Royal Air Force Woolfox Lodge or more simply RAF Woolfox Lodge 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) an ...

station next to the A1 road in Rutland, UK. The airfield is split between the parishes of

Empingham Empingham is a village in the county of Rutland in the East Midlands of England. The population of the civil parish was 815 at the 2001 census including Horn and increasing to 880 at the 2011 census. It lies close to the dam of Rutland Water ...

and Greetham. It was open from 1940 until 1965.

History

Woolfox opened as a reserve landing ground for

RAF Cottesmore Royal Air Force Station Cottesmore or more simply RAF Cottesmore is a former Royal Air Force station in Rutland, England, situated between Cottesmore and Market Overton. On 15 December 2009, Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth announced that the ...

then became a satellite to

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 ...

in October 1941. Full station status was granted from June 1943. The wartime airfield comprised three tarmac runways and one Type B1 and four T2 aircraft hangars. There was temporary accommodation for 1,149 male and 252 female personnel. RAF Woolfox Lodge was used in later years as a relief landing ground but the runways deteriorated to such a degree that the airfield had to be closed to flying by spring 1954. In 1960 a

Bristol Bloodhound The Bristol Bloodhound is a British ramjet powered surface-to-air missile developed during the 1950s. It served as the UK's main air defence weapon into the 1990s and was in large-scale service with the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the forces of ...

surface-to-air missile site under

No. 62 Squadron RAF No. 62 Squadron of the Royal Air Force was originally established as a Royal Flying Corps squadron in 1916 and operated the Bristol F2B fighter in France during the last year of the First World War. After the war the squadron was disbanded and it ...

was positioned in a secure area adjacent to the A1 road near the former technical site.

RAF units and aircraft

The following units were here at some point: * No. 3 Lancaster Finishing School RAF *

No. 7 Flying Training School RAF No. 7 Flying Training School (7 FTS) is a former Royal Air Force flying training school that operated between 1935 and 1994. From 1948 to 1954, No 7 Flying Training School was located at RAF Cottesmore, flying Tiger Moths, Harvards, Prentices an ...

* No. 14 OTU (see

List of Royal Air Force Operational Training Units Royal Air Force Operational Training Units (OTUs) were training units that prepared aircrew for operations on a particular type or types of aircraft or roles. OTUs ;No. 1 (Coastal) Operational Training Unit RAF (1 OTU): The Unit was formed in 1 ...

) * No. 29 OTU (see

) * No. 33 Heavy Glider Maintenance Section * No. 61 Squadron Conversion Flight RAF * No. 259 Maintenance Unit RAF * No. 1429 (Czech Operational Training) Flight RAF * No. 1665 Heavy Conversion Unit RAF

Current use

The site is now used for agriculture and employment purposes. The Cold War-era Bloodhound missile site, while derelict, is well preserved. Hardstandings for 32 Bloodhound missiles are present. During the summer of 2018 the parch marks of various World War II-era buildings became visible on the former technical site within the boundaries of the missile site. The landowner in 2019 has proposed it as a site for a possible

garden village The garden city movement was a 20th century urban planning movement promoting satellite communities surrounding the central city and separated with greenbelts. These Garden Cities would contain proportionate areas of residences, industry, and ...

References

Bibliography *

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20081207003349/http://www.raf.mod.uk/bombercommand/s85.html Royal Air Force stations of World War II in the United Kingdom Woolfox Lodge {{Rutland-geo-stub