RAF Wickenby.

I don't remember how old I was when my dad took me to Wickenby aerodrome, perhaps 8 or 9 (early 1990's).
He had booked a flight to take him over the Bardney lime woods, to take some aerial photos for Butterfly Conservation. I think the idea was I was going to go with him in the little aircraft, however when we got to Wickenby the aircraft was only a two seater and so I wasn't allowed to fly, I remember them saying I could have sat in the back, but it would have been very bumpy (I guess this was before health and safety ha-ha).
I'd been up in a light aircraft a year or so earlier on a pleasure flight out of Skegness Aerodrome and I was really disappointed not to be able to fly again.

Me and Polar Bear, waiting for out flight at Skegness.

Skegness aerodrome.

So instead I spent two hours sat on a chair just inside the door in the control tower. I will always remember the nice lady who gave me a packet of salt and vinegar crisps and a plastic cup of orange squash.
My dad said we'd try again but sadly he died in 1994 and I never got to fly with him.

In 2012 my mum and I went to our first Wings and Wheels event at Wickenby. We'd accidentally stumbled across the event a couple of years before and kept saying we'd go and finally we did and we weren't disappointed. It was a very enjoyable little air show and as we left we both agreed we'd be back next year.

2013's show was equally enjoyable. All the acts were excellent!! It still takes my breath away watching aerobatic pilots and each one brings something new to their display.

Lincoln Cathedral just visible in the back ground.

This year we were also treated to a practice display by the only flying Vulcan Bomber in the world, XH558. I've been a member to the Vulcan to the sky club since before first flight in 2007, and before that I've had the pleasure of seeing her when she was still with the RAF, so it's always special to see her fly.

We will go again in 2014! :)


A very brief history.
The first Aircraft began to arrive at RAF Wickenby in September 1942, 12 Squadron Wellingtons.
And in November of that year, the Squadron received it's fist Lancaster Bombers.
In November 1943 a second squadron formed, 626 Squadron.
Wickenby closed in 1945 but remained under RAF ownership till 1956.

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RAF North Witham - D-Day and a brief History.

RAF North Witham. Runway 20.

"Just go behind a bush" my dad had said when I told him I needed the loo.
So I walked around some trees that had grown up in the middle of the runway and came face to face with a dozen deer, I could have reached out and stroked them they were that close. I'm not sure who was more surprised, me or them.

Site of a T2 Hangar.

I was 11 when I lost my dad to lung cancer, but a lot of my memories of him are of roaming through woods with him, the above story happened on a work party to Tyford Wood. He volunteered his time to Butterfly conservation, and was always working in some forest or meadow in Lincolnshire. It just so happened that two of these places in a previous life were airfields, RAF Bardney was one, now Austacre wood and Tyford Wood, also known as RAF North Witham.
Although it wasn't until much later that I researched the site and re visited in the summer of 2009.

When the site was finished in late 1942, it was originally earmarked for 5 Group Bomber Command, the large numbers of US forces present in the area meant it was then allocated to the 9th Air Force and RAF North Witham officially opened on the 15th of December 1943.


The Airfield became home to the 1st Tactical Air Depot. In March 1944 the Pathfinder school which had been located at near by RAF Cottesmore arrived. In the Spring of 1944 select paratroopers from the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions arrived at North Witham to train at the Pathfinders School.

At 21:54 on June 5th 1944 C-47 NO. 293098 of the 9th Army Air Force's Troop Carrier Group carrying 101st Airborne Division Pathfinders, took off from North Witham making history, they became the first D-day wave.

The next 3 aircraft followed five minutes later and so on until the last 3 took off at 22:20.
The next lot of C-47s carrying the 82nd Pathfinders took to the sky's for their mission ("Boston") beginning at 23:02.

Two C-47s flying at Duxford's 2013 Spring Air Show.

Captain Frank Lillyman of the 101st became the first man to be dropped over Normandy, although another Paratrooper form his stick beat him to the ground*. Their job was to set up portable Aldis lights and radar/radio beacons for the main wave of paratroops to locate their own drop zones for the main airborne assault. "Albany" had "Mission Accomplished" at 00:46. 

All but one Aircraft returned to North Witham (or other airfields in England) safely, and the lost plane made a textbook ditch at sea with all on board rescued by the HMS Tartar with no injuries and returned to England. Although some of the C-47s were hit and damaged by small arms fire and flak.
339 paratroopers out of the 357* landed at the correct drop zones, minus the 18 that were in the C-47 that ditched at sea.

The 1st TAD and all associated USAAF units left North Witham in May 1945 although elements had begun to depart as early as December 1944. It passed back into the care of the RAF and after the 7th of May 1945, it became a bomb storage site, the runways and any available concrete piled high with munitions and casings.

Post war bomb loading ramp visible on the right of the photo (taken 2009).

Another shot of the ramps (taken 2009).

In October the RAF Regiment used it briefly for disbanding personnel returning from overseas and for training, ending on the 5th June 1946.
It was used for storage into the 1950's and by February 1960 all the land had been sold, with the forestry commission taking back the woodland they gave over in 1942.

RAF Folkingham.

In 1960/61 the runways once again echoed the sound of engines as the BRM Racing Team used it to test their cars when RAF Flokingham closed it's runways to them when it was brought back into service during the cold war as a Thor missile site.

Bomb store roads.

North East Perimeter track.

It seems like just another wood, when you pass by it going South or North on the A1. There's very little to be seen from the outside, but inside the trees it's a whole different story.

Light fittings

Light fittings

Light fittings

'Spectacle' dispersals.

All three runways are still there, although they are not as wide as when in service and the concrete after 71 years is showing its age, in places the trees are starting to reclaim it. The perimeter track survives, as do many of the 'Spectacle' dispersals.

Control Tower.

Hidden away in the trees stands the watch office/control tower.

I'm sat here writing this on the 5th of June 2013, contemplating a walk in the woods.

Bibliography

*Chorlton. Martyn, Paths in the wood, A complete History of RAF North Witham. 2003. Old Forge Publishing.  http://www.amazon.co.uk/Paths-Wood-Complete-History-Witham/dp/0954450701/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1370443515&sr=8-1&keywords=Paths+in+the+wood

Otter. Patrick, Lincolnshire Airfields in the Second World War, 1996, Countryside Books.



http://www.6juin1944.com/assaut/aeropus/en_page.php?page=after_pathf_101

https://www.airspacemag.com/daily-planet/pilot-who-led-d-day-invasion-180951679/?fbclid=IwAR01Yca7gplB5eKP9qe-2aFQEEgML-YAdO-8xwYgK63Hv18pbfPqZb9SSJM


All photos taken by myself in 2009 and 2012.
The above is a very brief history of the site. For a full history I highly recommend Martyn Chorlton's book, Paths in the wood, available from the link above.