Royal Air Force Station Langar or more simply RAF Langar is a former

Royal Air Force station The Royal Air Force (RAF) operates several stations throughout the United Kingdom and overseas. This includes front-line and training air bases, support, administrative and training stations with no flying activity, unmanned airfields used fo ...

located near the village of

Langar, Nottinghamshire Langar is an English village in the Vale of Belvoir, about four miles (6.4 km) south of Bingham, in the Rushcliffe borough of Nottinghamshire. The civil parish of Langar cum Barnstone had a population of 980 at the 2011 Census. This was estim ...

, England. The airfield is located approximately east-southeast of

Radcliffe on Trent Radcliffe-on-Trent is a large village and civil parish in the Rushcliffe borough of Nottinghamshire, England. The population of the civil parish at the Census 2011 was 8,205. Location Radcliffe has a population of about 8,000. It is to the eas ...

and about north-northwest of

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, England. Opened in 1942 during

World War II 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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, it was used by both the

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 ...

and

United States Army Air Forces 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 ...

. During the war it was used primarily as troop carrier transport airfield. After the war it was provided to the

Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environm ...

which used it as an operational base until 1963. Today the airfield is the location for the British Parachute Schools, who use the original control tower for their headquarters. The former Avro industrial complex is used by private industry.

History

RAF Bomber Command use

The first flying unit arrived in September 1942 when No. 207 Squadron arrived with Lancaster bombers from

RAF Bottesford Royal Air Force Bottesford or more simply RAF Bottesford is a former Royal Air Force station located on the Leicestershire-Lincolnshire county border, north west of Grantham, Lincolnshire and south of Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire and about ...

. 207 Squadron was a major

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 ...

unit and participated in major raids on occupied Europe. Also, in September 1942, A.V. Roe Ltd. prepared to use a large hangar complex on the west side of the Langar/ Harby road to carry out major repair and maintenance of Lancasters. The squadron remained until October 1943 when it moved to

RAF Spilsby Royal Air Force Spilsby or more simply RAF Spilsby is a former Royal Air Force station during the Second World War and the Cold War located in the rural village of Great Steeping, near the market town of Spilsby, Lincolnshire, England. Halpenny ...

USAAF use

In November 1943 Langar was transferred to the USAAF Ninth Air Force as a troop carrier group base. Langar was known as USAAF Station AAF-490 for security reasons by the USAAF during the war, and by which it was referred to instead of location. Its USAAF Station Code was "LA".

435th Troop Carrier Group

The

435th Troop Carrier Group 435th may refer to: *435th Air Ground Operations Wing, the first USAFE wing solely dedicated to supporting battlefield Airmen * 435th Bombardment Squadron, an inactive United States Air Force unit *435th Fighter Training Squadron (435 FTS), part of ...

arrived at Langar on 3 November 1943 from Baer AAF

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th ...

with four squadrons of 56

C-47 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 ...

s. Operational squadrons of the group were: * 75th Troop Carrier Squadron (SH, then CK) * 76th Troop Carrier Squadron (CW) * 77th Troop Carrier Squadron (IB) * 78th Troop Carrier Squadron (CM) The 435th TCW was assigned to the 53rd Troop Carrier Wing. The group began operational training at the airfield, however it was moved on 25 January 1944 to

RAF Welford Royal Air Force Welford or more simply RAF Welford is an active Royal Air Force station in Berkshire, England. The station is located approximately northwest of Newbury; about west-southwest of London Opened in 1943, it was used during the Se ...

to train alongside the

101st Airborne Division The 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) ("Screaming Eagles") is a light infantry division of the United States Army that specializes in air assault operations. It can plan, coordinate, and execute multiple battalion-size air assault operati ...

438th Troop Carrier Group

Langar remained vacant for about a month until the 438th Troop Carrier Group arrived in early February 1944 from Baer AAF,

. Operational squadrons of the group were: * 87th Troop Carrier Squadron (3X) * 88th Troop Carrier Squadron (M2) * 89th Troop Carrier Squadron (4U) * 90th Troop Carrier Squadron (Q7) The 438th TCW was assigned to the 53rd Troop Carrier Wing. Like its predecessor, the group was moved south after a month to a new station at RAF Greenham Common.

441st Troop Carrier Group

The 441st Troop Carrier Group arrived at Langar on 17 March Baer AAF

with four squadrons of 56 C-47s. Those being: * 99th Troop Carrier Squadron (3J) * 100th Troop Carrier Squadron (8C) * 301st Troop Carrier Squadron (Z4) * 302d Troop Carrier Squadron (2L) The 441st was a group of

Ninth Air Force The Ninth Air Force (Air Forces Central) is a Numbered Air Force of the United States Air Force headquartered at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina. It is the Air Force Service Component of United States Central Command (USCENTCOM), a joint De ...

50th Troop Carrier Wing The 50th Troop Carrier Wing is an inactive United States Air Force unit. The wing was formed in 1941 as the 50th Transport Wing, a headquarters fpr air transport organizations of the Air Corps. In 1942, it became a training organization for tr ...

, IX Troop Carrier Command. It was scheduled to be assigned to Langar, however it only remained until 25 April until being moved to

RAF Merryfield Royal Air Force Merryfield or more simply RAF Merryfield (also known as Isle Abbotts) is a former Royal Air Force station in the village of Ilton near Ilminster in southwest Somerset, England. The airfield is located approximately north o ...

. In August 1944 Langar was returned to RAF control for operational use.

Post D-Day use

In October 1944, RAF Bomber Command returned to Langar moving in with No. 1669 Heavy Conversion Unit with 32 Lancasters which used the station until March 1945. Although retained by the

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in state ...

. The airfield was used after the war for a short time for prisoners of war and then for displaced persons. Early in 1952 it was taken over by the

(RCAF) to become a supply station be for their NATO squadrons. The airfield was constructed on the old domestic and technical sites with completely new buildings, to a much higher standard than the Air Ministry was used to, by an English design team led by architect Peter Benton, under the direction of an RCAF officer. For 12 months nearly 1000 men worked constructing the station, which worked around two two acre warehouses. another was added later and is now in private ownership. The first RCAF personnel arrived autumn 1952. The airfield was used for eleven years (1952–1963) as 30 Air Materiel Base, RCAF Langar. Langar was the RCAF's primary supply station for

No. 1 Air Division RCAF 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 ...

in Europe, a complex of four fighter bases set up in nearby

RAF North Luffenham RAF North Luffenham was a Royal Air Force station in Rutland, England, 1940 - 1998. It is near to the villages of Edith Weston and North Luffenham. History Second World War The station was built as a training airfield, opening in 1940. It w ...

and in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 ...

by Canada to help meet

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two N ...

's European air defence commitments during the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because t ...

. It was the only Canadian airfield in the UK. The RCAF established No. 30 Air Materiel Base (AMB), to handle the transportation of supplies, equipment, aircraft, personnel, and other support essential for the operation of the four NATO air bases and its headquarters. Several units were attached to 30 AMB; No. 137 (Transport) Flight, which was attached to the Movements Unit of 30 AMB, operated several types of aircraft including six

Bristol Freighter The Bristol Type 170 Freighter is a British twin-engine aircraft designed and built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company as both a freighter and airliner. Its best known use was as an air ferry to carry cars and their passengers over relatively s ...

s, one

Beechcraft Expeditor The Beechcraft Model 18 (or "Twin Beech", as it is also known) is a 6- to 11-seat, twin-engined, low-wing, tailwheel light aircraft manufactured by the Beech Aircraft Corporation of Wichita, Kansas. Continuously produced from 1937 to November ...

, and two Dakotas. No. 312 Supply Depot handled medical supplies and spares for mechanical equipment, including aircraft (e.g. the

F-86 Sabre The North American F-86 Sabre, sometimes called the Sabrejet, is a transonic jet fighter aircraft. Produced by North American Aviation, the Sabre is best known as the United States' first swept-wing fighter that could counter the swept-wing Sov ...

) and vehicles. No. 314 Technical Services Unit was tasked with inspecting all supplies before they were forwarded to operational bases. This unit also assisted with repair contracts and provided technical advice.

Current use

With the facility released from military control in 1963, the airfield (now called Langar Airfield) is the base for the

British Parachute Schools British Parachute Schools also known as Langar DZ or Skydive Langar is a BPA affiliated parachuting centre and skydiving drop zone at Langar, Nottinghamshire in the area known as the Vale of Belvoir. History Langar airfield was originally a ...

, who use the original

control tower Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled air ...

for their headquarters. The former

Avro AVRO, short for Algemene Vereniging Radio Omroep ("General Association of Radio Broadcasting"), was a Dutch public broadcasting association operating within the framework of the Nederlandse Publieke Omroep system. It was the first public broa ...

industrial complex is used by private industry. There is a go-kartingbr>track
The airfield is relatively intact, with most of its wartime facilities still in use. The main runway (01/19) and NE/SW secondary (07/25) are still active and in use. The original technical site is still in use, along with both wartime T-2 hangars. Additional postwar hangars and a secondary maintenance site built to the northwest, along with many of the loop dispersal hardstands around the wartime perimeter track still exist.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* Freeman, Roger A. (1994) UK Airfields of the Ninth: Then and Now. After the Battle * * Maurer, Maurer (1983). Air Force Combat Units Of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. . * British Automobile Association (AA), (1978), Complete Atlas of Britain,
www.controltowers.co.uk RAF Langar

External links

Photographs of RAF Langar from the Geograph British Isles project

Aerial photo of RAF Langar from Multimap.com

Crews of Lancasters EM-N and EM-V of 207 Squadron, kia 28 August 1943

207 Squadron Association website

WikiMapia

Video clips

Skydive in June 2008
by Archbishop

John Sentamu John Tucker Mugabi Sentamu, Baron Sentamu, (; ; born 10 June 1949) is a retired Anglican bishop and life peer. He was Archbishop of York and Primate of England from 2005 to 2020. Born near Kampala in Uganda, Sentamu studied law at Makerere Un ...

Skydiving

2007 skydive

2006 skydive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Langar Airfields of the IX Troop Carrier Command in the United Kingdom Military installations closed in 1952 Parachuting in the United Kingdom Royal Air Force stations in Nottinghamshire