Royal Air Force Crosby-on-Eden or more simply RAF Crosby-on-Eden was 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 located north east of

Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from xcb, Caer Luel) is a city that lies within the Northern England, Northern English county of Cumbria, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, Scottish border at the confluence of the rivers River Eden, Cumbria, Eden, River C ...

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumb ...

and west of

Brampton Brampton ( or ) is a city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario. Brampton is a city in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and is a List of municipalities in Ontario#Lower-tier municipalities, lower-tier municipalit ...

, Cumbria. It is nowadays

Carlisle Lake District Airport Carlisle Lake District Airport is a regional airport located east north-east of Carlisle, England. Due to the COVID-19 epidemic, the passenger terminal has been closed as from the 1st of April 2020 "until further notice". Carlisle has a CAA ...

History

Civil use

In the early 1930s, RAF Kingstown and is now Kingstown or Kingmoor Industrial estate. With the outbreak of war in 1939, RAF Kingstown's runway was too small for bombers, so the

developed a new airstrip at Crosby-on-Eden.News & Star
The new facility came into operation in February 1941 for training operations, designating the station RAF Crosby-on-Eden.

Military use

The airfield was originally under the command of

RAF Fighter Command RAF Fighter Command was one of the commands of the Royal Air Force. It was formed in 1936 to allow more specialised control of fighter aircraft. It served throughout the Second World War. It earned near-immortal fame during the Battle of Britai ...

housing

No. 59 Operational Training Unit RAF The numero sign or numero symbol, №, (also represented as Nº, No, No. or no.), is a Typography, typographic abbreviation of the word ''number''(''s'') indicating ordinal number, ordinal numeration, especially in names and titles. For exampl ...

(OTU) which provided day training for

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 ...

pilots. ;Coastal Command The station was handed over to

RAF Coastal Command RAF Coastal Command was a formation within the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was founded in 1936, when the RAF was restructured into Fighter, Bomber and Coastal Commands and played an important role during the Second World War. Maritime Aviation ...

, hosting No. 9 (Coastal) OTU during August 1942 for training long-range fighter crews on

Bristol Beaufort The Bristol Beaufort (manufacturer designation Type 152) is a British twin-engined torpedo bomber designed by the Bristol Aeroplane Company, and developed from experience gained designing and building the earlier Blenheim light bomber. At l ...

and

Bristol Beaufighter The Bristol Type 156 Beaufighter (often called the Beau) is a British multi-role aircraft developed during the Second World War by the Bristol Aeroplane Company. It was originally conceived as a heavy fighter variant of the Bristol Beaufort ...

conversion squadrons, as well as air firing and night flying. ;Transport Command In August 1944 the station came under the command of

RAF Transport Command RAF Transport Command was a Royal Air Force command that controlled all transport aircraft of the RAF. It was established on 25 March 1943 by the renaming of the RAF Ferry Command, and was subsequently renamed RAF Air Support Command in 1967. ...

with

Douglas Dakota The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota ( RAF, RAAF, RCAF, RNZAF, and SAAF designation) is a military transport aircraft developed from the civilian Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the Allies during World War II and remained in ...

s of No. 109 (Transport) Operational Training Unit RAF.History of Dakota KG651
and 109 OTU was then renamed No. 1383 (Transport) Conversion Unit RAF, on 1 August 1945 disbanding at Crosby-on-Eden on 6 August 1946. The following units were also here at some point: * Sub site for

No. 14 Maintenance Unit RAF RAF Carlisle (previously RAF Kingstown) was a Royal Air Force establishment, now closed after being used for a variety of roles over a period of fifty eight years and formerly located north of Carlisle city centre in Cumbria, England. The stat ...

(April 1952) * Detachment of No. 105 (Transport) OTU (August 1945) * No. 2711 Squadron RAF Regiment

Post war

Crosby-on-Eden had little post war use and was closed in 1947 with the airfield returning to

Carlisle City Council The City of Carlisle ( , ) is a local government district of Cumbria, England, with the status of a city and non-metropolitan district. It is named after its largest settlement, Carlisle, but covers a far larger area which includes the towns ...

to continue as a municipal airport as what is now named

with ownership passing to the

Stobart Group Esken Limited (), formerly Stobart Group Limited, is a British infrastructure, aviation and energy company, with operations in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The company is registered in Guernsey but has its operational head office in Londo ...

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Crosby-on-Eden Royal Air Force stations in Cumbria