack.
From 1939 a fairly standard plan was adopted for new airfields, with
older ones
being brought up to the same standards when they could. Three concrete
runways
were laid out, along with a perimeter track and dispersal pans for
the aircraft.
The runways were usually in an A-plan, with a long one, from 1940 a
minimum of
1,400 yards long, later increased to 2,000 yards, running south-west
to
north-east. The other two runways initially 1,100 yards, later extended
to 1,400
each.
The key contribution of Lincolnshire was to be as Bomber County, with No 1 Group and No 5 Group of Bomber Command playing a decisive role in the offensive air operations over Europe. 1 Group's airfields were generally in north Lincolnshire, and 5 Group's in the south. Although accounts differ as to how many operational airfields existed by the end of the war, due to the definition of Lincolnshire's borders and operational airfields, it is generally accepted that there were 49, more than in any other county in England. 2 per cent of the county was airfield.
Many key and innovative missions were generated from Lincolnshire's RAF bomber bases, earning just under half of Bomber Command's 19 Victoria Crosses.
In addition to the Royal Air Force squadrons there were allied squadrons from the Royal Australian, Canadian and New Zealand Air Forces and squadrons manned largely by personnel from Belgium, Czechoslovakia, France and Poland (see the overview of nations).
In the fighter war, particularly from 1940 to 1942, the two key airfields in Lincolnshire were at RAF Kirton in Lindsey and RAF Digby. However it was from RAF North Coates and Coastal Command that the last RAF attack sortie in Europe was generated, 236 Sqn and 254 Sqn sinking 4 U-boats on 4 May 1945.
In the preparations for Operation OVERLORD and D-Day, the First Airborne Division assembled in Lincolnshire, training and living in the villages around Grantham. The troop carriers of the Ninth Air Force launched from many of the airfields of southern Lincolnshire. USAAF bases of the 9th Air Force's 82nd Troop Carrier Group were RAF Fulbeck, RAF Folkingham, RAF Barkston Heath and RAF Saltby. A separate page details the US contribution.
At the end of the war there were 49 active airfields or which 28 were bomber bases, more than any other county in the United Kingdom.
> RAF history in Lincolnshire
The early years up to 1918
Early days in Saint
Omer
The Inter-war years
World War TwoRAF
Cold War to the present
> The command structure
Bomber Command
Fighter Command
Coastal Command
Training Command
> Airfield information
Generic airfield layout
Emergency landing grounds
Hangar types
FIDO fog dispersal
Airfield defences
Decoy airfields and deception
> Other historical pages
Key dates of bomber offensives
Aircraft manufacturers in Lincolnshire
The US Air Forces in Lincolnshire
Selected books about Lincolnshire aviation history
History of the RNAS on the Fleet Air Arm Archive
Aquila - Lincolnshire Aviation History
Blackwells Bookshop
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