RAF Lilbourne 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) an ...

station which was located south of

Lutterworth Lutterworth is a market town and civil parish in the Harborough district of Leicestershire, England. The town is located in southern Leicestershire, close to the borders with Warwickshire and Northamptonshire. It is located north of Rugby ...

, Leicestershire,

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 ...

. The airfield opened 1915 before closing around 1920.

History

A number of training squadrons were based at the airfield including No. 10 Training Squadron using the

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 the

Sopwith Camel The Sopwith Camel is a British First World War single-seat biplane fighter aircraft that was introduced on the Western Front in 1917. It was developed by the Sopwith Aviation Company as a successor to the Sopwith Pup and became one of the ...

at Lilbourne between 7 April 1918 and 25 June 1918, No.44 Reserve/ Training Squadron using the Avro 504, DH4's and

Royal Aircraft Factory R.E.7 __NOTOC__ The Royal Aircraft Factory R.E.7 was a British two-seat light bomber and reconnaissance biplane designed by the Royal Aircraft Factory and built under contracts by the Coventry Ordnance Works, Austin, Napier and Siddeley-Deasy for the ...

's based at the airfield between 2 November 1916 and 13 November 1916. This also included No. 55 Training Squadron utilising the Avro 504, Camel,

Sopwith Pup The Sopwith Pup is a British single-seater biplane fighter aircraft built by the Sopwith Aviation Company. It entered service with the Royal Naval Air Service and the Royal Flying Corps in the autumn of 1916. With pleasant flying character ...

and the Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5A. The squadron used both

Castle Bromwich Aerodrome Castle Bromwich Aerodrome was an early airfield, situated to the north of Castle Bromwich in the West Midlands of England. The site now falls within the City of Birmingham. History Creation to 1937 A large piece of Warwickshire grassland (Ca ...

and Lilbourne between 15 January 1918 and July 1918. The airfield was also home to a number of operational squadrons during World War I including No. 55 Squadron RFC using Avro 504's,

BE2 The Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2 was a British single-engine tractor two-seat biplane designed and developed at the Royal Aircraft Factory. Most of the roughly 3,500 built were constructed under contract by private companies, including establis ...

's, DH4's and FK8's spread between Castle Bromwich Aerodrome and Lilbourne from 27 April 1916 and 6 March 1917, No. 73 Squadron RFC using the Camel while based at the airfield between 10 July 1917 and 9 January 1918 and No. 84 Squadron RFC using the Avro 504, Camel and Pup at Lilbourne between 23 March 1917 and 23 September 1917.

Accidents and incidents

Current use

The land is currently open land with a big lorry park on part of the airfield.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lilbourne Military units and formations established in 1914 Royal Flying Corps airfields Royal Air Force stations in Northamptonshire