RAF Dunholme Lodge

Royal Air Force Dunholme Lodge or more simply RAF Dunholme Lodge was a Royal Air Force station located between the parishes of Welton and Dunholme in Lincolnshire, England.

RAF Dunholme Lodge
IATA: none ICAO: none
Summary
Airport type	Military
Owner	Air Ministry
Operator	Royal Air Force
Location	Dunholme, Lincolnshire, England
Built	1942
In use	1941-1944 1959-1964
Elevation AMSL	125 ft / 38 m
Coordinates	53°17′28″N 000°30′19″W
Map
RAF Dunholme Lodge Location in Lincolnshire
Runways
Direction Length Surface ft m 00/00 0 0 Asphalt 00/00 0 0 Asphalt 00/00 0 0 Asphalt

History

The grass airfield was first used by the Royal Air Force during 1941 and 1942 for use by Handley Page Hampden aircraft from nearby RAF Scampton, and was officially opened as a RAF Station in September 1942 as part of RAF Bomber Command with the building of three hard runways.

The main occupier of the station was 44 Squadron, with the Avro Lancaster four-engined heavy bomber, which moved in from RAF Waddington in May 1943 and stayed until it moved to RAF Spilsby in September 1944.

In November 1944 flying operations ceased due to the proximity of other stations which did not allow night flying. At the end of the war 120 Lancasters had been lost on operations from Dunholme Lodge.

From 1948 the site was host to motorcycle and car racing until 1959 when the base was reopened as an active RAF station.[1][2]

The William Farr School was opened in 1952 on part of the disused domestic site.

On re-opening in 1959, the airfield became a site for Bloodhound surface-to-air missiles with 141 Squadron until it was disbanded and the station finally closed in 1964.

Based units

Unit	Aircraft	From	To	To	Notes
No. 44 Squadron RAF	Avro Lancaster I/III	31 May 1943	30 September 1944	RAF Spilsby	Squadron Code:KM.[3]
No. 141 Squadron RAF	Bristol Bloodhound I	1 April 1959	31 March 1964	Disbanded	Surface-to-Air Missile.[4]
No. 170 Squadron RAF	Avro Lancaster I/III	22 October 1944	29 November 1944	RAF Hemswell	Squadron Code:TC.[5]
No. 619 Squadron RAF	Avro Lancaster I/III	17 April 1944	28 September 1944	RAF Strubby	Squadron Code:PG.[6]

The following units were also here at some point:[7]

• No. 14 (Pilots) Advanced Flying Unit RAF
• No. 1485 (Bomber) Gunnery Flight RAF
• No. 2799 Squadron RAF Regiment
• No. 5 Group Air Bomber Training Flight
• General Aircraft Limited

Current use

Bits of the runways still exist and the site is now used for farming.[7]

References

Citations

1. Dunholme Lodge Circuit Retrieved 7 January 2015
2. Motor Racing, Lincolnshire County Council Retrieved 7 January 2015
3. Jefford 1988, p. 39.
4. Jefford 1988, p. 61.
5. Jefford 1988, p. 65.
6. Jefford 1988, p. 101.
7. "Dunholme Lodge". Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust. Retrieved 11 September 2012.

Bibliography

• Jefford, C.G. RAF Squadrons, a Comprehensive Record of the Movement and Equipment of all RAF Squadrons and their Antecedents since 1912. Shrewsbury, Shropshire, UK: Airlife Publishing, 1988. ISBN 1-84037-141-2.

External links

• Official History
• RAF Dunholme Lodge from the IBCC Digital Archive at the University of Lincoln.