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  • 21 Aug, 2019

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RAF Wombleton
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. 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. 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.

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
No. 1679 HCF 13 December 1943 27 January 1944 Avro Lancaster Mk.II Disbanded into 1666 HCU
No. 261 Maintenance Unit RAF 15 November 1945 10 September 1946
The former Flying Control at RAF Wombleton (2007)

Current use

Wombleton airport is now used for recreational flying. 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. ^ 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. ^ 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.
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