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RAF Spilsby lies 3
miles east of Spilsby town and a few miles west of Skegness, taking in much of the parish of Monksthorpe in "Bomber County"
- Lincolnshire, at Ordnance Survey National Grid reference TF 450645, Lat.53 09 45N / Long 00 10 15E,
and at a height ASL of 33 feet.
The station was built during 1942-43 as a Class A standard airfield, and opened on 20 September 1943 as a
satellite to East Kirkby in 5 Group, Bomber Command.
Construction contracts issued allowed £62,000 for preparing the site, £260,000 for runways, £60,000 for aircraft dispersals and £175,000 for
buildings. Several minor roads had to be closed including that between Monkthorpe and Gunby. The runways were OS-23, 11-29 and 16-34 of
which the first two were 1,400 yards long and the 16-34 at 1,430 yards. The OS-23 and 11-29 were both later extended to 2,000 yards
although 11-29 was, for some unrecorded reason, restricted to 1,400 yards use, one source stating that it was extended due to an Air Ministry
clerical error!
Hardstandings were 17 pans and 19 loops, but two of the pans were lost through later ground work. There were three T2 hangars,
one on the technical site between runway heads OS and 11, another south-west between runway heads 29 and 34 and a third east of runway head 16.
The bomb store was off the north side between runway heads 16 and 23.
The camp, to the south-west of the airfield around Monkthorpe village and
the area known as Sand Hills, consisted of two communal, two WAAF, six domestic and a sick quarters site with maximum accommodation for 2,112
males and 222 females. 2751 Squadron RAF Regiment was deployed to airfield defence.
Its first
Commanding Officer was Group Captain W.G. Cheshire.
Its
first operational unit was 207 Squadron who moved in from Langar,
the main body arriving on 12 October 1943. Equipped with Lancasters,
it was commanded by Wing Commander P. N. Jennings. The Station
ORB records the following comments:
13/9/43 "Arr. Spilsby. Accomodation available,
no water, messing or rations. All meals consequently had to be
purchased outside station"!
19/9/43 "Officer and 35 ranks of RAFR arrived
but no bedding; East Kirkby couldn't supply at 1900; one lorry
arrived with enough beds! 3 cooks loaned from EK.
20/9/43 "no electricity, no boilers."
Not a very auspicious start to life at the station!
The first occupant of the station was No. 207 Squadron, removed from Langar in October 1943 to make way for USAAF occupation.
207 flew its first operational flights on 18 October, with the airfield being upgraded from satellite to Station status from 24th.
The squadron had Spilsby to itself for a year when it was joined by another Lancaster squadron, No. 44, which had to vacate
Dunholme Lodge when that airfield was transferred to No. 1 Group.
It arrived on 30 September 1944, commanded by Wing Commander F.W.Thompson,
DSO, DFC, AFC. The two squadrons were not disturbed from their base until after victory
in Europe. Their combined operational loss in raids flown from this station was 85 Lancasters.
In July, No. 44, selected to form part of
Tiger Force to be sent to the Far East, exchanging places with No. 75 Squadron at Mepal, the New Zealand manned unit disbanding at Spilsby
in October that year. The same month No. 207 was moved to Methwold whereupon Spilsby closed for flying.
An armament practice school was installed at the station in November, which remained for a year, after which the base was relegated to
care and maintenance status. The caretaker party was withdrawn in 1947 and the airfield left unattended but it remained in a reasonably
complete state until the early `fifties. The Cold War had brought a considerable number of USAF personnel to the UK and Spilsby was one
of the stations held ready for possible reception of flying units should the Cold War intensify. The Americans carried out some refurbishment
and also modified the control tower but the USAF occupation was brief and they were gone by the end of the `fifties. No further military
use was made of the airfield and most of the concrete was removed over the following two decades apart from lengths used for reinstating
minor roads. A memorial to No. 207 Squadron stands on the base of the Fire Tender shed.
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"Bomber Dawn"
Empty sea and
sky
Merge as one in morning mist
Ever the same year after year
Deserted beach waits for little hands
To build a Camelot in the sands
With knights of old
In make believe world of castle and moat
Tourists come and tourists go
Early morning risers jog and stroll
As dogs race in the surf
While some sit and ponder rising tide
And watch footprints wash away.
How many have passed this way
To gaze at rising sun?
Funcoast World teems with bodies
Bright coloured shirts and bermuda shorts
Gulping beer, playing the bandits
Little red planes trundle overhead
Ten pounds a ride down the coast
While grey jets scream overhead
Ensuring freedom for young and old.
People gaze and think of dashing young men,
Knights of the air on chariots of fire
Guardians of the skies.
Old folks stop and stare
Memories dimmed by years gone by
Waiting, Watching, Listening.
Engines throbbed in distant haze
Heralding twentieth century Merlins
Returning home with knights of moonlit skies
With jagged holes in bucking mounts
Ensuring freedom for young and old
So little hands can play again
And build a Camelot in the sand.
©Richard Caville, Skegness, 1991
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