![313tcg-c46-1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cd/313tcg-c46-1.jpg)
Royal Air Force Folkingham or RAF Folkingham 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 located south west of
Folkingham
Folkingham ( ) is an English village and civil parish on the northern edge of the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire. The civil and ecclesiastical parishes cover the same area. Folkingham lies on the A15 road north of Bourne and 10 miles ...
,
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 ...
and about due south of county town
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 ...
and north of
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
.
Opened in 1940, it was used by both the
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 ...
and
United States Army Air Forces
The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...
. During the war, it was used primarily as a troop carrier airfield for airborne units and as a subsidiary training depot of the newly formed
Royal Air Force Regiment
The Royal Air Force Regiment (RAF Regiment) is part of the Royal Air Force and functions as a specialist corps. Founded by royal warrant in 1942, the Corps carries out soldiering tasks relating to the delivery of air power. Examples of such t ...
. After the war, it was placed on care and maintenance during 1947 when the RAF Regiment relocated to
RAF Catterick
Royal Air Force Catterick or RAF Catterick is a former Royal Air Force airfield located near Catterick, North Yorkshire in England. It is located alongside the A6055 road on the outskirts of Catterick Village.
Although initially a flying stati ...
.
During the late 1950s and early 1960s, the RAF Bomber Command used Folkingham as a PGM-17 Thor Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile (IRBM) base.
Today the remains of the airfield are located on private property being used as agricultural fields, with the main north–south runway acting as hardstanding for hundreds of scrapped vehicles.
History
USAAF
Folkingham was known as USAAF Station AAF-484 for security reasons by the USAAF during the war, and by which it was referred to instead of location. Its USAAF Station Code was "FK".
313th Troop Carrier Group
US personnel started to arrive in January 1944 to prepare for the
313th Troop Carrier Group scheduled to transfer from Trapani/Milo Airfield,
Sicily
(man) it, Siciliana (woman)
, population_note =
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, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 = Ethnicity
, demographics1_footnotes =
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. On 5 February it opened as a USAAF
IX Troop Carrier Command
The IX Troop Carrier Command was a United States Army Air Forces unit. Its last assignment was with the Ninth Air Force, based at Greenville Army Air Base, South Carolina. It was inactivated on 31 March 1946. As a component command of the Ninth ...
station flying four squadrons of
C-47
The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota (Royal Air Force, RAF, Royal Australian Air Force, RAAF, Royal Canadian Air Force, RCAF, Royal New Zealand Air Force, RNZAF, and South African Air Force, SAAF designation) is a airlift, military transport ai ...
s. Operational squadrons and fuselage codes were:
* 29th Troop Carrier Squadron (Z7)
* 47th Troop Carrier Squadron (N3)
*
48th Troop Carrier Squadron (5X)
* 49th Troop Carrier Squadron (H2)
The 313th TCG was part of the 52nd Troop Carrier Wing.
However, at the end of February 1945, the group began its move to a new base in France at Achiet (
Advanced Landing Ground
Advanced Landing Grounds (ALGs) were temporary advance airfields constructed by the Allies during World War II during the liberation of Europe. They were built in the UK prior to the invasion and thereafter in northwest Europe from 6 June 19 ...
B-54), although the last elements did not leave until well into March.
RAF Maintenance Command
Folkingham was retained by the USAAF although most personnel had departed by mid-April. The station was closed in 1947.
British Racing Motors (BRM)
With the facility released from military control, the runway was used by
British Racing Motors
British Racing Motors (BRM) was a British Formula One motor racing team. Founded in 1945 and based in the market town of Bourne in Lincolnshire, it participated from 1951 to 1977, competing in 197 grands prix and winning seventeen. BRM wo ...
for development testing of the new BRM 16 cylinder 1.5 litre racing car, which was presented before the press for the first time on 15 December 1949 at Folkingham airfield. A BRM engine test house and other facilities were later built there.
Thor Missile use by RAF Bomber Command
RAF Folkingham later served as a post-war
PGM-17 Thor
The PGM-17A Thor was the first operational ballistic missile of the United States Air Force (USAF). Named after the Norse god of thunder, it was deployed in the United Kingdom between 1959 and September 1963 as an intermediate-range ballistic m ...
Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile (IRBM) base with 3 IRBM launchers operated by
No. 223 (Strategic Missile) Squadron RAF. With the reactivation of the site in late 1958, BRM was relocated to
RAF North Witham
Royal Air Force North Witham or more simply RAF North Witham is a former Royal Air Force station located in Twyford Wood, off the A1 between Stamford and Grantham, Lincolnshire, England about north-northwest of London.
The site opened in 1943 ...
.
On the closure of the Thor site, BRM moved back and its later cars were tested at Folkingham, but only remained for a few years. In the late 1960s, the runways and some Nissen huts were used by Lincolnshire Police as a driver training and skid pan area. In the mid-1960s the testing track closed and the airfield was sold off to agricultural interests.
Current use
Today the airfield is largely used by agriculture. Most of the runways and perimeter track were removed after the sale of the airfield by BRM for hardcore aggregate, with some single-lane agricultural roads remaining that generally outlines the former concreted area. No evidence of the technical site located to the north-east of the airfield remains. Evidence of some dispersed personnel sites appear to the north and north-east of the airfield, with some concrete roads now in abandoned, overgrown areas.
The southern half of the airfield partially remains containing several single and double-loop handstands, along with a full-width length of the 00-18 north–south main runway. The runway now serves as a vehicle compound for Nelson M Green & Sons Ltd, for the storage of decommissioned agricultural vehicles, lorries and other equipment. The vehicles, many often rare and long out of production, are stored for the resale of their spare parts.
The abandoned hulks also line the sides of the remaining perimeter track along with several of the old dispersal loops. The wartime bomb dump exists, although it is now a forested area still containing concrete disused bomb stores, evidence of which can be seen by the pattern of vegetation that has overgrown and reclaimed the facility.
The remains of the three post-war Thor missile pads are the most prominent military features remaining on the airfield, their heavily reinforced concrete areas making them difficult and uneconomical to remove for the small amount of aggregate that can be reclaimed from them.
See also
*
List of former Royal Air Force stations
This list of former RAF stations includes most of the stations, airfields and administrative headquarters previously used by the Royal Air Force.
The stations are listed under any former county or country name which was appropriate for the du ...
*
82d Airborne Division
The 82nd Airborne Division is an airborne infantry division of the United States Army specializing in parachute assault operations into denied areasSof, Eric"82nd Airborne Division" ''Spec Ops Magazine'', 25 November 2012. Archived from thorig ...
References
Citations
Bibliography
*
Bruce Barrymore Halpenny
Bruce Barrymore Halpenny (1937 – 3 May 2015) was an English military historian and author, specialising in airfields and aircraft, as well as ghost stories and mysteries. He was also a broadcaster''Framlington Times'' - Journal of the 390t ...
''Action Stations: Wartime Military Airfields of Lincolnshire and the East Midlands v. 2'' ()
* Freeman, Roger A. (1994) UK Airfields of the Ninth: Then and Now 1994. After the Battle
* Freeman, Roger A. (1996) The Ninth Air Force in Colour: UK and the Continent-World War Two. After the Battle
* Maurer, Maurer (1983). Air Force Combat Units Of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. .
USAAS-USAAC-USAAF-USAF Aircraft Serial Numbers--1908 to present
External links
Photographs of RAF Folkingham from the Geograph British Isles project
{{DEFAULTSORT:Folkingham
Royal Air Force stations in Lincolnshire
Airfields of the IX Troop Carrier Command in the United Kingdom
Royal Air Force stations of World War II in the United Kingdom
Military units and formations established in 1943
Military units and formations disestablished in 1966
South Kesteven District