Royal Air Force Wickenby or RAF Wickenby was a purpose-built

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 constructed late 1942 and early 1943. It lies halfway between Wickenby and

Holton cum Beckering Holton cum Beckering is a small village and civil parish in West Lindsey, Lincolnshire, England. It is situated south from Market Rasen at the junction of the B1202 road, B1202 and B1399 road, B1399 roads. At the United Kingdom Census 2001, 200 ...

, to the south-east of

Wickenby Wickenby is a hamlet and civil parish in the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated approximately south-west from the town of Market Rasen. The name 'Wickenby' derives from the Old English ''vikingr-by'' meaning 'farm/s ...

close to the B1399 in

West Lindsey West Lindsey is a local government district in Lincolnshire, England. Its council is based in Gainsborough. History The district was formed on 1 April 1974, from the urban districts of Gainsborough, Market Rasen, along with Caistor Rural Dis ...

, north-east of

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 ...

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 ...

Construction

It had two T2 type hangars and one B1 type. The B1 and one of the T2 hangars can still be seen on the airfield site. The T2 near the threshold of runway 21 was recently acquired by the airfield owners and after many years of industrial use is now, once more, an

aircraft 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 ...

. The airfield covered about , and had the usual three runway configuration with perimeter track, hard standings, a brick watchtower and numerous brick and metal buildings for the aircrews and ground staff. A number of the buildings were to the east (Communal Site, Living Quarters,

WAAF WAAF may refer to: * w3af, (short for web application attack and audit framework), an open-source web application security scanner * Women's Auxiliary Air Force, a British military service in World War II ** Waaf, a member of the service * WAAF (AM ...

Quarters) and stretched to and beyond the Lissington road - a road travelled many an evening by the airmen and women who visited their favourite watering hole, the ''White Hart'' at

Lissington Lissington is a village and civil parish in the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 154. It lies south from the town of Market Rasen, and about 4 miles north from the town o ...

. The Sick Quarters were to the south of the airfield together with a Communal Site and Living Quarters.

Residential units

Wickenby was occupied in September 1942 by No. 12 Squadron (a/c code PH) who brought with them

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 ...

II/III's, but during the winter of 1942/3 they converted to the

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 ...

. The Squadron flew the Lancaster throughout the rest of the war. On 7 November 1943, C Flight was expanded to become 626 Squadron (a/c code UM), also flying the Lancaster. Wickenby played a large part in the bomber offensive, taking part in many of the major raids including:

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...

Essen Essen (; Latin: ''Assindia'') is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and D ...

Mailly-le-Camp Mailly-le-Camp () is a commune in the Aube department in north-central France. History The town is mentioned as ''Mailliacus'' for the first time in 859 AD document. In 1902 a large military camp was built in its territory. On 3–4 May 194 ...

, and

Caen Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,mine-laying (gardening), and operations

Manna Manna ( he, מָן, mān, ; ar, اَلْمَنُّ; sometimes or archaically spelled mana) is, according to the Bible, an edible substance which God provided for the Israelites during their travels in the desert during the 40-year period follow ...

and

Exodus Exodus or the Exodus may refer to: Religion * Book of Exodus, second book of the Hebrew Torah and the Christian Bible * The Exodus, the biblical story of the migration of the ancient Israelites from Egypt into Canaan Historical events * Ex ...

. On 24 September 1945, 12 Squadron moved to a more permanent site at

Binbrook Binbrook is a village and civil parish in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated on the B1203 road, and north-east from Market Rasen. Previously a larger market town,Cox, J. Charles (1916) ''Lincolnshire'' pp. 64- ...

. Having spent its entire existence at Wickenby, 626 Squadron was disbanded on 14 October 1945. The base was later taken over by No. 93 Maintenance Unit and subsequently No. 92 Maintenance Unit who used the runways to dismantle ordnance until 1956 when the base was closed. Civil aviation and maintenance began in 1963, and the land was sold between 1964 and 1966. During the relatively short period of active service 1,080 people died from RAF Wickenby. This sacrifice is commemorated by the RAF Wickenby Memorial in the form of

Icarus In Greek mythology, Icarus (; grc, Ἴκαρος, Íkaros, ) was the son of the master craftsman Daedalus, the architect of the labyrinth of Crete. After Theseus, king of Athens and enemy of Minos, escaped from the labyrinth, King Minos suspe ...

on an obelisk at the entrance to the airfield. The memorial was placed there by members of the Wickenby Register, an association of former 12/626 Squadron personnel and associate relatives.

Post-war use

The north part of the former airfield is now known as

Wickenby Aerodrome Wickenby Aerodrome is an airport nautical miles north-east of Lincoln, Lincolnshire, 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 Iri ...

, which is a grass and concrete airfield. A road from Holton cum Beckering to

Snelland Snelland is a village and civil parish in the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated approximately north-east from the city and county town of Lincoln and about from the town of Market Rasen. The civil parish includes ...

runs right over the former airfield. Companies based at the airfield are Thruster Aircraft who make microlight planes; Lincoln Flight who train pilots and conduct experience flights; and Rase Distribution - a haulage firm. Planes using the airfield have to make contact first with the control tower at

RAF Waddington Royal Air Force Waddington otherwise known as RAF Waddington is a Royal Air Force (RAF) station located beside the village of Waddington, south of Lincoln, Lincolnshire in England. The station is the RAF's Intelligence Surveillance Target A ...

. The Watch Office is the home of the RAF Wickenby Memorial Collection and the Wickenby Archive, a museum and collection of memorabilia and archive dedicated to the memory of the Squadrons who served here.

References

;Citations ;Bibliography * *

External links

Wickenby Aerodrome

UKGA

RAF Wickenby Memorial Collection
- Wickenby Museum and the Wickenby Archive
www.lesfaircloth.co.uk
- The story of Leslie Faircloth and crew of 12 Squadron Bomber Command who flew around 17 operations from RAF Wickenby, mostly in Lancaster B Mk III ND424 'PH-G', during May and June 1944. {{authority control