Royal Air Force Binbrook or RAF Binbrook was a

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, now closed, located near

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. 6 ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, 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-we ...

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 ...

. The old domestic site (married quarters) has been renamed to become the village of

Brookenby Brookenby is a village and civil parish in the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. The village is situated north-east from Market Rasen. According to the 2001 census, it had a population of 742, falling to 665 at the 2011 census. ...

. RAF Binbrook was primarily used by Bomber Command in 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 opposi ...

. The

Central Fighter Establishment The Central Fighter Establishment was a Royal Air Force formation that dealt with the development of fighter aircraft tactics which was formed on 4 September 1944 at RAF Wittering. It also tested new fighter aircraft and equipment, and with the ...

moved to Binbrook from

RAF West Raynham Royal Air Force West Raynham or more simply RAF West Raynham is a former Royal Air Force station located west of West Raynham, Norfolk and southwest of Fakenham, Norfolk, England. The airfield opened during May 1939 and was used by RAF Bom ...

between 1959 and 1962 and two

English Electric Lightning The English Electric Lightning is a British fighter aircraft that served as an interceptor during the 1960s, the 1970s and into the late 1980s. It was capable of a top speed of above Mach 2. The Lightning was designed, developed, and manufa ...

squadrons were stationed there between 1965 and 1988.

History

Bombers

RAF Binbrook was opened as a Bomber Command station in June 1940 during the

Halpenny 1991, p. 42. and home to

No. 12 Squadron RAF Number 12 Squadron, also known as No. 12 (Bomber) Squadron and occasionally as No. XII Squadron, is a flying squadron of the Royal Air Force (RAF). The squadron reformed in July 2018 as a joint RAF/Qatar Emiri Air Force squadron. It is currently ...

, with

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 ...

Mk II and III, between 3 July 1940 and 25 September 1942 before it moved to RAF Wickenby. Another squadron stationed at Binbrook before 1942 was 142, with the

Fairey Battle The Fairey Battle is a British single-engine light bomber that was designed and manufactured by the Fairey Aviation Company. It was developed during the mid-1930s for the Royal Air Force (RAF) as a monoplane successor to the Hawker Hart and ...

, from 3 July 1940 to 12 August 1940 and from 6 September 1940 to 26 November 1941 when it moved to RAF Waltham. The squadron used the Battle until November 1940 before switching to the Wellington Mk II. RAF Binbrook closed in 1942 for the installation of three concrete runways, reopening in 1943 as home to No. 460 Squadron,

Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

.Halpenny 1991, p. 43. Post-war, Binbrook was home to a number of distinguished RAF bomber squadrons, notably IX, 12, 101 and

617 __NOTOC__ Year 617 ( DCXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 617 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar e ...

, all four of which were there for more than a decade.Halpenny 1991, pp. 46–47.Jefford 2001, pp. 30–31, 57, 101–102. The airfield saw the start of the RAF's transition to jet bombers with the arrival of the first

English Electric Canberra The English Electric Canberra is a British first-generation, jet-powered medium bomber. It was developed by English Electric during the mid- to late 1940s in response to a 1944 Air Ministry requirement for a successor to the wartime de Havil ...

Fighters

After the departure of IX and 12 squadrons in 1959, 64 Squadron with

Gloster Javelin The Gloster Javelin is a twin-engined T-tailed delta-wing subsonic night and all-weather interceptor aircraft that served with Britain's Royal Air Force from the mid-1950s until the late 1960s. The last aircraft design to bear the Gloster na ...

all-weather fighters moved to Binbrook together with part of the

from

. 85 Target Facilities Squadron also moved to Binbrook with a mixture of Canberras and

Gloster Meteor The Gloster Meteor was the first British jet fighter and the Allies of World War II, Allies' only jet aircraft to engage in combat operations during the Second World War. The Meteor's development was heavily reliant on its ground-breaking turb ...

Lightnings

s moved to Binbrook in 1965 with 5 Squadron, and 1972 with 11 Squadron. 5 and 11 were the last two RAF Lightning squadrons. 5 Squadron re-equipped with the

Tornado F3 The Panavia Tornado Air Defence Variant (ADV) was a long-range, twin-engine interceptor version of the swing-wing Panavia Tornado. The aircraft's first flight was on 27 October 1979, and it entered service with the Royal Air Force (RAF) in 1986 ...

RAF Coningsby Royal Air Force Coningsby or RAF Coningsby , is a Royal Air Force (RAF) station located south-west of Horncastle, and north-west of Boston, in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It is a Main Operating Base of the RAF and ho ...

early in 1988, leaving 11 Squadron to continue at Binbrook for a few more months with the remaining few Lightnings in RAF service. When 11 Squadron disbanded to also re-equip with the Tornado F3 at

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 Lightning was withdrawn from service.

Closure

The station closed as a main operating base in the 1980s, although it continued as a relief landing ground for

RAF Scampton Royal Air Force Scampton or RAF Scampton is a Royal Air Force station located adjacent to the A15 road near to the village of Scampton, Lincolnshire, and north-west of the city of Lincoln, England. RAF Scampton stands on the site of a Fi ...

into the early 1990s before eventually closing and all military activity ceasing, it was subsequently sold off for development.Halpenny 1984, p. ? The control tower and adjacent fire section were demolished in 1995. In the mid-90s,

Lincolnshire Police Lincolnshire Police is the territorial police force covering the non-metropolitan county of Lincolnshire in the East Midlands of England. Despite the name, the force's area does not include North East Lincolnshire and North Lincolnshire, which ...

and

Humberside Police Humberside Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing The East Riding of Yorkshire including Hull and northern parts of Lincolnshire including Grimsby and Scunthorpe. The chief constable since 2017 is Lee Freeman. Histor ...

used the site to teach

riot control Riot control measures are used by law enforcement, military, paramilitary or security forces to control, disperse, and arrest people who are involved in a riot, unlawful demonstration or unlawful protest. If a riot is spontaneous and irratio ...

techniques to its police officers. As of 2012 a majority of the accommodation blocks have been demolished. The hangars and offices are used as an industrial estate housing many businesses. The flight line is fenced off and used for storage of mainly ex-military equipment awaiting resale. The married quarters are private housing, forming the new village of Brookenby. There is also a memorial to 460 Squadron (RAAF) consisting of a memorial plaque and benches around the former ident square. The following units were here at some point: * No. 1 Group Target Towing Flight RAF (November 1941) became No. 1481 (Target Towing) Flight RAF (November 1941 - January 1942) became No. 1481 (Target Towing and Gunnery) Flight RAF (January - November 1942) *

No. 50 Squadron RAF No. 50 Squadron was a squadron of the Royal Air Force. It was formed during the First World War as a home defence fighter squadron, and operated as a bomber squadron during the Second World War and the Cold War. It disbanded for the last time in ...

No. 109 Squadron RAF No. 109 Squadron RAF was an aircraft squadron of the Royal Air Force. History The squadron first formed on 1 November 1917 as 109 Squadron Royal Flying Corps at South Carlton and began training on the de Havilland DH.9 bomber but was disbanded on ...

* No. 139 Squadron RAF * No. 460 Squadron RAAF Notably, the squadron: flew the most sorties of any Australian bomber squadron; dropped more bomb tonnage than any other squadron in Bomber Command; lost 188 aircraft and suffered 1,018 combat deaths. * No. 643 Volunteer Gliding School RAF (June 1991 - October 1992) *

819 Naval Air Squadron 819 Naval Air Squadron (819 NAS) was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. History Along with No. 815 Squadron, it performed the successful night attack on the Italian fleet at Taranto on 11 November 1940. The attack was per ...

849 Naval Air Squadron 849 Naval Air Squadron was a squadron of the Fleet Air Arm, the Air Arm of the British Royal Navy. It was formed during the Second World War as a carrier based torpedo-bomber, unit, flying missions against Japanese targets in the Far East. Its ...

* No. 849B Flight of 849 NAS * Air Bomber Training Flight (No. 1 Group) RAF (June - September 1942) * Bomber Command Aircraft Maintenance Unit RAF (July 1952 - ?) * Bomber Command Jet Conversion Flight RAF (December 1950 - July 1952) * Bomber Command Supply Support Unit RAF (October - November 1956) * Day Fighter Combat Squadron RAF (November 1962 - November 1965) * Instant Readiness Reserve Unit RAF (June 1979 - 1981) became Lightning Augmentation Flight RAF (1981 - 82) * Lightning Special Engineering Project Team RAF (April 1974 - ?) * Lightning Training Flight RAF (October 1975 - April 1987)

Popular culture

In 1989 RAF Binbrook alongside RAF Little Rissington served as the

USAAF 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 ...

airbase for filming for the 1990 movie '' Memphis Belle''.Halpenny 1991, p. 219. Some of the aircrew of the original "Memphis Belle", a

Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Relatively fast and high-flying for a bomber of its era, the B-17 was used primarily in the European Thea ...

, visited Binbrook during the filming, and met the cast of the movie. Robert Hanson, the airplane's radio operator, said the cast were "... not quite as good-looking as we were ... but they are young and enthusiastic—exactly like we were."Myrna Oliver. "Robert Hanson, 85; Last Living Crewman of the Memphis Belle". 10 October 2005. ''Los Angeles Times''.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * Halpenny, Bruce Barrymore. ''Action Stations: Wartime Military Airfields of Lincolnshire and the East Midlands v. 2''. Patrick Stephens Ltd., 1981. .
Later published (With 16 page Update Supplement) as: ** ''Action Stations: Wartime Military Airfields of Lincolnshire and the East Midlands v. 2'' Patrick Stephens Ltd., 1991. . * *