Woodhall Spa Airfield

Woodhall Spa Airfield was constructed in 1941 as a satellite to nearby RAF Coningsby which was actually a fighter airfield throughout its life. Woodhall Spa however became operational in early 1942 and was the base for 97 squadron one of the earliest squadrons to be equipped with the Avro Lancaster four engined bomber. The association with the Lancaster continued when 617 squadron moved to Woodhall in 1944. 617 was of course the famous Dambuster squadron, albeit for that mission they were based at Scampton.

Aircraft from Woodhall Spa were involved in the first operational deployment of the 12,000lb tallboy bombs, designed by Barnes Wallis, and also the mission that resulted in the sinking of the battleship Tirpitz in a Norwegian Fjord.

Post war the airfield saw use as a missile site but ceased front line operations in 1967. The RAF retained a small part of the field, including an original hangar for engine testing purposes but the rest of the airfield was largely used for gravel quarrying although an accommodation site nearby became Thorpe Camp Visitor Centre which commemorates the sacrifices made on the airfield in WWII.

In 2015 the remains of the airfield were purchased by the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust and so it it is now possible to visit and walk what is left of the runways. The entrance in is the line of the main runway but as you walk further along the modern tarmac surface deteriorates  and becomes broken and weed strewn and at the point that it crosses one of the other runways a memorial stone has been erected. Not much else evidences the former life of the place.

We visited on a very misty morning which, in some way, gave a little atmosphere and allowed imagination to drift back to what must have been a very busy and noisy environment 80 years ago.

Gunby Church

Came across this memorial on the wall inside Gunby Church last weekend.

Duxford Drop In 7.11.22

A brief stop at Duxford on the way home. Winter closing and a delayed arrival meant we only had around an hour and we wanted a bite to eat as well - where we found that, apparently, member discounts no longer apply in food outlets!

Anyway, a quick spin around some of the hangars found the Conservation hangar stilled closed for maintenance with an 'opening Autumn' sign outside - they're cutting that one fine! Sally B is now indoors meaning that the BBMF Dak has been moved, presumably down to Arco. The Walrus was also elsewhere, maybe in the Arco hangar too. No Catalina in the hangar so presumably off travelling somewhere, hopefully not Loch Ness!

Everything else much as expected with no real changes since my late September visit.

Lest We Forget

More East Kirkby

The rest from East Kirkby on Saturday - including progress on Lancaster sections that will be swapped in to Just Jane so that the removed parts can be restored to airworthy condition and then put back. Plus a Proctor project and an Auster Mk5 that I believe is airworthy.

LAHC Bolingbroke

The Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre at East Kirkby recently announced that they had acquired a significant collection of Bristol Bolingbroke parts, the Canadian equivalent of the Bristol Blenheim. They also confirmed that the intention was to restore it to ground running condition although I am not sure over what period. As I was at EK I was interested to see what there was of the project. The worrying thing was to find the fuselage split in two and placed in the same hut as the Hampden project. I appreciate that the Hampden stalled when sadly the chap doing it died but really nothing much seems to have happened in 25 years. With the Lanc an ongoing project for a good while yet I wonder where the Bolingbroke fits in to their plans. Anyway, this is what I saw, including a couple of the Hampden.

Strubby Airfield

Strubby was built as a satellite field to East Kirkby. It was the closest Lincolnshire airfield to Europe but was built fairly late in the war, the first aircraft arriving in April 1944. After ASR duties in support of D-Day it became a Beaufighter base before Bomber Command Lancasters arrived in September 1944. 65 Strubby Lancasters were lost on ops by war's end. The airfield continued to be used after the war until being sold off in 1980 although gliders still use the field and part of the old perimeter track is now a runway for light aircraft. A cart track uses part of the airfield and an original hangar has become a large aquatics centre but many old buildings still survive. Some are in use but most are looking a bit sad.

Thorpe Camp

Thorpe Camp was part of the barracks serving nearby Woodhall Spa.Today it is a visitor centre but has seasonal opening which ends in October so I had to make do with a look over the fence at their two aircraft, a sad looking Wessex helicopter and a Lightning F1A.