Royal Air Force Market Harborough or more simply RAF Market Harborough is a former

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

station Station may refer to: Agriculture * Station (Australian agriculture), a large Australian landholding used for livestock production * Station (New Zealand agriculture), a large New Zealand farm used for grazing by sheep and cattle ** Cattle statio ...

near the town of Market Harborough in the county of

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. Today part of the site of the former airbase is occupied by

HMP Gartree HM Prison Gartree is a Category B men's prison, located in Market Harborough, Leicestershire, England. Gartree is operated by His Majesty's Prison Service. History Constructed on the western part of the site which was previously RAF Market Harbo ...

History

Construction & layout

Land for the development of an RAF aerodrome was earmarked by the

Air Ministry The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the Secretary of State ...

in 1941, and work commenced on the construction of the Station during 1942. The construction work was undertaken by J.R. Mowlem & Co. and was completed in 1943. Vickers Wellington 1 ExCC

RAF Market Harborough conformed to the layout of a typical RAF aerodrome, that is the specifications set by the British

which called for three converging strips, each containing a

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wi ...

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt concrete, as ...

optimally placed (if practicable at the site) at 60 degree angles to each other in a triangular pattern.

RAF Operational life

The first

personnel arrived on the Station on 1 June 1943. RAF Market Harborough came under the control of No. 92 Group RAF ( Bomber Command), and became the parent Station to the nearby RAF Husbands Bosworth when that Station was commissioned in August of that year. The complement of aircraft on the Stations as of 1943 is listed as 61 Vickers Wellingtons, 4 Miles Martinets and an Avro Anson. The Wellingtons were the primary training aircraft by that time largely withdrawn from front-line operations, the Martinets would have been used for the target towing operations and the Anson would have served as the Station's communication aircraft.

Units

=No. 14 Operational Training Unit

= On 1 August 1943, No. 14 Operational Training Unit (

No. 14 OTU Royal Air Force Operational Training Units (OTUs) were training units that prepared aircrew for operations on a particular type or types of aircraft or roles. OTUs ; No. 1 (Coastal) Operational Training Unit RAF (1 OTU): The Unit was formed in ...

) was re-formed at Market Harborough with the transfer of the unit from RAF Cottesmore. The OTU was tasked with the training of crews for

RAF Bomber Command RAF Bomber Command controlled the Royal Air Force's bomber forces from 1936 to 1968. Along with the United States Army Air Forces, it played the central role in the strategic bombing of Germany in World War II. From 1942 onward, the British bo ...

in both daylight and night operations. No.14 OTU continued to be housed on the Station until it was disbanded on 24 June 1945.

=No. 1683 (Bomber) Defence Training Flight

= In addition to the Wellingtons of No.14 OTU, RAF Market Harborough also operated

Hawker Hurricane The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft of the 1930s–40s which was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd. for service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was overshadowed in the public consciousness by ...

s and

Curtiss Tomahawk The Curtiss P-40 Warhawk is an American single-engined, single-seat, all-metal fighter and ground-attack aircraft that first flew in 1938. The P-40 design was a modification of the previous Curtiss P-36 Hawk which reduced development time an ...

s which comprised No. 1683 (Bomber) Defence Training Flight RAF (1683 BDTF). The Flight transferred from

RAF Bruntingthorpe Royal Air Force Bruntingthorpe or more simply RAF Bruntingthorpe is a former Royal Air Force station located north east of Lutterworth, Leicestershire and south of Leicester, Leicestershire, England. It was operational between 1942 and 1962 a ...

on 3 February 1944 and disbanded on 1 August 1944.

=No. 26 Air Crew Holding Unit

= Following the cessation of hostilities in 1945, RAF Market Harborough became home to No. 26 Air Crew Holding Unit from 21 August 1945 until 18 September 1946.

=No. 273 Maintenance Unit

No. 273 Maintenance Unit RAF The following is a list of Royal Air Force Maintenance Units (MU). The majority of MUs were previously Equipment Depots (ED), Storage Depots (SD) and Aircraft Storage Units (ASU)s. No. 1 MU – No. 100 MU No. 101 MU – No. 200 MU No ...

(No. 273 MU) were occupants of the base from February 1946 until 5 October 1949.

=Care & Maintenance

= Flying operations at RAF Market Harborough ceased on 18 August 1945, following which the airfield was placed on care and maintenance managed by No. 273 MU.

British Army

Control of the former RAF Market Harborough was transferred to the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

in 1948, the Station becoming known as 72 Brigade Vehicle Depot (72 BVD). The army retained custody of the Station until they finally left in the late 1950s.

Today

Because of the proximity of HMP Gartree, no aviation activity now takes place on the site and today it is largely used for agricultural purposes. In 1990 an application was submitted to develop some of the site into a cattle market on the area known as Airfield Farm. In the mid 1990s a further application was submitted to convert some of the land for offices, leisure facilities and an agricultural showground. In the late 1990s a further ideas concerned a

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

theme park together with a recreation of the

Garden of Eden In Abrahamic religions, the Garden of Eden ( he, גַּן־עֵדֶן, ) or Garden of God (, and גַן־אֱלֹהִים ''gan-Elohim''), also called the Terrestrial Paradise, is the Bible, biblical paradise described in Book of Genesis, Genes ...

HMP Gartree

Following the cessation of military activity on the site at the end of the 1950s, part of the former RAF Market Harborough was earmarked for the construction of HMP Gartree in the 1960s. Opening in 1965, HMP Gartree was initially used as s Category C training center before it was upgraded to a maximum security facility. The most notorious episode occurred in December 1987 and concerned the escape of two inmates who were helped with the aid of a hijacked Bell 206 helicopter. Today the prison houses Category B prisoners.

References

{{authority control Market Harborough Market Ha Market Ha Military units and formations established in 1943 Military units and formations disestablished in 1945