Royal Air Force Sandtoft or more simply RAF Sandtoft 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 North Lincolnshire between

Doncaster Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a ceremonial and metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of Doncaster and Sheffield as well as the boroughs of Barnsley and Rotherham. In N ...

and

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 ...

North Lincolnshire North Lincolnshire is a unitary authority area in Lincolnshire, England, with a population of 167,446 in the 2011 census. The borough includes the towns of Scunthorpe, Brigg, Haxey, Crowle, Epworth, Bottesford, Kirton in Lindsey and Barton ...

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 ...

History

Second World War

RAF Sandtoft opened in February 1944 as a satellite airfield to

RAF Lindholme Royal Air Force Station Lindholme or more simply RAF Lindholme is a former Royal Air Force station in South Yorkshire, England. It was located south of Thorne and north east of Doncaster and was initially called RAF Hatfield Woodhouse. Ea ...

which was 3 miles to the west.

No. 1 Group RAF No. 1 Group of the Royal Air Force is one of the two operations groups in RAF Air Command. Today, the group is referred to as the Air Combat Group, as it controls the RAF's combat fast-jet aircraft and has airfields in the UK, as well as RAF Sup ...

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 ...

based a number of aircraft here from the No. 1667 Heavy Conversion Unit RAF, including

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 ...

es from

RAF Faldingworth Royal Air Force Faldingworth or more simply RAF Faldingworth is a former Royal Air Force station used during and after the Second World War. It was located close to the village of Faldingworth in Lincolnshire, England. Development By 1936 the ...

and

Avro Lancaster The Avro Lancaster is a British Second World War heavy bomber. It was designed and manufactured by Avro as a contemporary of the Handley Page Halifax, both bombers having been developed to the same specification, as well as the Short Stirlin ...

s. In November 1944 the airfield transferred to

No. 7 Group RAF No. 7 Group of the Royal Air Force was an RAF group active in the latter part of the First World War, during the 1920s and also in the Second World War. Organisational history No. 7 Group was created on the day that the RAF officially came int ...

Bomber Command. The RAF station closed on 10 November 1945.

Post Second World War

After 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 ...

, the airfield was placed on care and maintenance and remained inactive until allocated to the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

on 1 April 1953. The station was never occupied by the USAF and returned to

Air Ministry The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the Secretary of State ...

control on 8 September 1955 for disposal. Today many of the original buildings still exist. However, much of the old RAF Station has been converted to commercial use and a section of perimeter track is maintained and used by a flying club.

The Trolleybus Museum at Sandtoft The Trolleybus Museum at Sandtoft is a transport museum which specialises in the preservation of trolleybuses. It is located by the village of Sandtoft, near Belton on the Isle of Axholme in the English county of Lincolnshire. Description The ...

also uses part of the site.

References

Citations

Bibliography

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20050306010643/http://www.oldairfields.fotopic.net/c188322.html {{authority control

Sandtoft Sandtoft is a hamlet in the civil parish of Belton, North Lincolnshire (Where the population is included), England. Sandtoft is in Hatfield Chase on the Isle of Axholme, north-west from Epworth. Sandtoft has a public house, The Reindeer In ...

Epworth, Lincolnshire