RAF Middleton St George 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 ...

(RAF) and

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 ...

(RCAF)

Bomber Command Bomber Command is an organisational military unit, generally subordinate to the air force of a country. The best known were in Britain and the United States. A Bomber Command is generally used for strategic bombing (although at times, e.g. during t ...

station 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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. It was located in County Durham, five miles east of Darlington,

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 station's motto was ''Shield and Deter''. The aerodrome remains active as

Teesside International Airport Teesside International Airport , previously Durham Tees Valley Airport, is an international airport located between Darlington and Stockton-on-Tees, Northern England. It is about south-west of Middlesbrough. The airport serves the North East, ...

History

Second World War

Like many similar airfields; RAF Middleton St George was commissioned in 1938 in anticipation of WWII and opened in 1941 under the auspices of Bomber Command. Contrary to popular belief the airfield was never called RAF Goosepool, Goosepool being the name of the farm which made way for the airfield, with the name sticking amongst the local population. Initial Squadrons based here were 76 Squadron with

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 orig ...

es and 78 Squadron which flew

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. In 1943 it was allocated to No. 6 Group,

. A sub-station was located at

RAF Croft Royal Air Force Croft or more simply RAF Croft is a former Royal Air Force station located south of Darlington, County Durham, England and north-east of Richmond, North Yorkshire. The site is also known locally as Croft Aerodrome or Neasham. C ...

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

although RAF Thornaby was closer yet never held sub-station status. Canadian Squadrons based here were 419 "Moose" Squadron, which flew

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 ...

s, Halifaxes, and Avro Lancasters, 420 "Snowy Owl" Squadron, which flew Wellingtons, and 428 "Ghost" Squadron, which flew Wellingtons, Halifaxes, and Lancasters. There are two stories of heroism linked with RAF Middleton St George, the most notable being that of Andrew Mynarski, a member of 419 Squadron, who was posthumously awarded the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

. It was bestowed for his actions on 13 June 1944, in a raid on Cambrai, France, in support of the

Normandy landings The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and ...

. A statue of Mynarski was dedicated in 2005 outside the former Officers' Mess. The second belongs to William McMullen of 428 Squadron, who was killed during a routine training sortie on 13 January 1945 when his Lancaster crashed on the outskirts of Darlington after he remained with the aircraft to steer it away from houses, having ordered his crew to bail out. McMullen Road adjacent to the crash site was renamed in his honour. A memorial garden for all aircrew at Middleton St George is also located near the Mess.

Post war

After the war, the aerodrome changed hands regularly between

Fighter Command RAF Fighter Command was one of the commands of the Royal Air Force. It was formed in 1936 to allow more specialised control of fighter aircraft. It served throughout the Second World War World War II or the Second World War, oft ...

and Flying Training Command, serving various squadrons and units including No. 13 Operational Training Unit (OTU) using De Havilland Mosquitos, No. 2 Air Navigation School using

Avro Anson The Avro Anson is a British twin-engined, multi-role aircraft built by the aircraft manufacturer Avro. Large numbers of the type served in a variety of roles for the Royal Air Force (RAF), Fleet Air Arm (FAA), Royal Canadian Air Force (RCA ...

s and Vickers Wellingtons, No. 205 Advanced Flying Training School (later rebranded No. 4 Flying Training School) using

De Havilland Vampire The de Havilland Vampire is a British jet fighter which was developed and manufactured by the de Havilland Aircraft Company. It was the second jet fighter to be operated by the RAF, after the Gloster Meteor, and the first to be powered by ...

s 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 ...

s, 92 Squadron using Hawker Hunters, 264 Squadron (later rebranded No. 33 Squadron) using Gloster Meteors, the Javelin Instrument Rating Squadron (IRS) using

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 name ...

s and the Lightning Conversion Unit (LCU) (later rebranded the Lightning Conversion Squadron) using

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 ...

s. The IRS and LCS were later merged to form 226 Operational Conversion Unit (OCU). In 1962 Flying Officer Jean Oakes became the first woman to fly at over 1,000 mph. The London Times of 14 September 1962 reported that from RAF Middleton St George, she took over the controls from Flight Lieutenant John Smith and flew up and down the north east coast at about 1.6 mach. The RAF left the station in 1964 and handed it over to the Ministry of Civil Aviation who reopened the site as a civil airport. The airfield was named Tees-Side Airport until 1987, then Teesside International Airport until 2004 when it became Durham Tees Valley Airport before reverting to Teesside International in 2019. From 1968 to 1979, some of the former station buildings housed Middleton St George College of Education, a teacher training college. The officers' mess at the base was converted into the St George Hotel, complete with the RAF Middleton St George memorial room. The hotel was mothballed in late 2018; the museum is to be relocated in the future.Teesside Live Website , rl=https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/everything-must-go-entire-contents-15542008 The_Sergeants'_mess_remains_in_use_by_Serco,_who_operate_the_International_Fire_Training_Centre_located_on_the_site,_and_the_Armoury_currently_houses_a_Flight_training.html" "title="Serco.html" ;"title="rl=https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/everything-must-go-entire-contents-15542008 The Sergeants' mess remains in use by Serco">rl=https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/everything-must-go-entire-contents-15542008 The Sergeants' mess remains in use by Serco, who operate the International Fire Training Centre located on the site, and the Armoury currently houses a Flight training">flying school Flight training is a course of study used when learning to pilot an aircraft. The overall purpose of primary and intermediate flight training is the acquisition and honing of basic airmanship skills. Flight training can be conducted under a st ...

History

Second World War

Post war

Units and aircraft

References

Citations

Bibliography

External links