Royal Air Force Elsham Wolds or more simply RAF Elsham Wolds 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 in England, which operated in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. It is located just to the north east of the village of Elsham in north

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...

. Halpenny, Bruce Barrymore ''Action Stations: Wartime Military Airfields of Lincolnshire and the East Midlands v. 2'' - Page 90

First World War

An airfield was established at Elsham as early as December 1916 and used by C Flight of No. 33 Squadron of the

Royal Flying Corps "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colors = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , decorations ...

, initially operating F.E.2 and later

Avro 504 The Avro 504 was a First World War biplane aircraft made by the Avro aircraft company and under licence by others. Production during the war totalled 8,970 and continued for almost 20 years, making it the most-produced aircraft of any kind tha ...

and

Bristol F.2 Fighter The Bristol F.2 Fighter is a British First World War two-seat biplane fighter and reconnaissance aircraft developed by Frank Barnwell at the Bristol Aeroplane Company. It is often simply called the Bristol Fighter, ''"Brisfit"'' or ''"Bif ...

biplanes A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While a ...

. From June 1918 to June 1919 it was also the squadron's headquarters, taking over from

Gainsborough Gainsborough or Gainsboro may refer to: Places * Gainsborough, Ipswich, Suffolk, England ** Gainsborough Ward, Ipswich * Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, a town in England ** Gainsborough (UK Parliament constituency) * Gainsborough, New South Wales, ...

. The site was the most northerly of three airfields, along with

RAF Kirton in Lindsey Royal Air Force Kirton in Lindsey or more simply RAF Kirton in Lindsey is a former Royal Air Force station located north of Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England. It's an RAF habit (inherited from the RFC) to name its bases after the nearest railwa ...

(B Flight) and

RAF Scampton Royal Air Force Scampton or RAF Scampton is a Royal Air Force station located adjacent to the A15 road near to the village of Scampton, Lincolnshire, and north-west of the city of Lincoln, England. RAF Scampton stands on the site of a First ...

(A Flight), equally spaced between the cities of Hull and

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincol ...

for countering

Zeppelin A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship named after the German inventor Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin () who pioneered rigid airship development at the beginning of the 20th century. Zeppelin's notions were first formulated in 1874Eckener 1938, pp ...

night raids. C Flight also acted as observers for the

artillery batteries In military organizations, an artillery battery is a unit or multiple systems of artillery, mortar systems, rocket artillery, multiple rocket launchers, surface-to-surface missiles, ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, etc., so grouped to facil ...

located at

Spurn Head Spurn is a narrow sand tidal island located off the tip of the coast of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England that reaches into the North Sea and forms the north bank of the mouth of the Humber Estuary. It was a spit with a semi-permanent con ...

and

Kilnsea Kilnsea is a hamlet in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, in an area known as Holderness. It is situated approximately south of the village of Easington, on the north bank of the Humber Estuary. The hamlet forms part of the civil parish ...

. The flight stayed at Elsham until June 1918, the wooden huts and a small aircraft shed that had been erected were demolished by 1919 when the station was abandoned back to agriculture at the end of the First World War. Halpenny, Bruce Barrymore ''Action Stations: Wartime Military Airfields of Lincolnshire and the East Midlands v. 2'' - Page 91

Second World War

In the late 1930s with a new war on the horizon, extra airfields were again needed to accommodate an expansion of the RAF. Former First World War stations were surveyed for suitability, and an area just to the west of the original Elsham site was deemed to be better suited. Work began in the winter of 1939–1940, and the station opened with the arrival in July 1941 of 103 Squadron. The station was equipped with a main

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 ...

long, and two subsidiaries of and . Three

hangar A hangar is a building or structure designed to hold aircraft or spacecraft. Hangars are built of metal, wood, or concrete. The word ''hangar'' comes from Middle French ''hanghart'' ("enclosure near a house"), of Germanic origin, from Frankish ...

s (two T-2's and one J-Type) and 27 aircraft hardstands (later increased to 36) were built. Three more T-2 hangars were built in 1944. Accommodation for around 2,500 personnel was dispersed in the nearby farmland. No. 103 is credited with more operational sorties than any other No. 1 Group RAF squadron, and consequently suffered the group's highest losses. Of the 248 bombers lost on operations flying from Elsham Wolds, 198 were from No. 103 Squadron. By type, losses were 28

Vickers Wellington The Vickers Wellington was a British twin-engined, long-range medium bomber. It was designed during the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey. Led by Vickers-Armstrongs' chief designer Rex Pierson; a key feature of the aircraft is its g ...

s, 12 Halifaxes and 208 Lancasters. One Elsham Wolds Lancaster, Lancaster III ED888 M2 (Mike Squared) Halpenny, Bruce Barrymore ''Action Stations: Wartime Military Airfields of Lincolnshire and the East Midlands v. 2'' - Page 92 which served with both Nos. 103 and 576, held the Bomber Command record for operational sorties, having completed 140 between May 1943 and December 1944.Official RAF History
/ref> A total of 974 operational hours. Australian

Don Charlwood Donald Ernest Cameron Charlwood AM (6 September 1915 – 18 June 2012) was an Australian author. He also worked as a farm hand, an air traffic controller and, most notably, as an RAAF navigator in Bomber Command during the Second World War. Wh ...

was a navigator operating out of Elsham Wolds. In his highly regarded memoir, "

No Moon Tonight ''No Moon Tonight'' is a World War II autobiographical book by Halifax/ Lancaster/Wellington bomber navigator Don Charlwood. Born in Melbourne, Australia, in 1915 Charlwood joined the Royal Australian Air Force in 1940 and was trained in Canada ...

", he writes movingly about his many comrades who died, those that did not (a much smaller number), and about the feelings of aircrews facing such high loss rates. Describing his arrival at Elsham Wolds with a group of 20 other young men, he wrote: ". . . of our twenty only eight were destined to depart . . . a few months later."

Post war

RAF Elsham Wolds closed in 1947 and shortly afterwards DP's (Displaced Persons), Poles and Ukrainians were temporarily housed in the buildings whilst working at the

Scunthorpe Steelworks The Iron and Steel Industry in Scunthorpe was established in the mid 19th century, following the discovery and exploitation of middle Lias ironstone east of Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England. Initially iron ore was exported to iron pro ...

. Some contemplated transit to the US or Canada, others to set roots, mostly in

Scunthorpe Scunthorpe () is an industrial town and unparished area in the unitary authority of North Lincolnshire in Lincolnshire, England of which it is the main administrative centre. Scunthorpe had an estimated total population of 82,334 in 2016. A pre ...

. Colloquially, it started to be known as "Warsaw Hamlet" and the Post Office delivered letters using that address. By the late 1952 early '53 the DP's had moved on and once again the site reverted to first agriculture use and later as the site of an industrial estate. Halpenny, Bruce Barrymore ''Action Stations: Wartime Military Airfields of Lincolnshire and the East Midlands v. 2'' - Page 93 The history of the site is reflected in the road names on the estate which include Halifax Approach and Wellington Way. In the 1970s the site was bisected by the

A15 road This is a list of roads designated A15. Entries are sorted in alphabetical order by name of country. * A015 road (Argentina), a road connecting the junction with National Route 14 at La Criolla and the Salto Grande Dam access-road * ''A15 road (A ...

that was built to link the

M180 motorway The M180 is a motorway in eastern England, starting at junction 5 on the M18 motorway in Hatfield, within the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster, South Yorkshire, and terminating at Barnetby, Lincolnshire, some from the port of Immingham an ...

to the Humber Bridge. The control tower lasted into the 1980s and was used as a house for a time, which was said to be haunted. Halpenny, Bruce Barrymore '' Ghost Stations Lincolnshire'' - Page 58 The J-Type hangar is still standing.

Current use

A large radio and telephone mast has been placed on top of Elsham hill. Elsham Hill - geograph

The tower is at the west end of the main runway and was during the 60s was used to relay radar from RAF Station Patrington and RAF Station Staxton Wold to RAF Lindholme near Doncaster A memorial garden is located in the southwestern part of the old aerodrome site."UK Airfields", http://www.ukairfields.org.uk/elsham-wolds.html; latitude/longitude 53°36'27.94"N 0°26'9.13"W; visible on Google Earth.

Squadrons

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * *

External links

The Wartime Memories ProjectHistory of 103 Squadron RAF 1917 - 1975History of Elsham Wolds Airfield WW1 and WW2
{{DEFAULTSORT:Elsham Wolds Royal Air Force stations in Lincolnshire Royal Air Force stations of World War II in the United Kingdom Reportedly haunted locations in East Midlands Royal Flying Corps airfields