Royal Air Force Melbourne or more simply RAF Melbourne 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 used during 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 ...

. Located to the south-west of

Pocklington Pocklington is a market town and civil parish situated at the foot of the Yorkshire Wolds in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The 2011 Census recorded its population as 8,337. It is east of York and northwest of Hull. The town's sk ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

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 nearest village is

Seaton Ross Seaton Ross is a village and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is situated approximately west of the market town of Market Weighton and north-west of the village of Holme-on-Spalding-Moor. It lies to the south of the ...

History

East Common just outside the village of Seaton Ross was requisitioned for use as a grass airfield in November 1940. In late 1940 the airfield was used by

Armstrong Whitworth Whitley The Armstrong Whitworth A.W.38 Whitley was a British medium bomber aircraft of the 1930s. It was one of three twin-engined, front line medium bomber types that were in service with the Royal Air Force (RAF) at the outbreak of the Second World ...

s of 10 Squadron as a relief landing ground for

RAF Leeming Royal Air Force Leeming or RAF Leeming is a Royal Air Force (RAF) station located near Leeming, North Yorkshire, England. It was opened in 1940 and was jointly used by the RAF and the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). Between 1950 and 1991, it ...

. The airfield soon closed for re-development as a standard

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 ...

airfield with three concrete runways and three hangars. The first user of the re-built airfield was again 10 Squadron but by this time operating the

Handley Page Halifax The Handley Page Halifax is a British Royal Air Force (RAF) four-engined heavy bomber of the Second World War. It was developed by Handley Page to the same specification as the contemporary twin-engine Avro Manchester. The Halifax has its or ...

four-engined heavy bomber, little time was wasted before the aircraft were used on operational sorties from Melbourne. The squadron continued with operation until March 1945 and lost 109 aircraft on operations. Melbourne was one of seventeen sites equipped with FIDO fog dispersant system. This made the airfield a popular diversion for other squadrons returning from operations to Yorkshire in extreme bad weather conditions. In May 1945 the airfield was transferred to

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. ...

and 575 Squadron moved in with the

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 ...

. The squadron only stayed for a few months operating transport flight to and from continental Europe. With the departure of the Dakota a number of specialised Flights used the airfield for six months but by the middle of 1946 the airfield was no longer used for flying.

RAF units and aircraft

Other units: * No. 4 Group Communication Flight RAF (1945–1946) * No. 91 Maintenance Unit RAF (1949–1954) * No. 10 Conversion Flight RAF *

No. 1658 Heavy Conversion Unit RAF Conversion units and operational conversion units (OCUs) were training units of the Royal Air Force (RAF). History With the introduction of new heavy bombers, the four-engined Short Stirling, Avro Lancaster, and Handley Page Halifax, the Roya ...

* No. 2820 Squadron RAF Regiment *

No. 4275 Anti-Aircraft Flight RAF Regiment The numero sign or numero symbol, №, (also represented as Nº, No, No. or no.), is a typographic abbreviation of the word ''number''(''s'') indicating ordinal numeration, especially in names and titles. For example, using the numero sign, t ...

* Aircrew Testing and Grading Unit RAF * Transport Command Aircrew Examining Unit RAF

Current use

The site was used for a farmers market in the 1970s, but was gradually adapted into a racing track. Until 2017 the airfield was home to York Raceway running drag racing throughout the summer. York Raceway did not operate at Melbourne in 2018 or 2019. After a fundraising effort a new drag strip was laid and drag racing returned to Melbourne in August 2020. The airfield strip is now home to Melbourne Raceway running drag racing under the organisation of Straightliners. The runway is also used for flying by Pocklington Gyroplane School for Saturday afternoon meets.

References

Citations

Bibliography

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External links

RAF MelbourneYork Raceway
{{DEFAULTSORT:Melbourne Drag racing venues in Europe ">Drag_racing_venues_in_Europe.html" ;"title="Drag racing venues in Europe">Drag racing venues in Europe Royal Air Force stations in Yorkshire Royal Air Force stations of World War II in the United Kingdom Transport in the East Riding of Yorkshire