RAF Woodhall Spa

Royal Air Force Woodhall Spa, or more simply RAF Woodhall Spa, is a former Royal Air Force satellite station located 2 miles (3.2 km) north of Coningsby, Lincolnshire and 16 miles (26 km) southeast of Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England.[2]

RAF Woodhall Spa
Tattershall Thorpe, Lincolnshire in England
Avro Lancaster of 617 Squadron at Woodhall Spa
RAF Woodhall Spa is located in Lincolnshire
RAF Woodhall Spa
RAF Woodhall Spa
Shown within Lincolnshire
RAF Woodhall Spa is located in the United Kingdom
RAF Woodhall Spa
RAF Woodhall Spa
RAF Woodhall Spa (the United Kingdom)
Coordinates53°07′54″N 0°11′04″W
TypeSatellite station
CodeWS[1]
Site information
OwnerMinistry of Defence
OperatorRoyal Air Force
Controlled byRAF Bomber Command
* No. 5 Group RAF
Site history
Built1941 (1941)/42
In useFebruary 1942 - 1967 (1967)
Battles/warsEuropean theatre of World War II
Cold War
Airfield information
Elevation10 metres (33 ft) AMSL
Runways
Direction Length and surface
00/00  Concrete
00/00  Concrete
00/00  Concrete

History

Constructed on farmland 1.2 miles (1.9 km) south of Woodhall Spa, the station opened in February 1942 as a satellite station to RAF Coningsby. In August 1943 it became No. 54 Base Substation. After victory in Europe (May 1945) the airfield was used as an assembly and kitting out point for Tiger Force (a proposed heavy bomber force for the far east). After the end of the Second World War and with the move of No. 617 Squadron RAF to RAF Waddington the airfield was closed and the site used by No. 92 Maintenance Unit for the storage of bombs.

From the late 1950s it was used as a base for Bristol Bloodhound Missiles until 1964 when most of the site was sold off for agriculture or mineral extraction. The former missile site used to be under the control of RAF Coningsby having been used for the servicing of McDonnell Douglas Phantom and Panavia Tornado aircraft engines until finally being mothballed in 2003.[2][3]

Squadrons

97 Squadron transferred to Woodhall Spa on 1 March 1942. As one of the earliest squadrons to be equipped with the Avro Lancaster they were heavily involved with the early operations with this aircraft, including the low level mission to bomb the MAN diesel engine factory in Augsburg on 17 April 1942. New Zealander Les Munro (the last surviving pilot who flew on 617 Squadron's Dambuster raid), served with 97 Squadron at Woodhall Spa before being posted to Scampton to join 617 in early 1943. He came back to Woodhall Spa in January 1944 when 617 moved there for the rest of the war.[4] 97 Squadron moved to RAF Bourn in 1943 leaving behind 3 crews.

619 Squadron were formed here on 18 April 1943. They moved to RAF Coningsby on 1 January 1944.

617 Squadron who arrived with 34 Avro Lancasters and 2 de Havilland Mosquitoes, the latter being used for low level target marking. 617 Squadron remained here until the end of hostilities and pioneered the use of the Tallboy and Grand Slam bombs from the airfield.[5]

627 Squadron The low level target marking that had been developed by 617 Squadron was so successful that 627 Squadron, a Mosquito unit in No. 8 (PFF) Group, was "loaned" to 5 Group to operate in this role. The squadron arrived at Woodhall Spa on 14 April 1944 and stayed until the end of the war.[2]

Interesting facts
Wing Commander Tait, (fifth from left), standing with his crew by the tail of their Lancaster at Woodhall Spa, on returning from Lossiemouth, the day after the successful raid on the German battleship Tirpitz

Aircraft from this RAF station:

Petwood Hotel
Petwood was used as the Officers' Mess for the station throughout the war

Sir Archibald Weigall, 1st Baronet and his wife Grace Emily built a country house called Petwood at Woodhall Spa. Petwood was so called because Lady Weigall had it constructed of her favourite wood, her "pet wood". Petwood was designed by the architect Frank Peck. Lady Weigall turned her former home into a hotel in 1933 when the Weigalls moved to Ascot.

Requisitioned at the start of the war the Petwood Hotel became the Officers' mess for the station, from the days of 97 Squadron through to the end of the war. The house with its panelled rooms and extensive grounds provided a comfortable haven for the officers who were billeted there. The mess hosted a number of parties, including the initial anniversary celebration of the Dam Buster raids. After the war Petwood reverted to its former use as a hotel, but preserved the small squadron bar as it was in wartime.[4][5][11]

Postwar Operations

In 1960 RAF Woodhall Spa became a base for the Bristol Bloodhound, Surface-to-air missiles operated by 222 Squadron.[2]

112 Squadron took over this role in late 1964 concurrent with an on-site upgrade to Bloodhound Mk2. The squadron moved to Episkopi, Cyprus on 1 October 1967, moving to Paramali on 20 June 1969 and remained there until it was disbanded on 1 July 1975.

1967 saw the end of front line operations at RAF Woodhall Spa, although the RAF continued to occupy a small site on the northwestern edge of the airfield between 1968 - 1992 to be used for engine maintenance and testing; first for the Spey 202 for the Phantom.

This undertook deep stripping of the engine, the first time Rolls-Royce had allowed this type of work to be carried out by the RAF, and the testing of the rebuilt engines before fitting to the aircraft. Engine testing was initially carried out at Coningsby but later moved to Woodhall around 1981 as the original Uninstalled Engine Test Facility (UETF) was to be used for the construction of Hardened Aircraft Shelters (HAS). The site was known as RAF Woodhall and operated as a satellite unit of nearby RAF Coningsby.[2]

21st century
Thorpe Camp - display of Lancaster propeller

Whilst little evidence remains of the extent of the activities at RAF Woodhall Spa, part of one of the accommodation blocks is now occupied by the Thorpe Camp Visitor Centre and commemorates the sacrifice made by those who fought in the Second World War and has an array of exhibits that portray both RAF Woodhall Spa and many aspects of life both within the forces and civilian life during that period.[12]

Much of the site had been used as a gravel quarry until it was purchased by the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust in 2015 to secure the heritage and create a new nature reserve.[13] The new wildlife reserve is continuous with the Trust's existing reserve at Kirkby Moor.[14][15][16] The landscape of the nature reserve is one of sandy soils with acid grassland, heathland, open water and some small areas of marsh.[17]

In October 2017, two people were injured by mustard gas found in canisters buried in Roughton Moor Wood, which was once part of the temporary Army camp adjacent to RAF Woodhall.[18] This resulted in three wartime memorabilia collectors convicted in mid-2020, with one of those persons gaoled for five years include for breaching environmental laws by dumping hazardous material.[19]

References

Citations
  1. Falconer 2012, p. 217.
  2. Historic England. "RAF Woodhall Spa, Tattershall Thorpe (1432038)". Research records (formerly PastScape). Retrieved 28 May 2013.
  3. "Thorpe Camp". Retrieved 28 May 2013.
  4. Les Munro, "Deceiving the Enemy: Operation Taxable," Aeroplane Monthly, March 2011,pp. 16-20
  5. Bishop 2012, pp. 328
  6. "Saumur Railway Tunnel". The Dambusters. dambusters.org.uk. Retrieved 25 October 2013.
  7. "No5 Group". Bomber Command - Group Histories. raf.mod.uk. Retrieved 25 October 2013.
  8. Bateman 2009, pp. 117, 118
  9. Rohwer 2005, pp. 409
  10. Bishop 2012, pp. 348
  11. Bateman 2009, pp. 68
  12. "Thorpe Camp". Thorpe Camp Visitor Centre. Retrieved 7 September 2016.
  13. "Dambuster airfield: Wildlife trust hopes to open to public next year". BBC News. 29 November 2015. Retrieved 4 January 2017.
  14. "Kirkby Moor". List of all reserves. Lincolnshire wildlife trust. Retrieved 7 September 2016.
  15. Shaw, Rachel (10 May 2013). "A Land Fit for Heroes - appeal to buy Woodhall Spa Airfield". Press Releases 2013. Lincolnshire wildlife trust. Retrieved 21 August 2013. The Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust has launched an appeal to raise half a million pounds to buy Woodhall Spa Airfield, home of the 617 'Dambuster' Squadron during the last years of World War 2. The charity needs to raise half a million pounds to secure the site. The charity currently owns over half of the airfield and an adjacent nature reserve, Kirkby Moor. By securing the rest of the site, the runway can be saved and a new nature reserve created. It will be a pastoral landscape with skylarks singing overhead, farmland birds such as linnet and yellowhammer, and birds of prey soaring in the open skies.
  16. "Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust completes purchase of Woodhall Spa Airfield". Lincolnshire wildlife Trust. 19 September 2014. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
  17. "Woodhall Spa Airfield". Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
  18. Lizzie Dearden. "Man and woman arrested after stockpile of mustard gas discovered in Lincolnshire". The Independent. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  19. "Trio receive jail term for dumping mustard gas bombs in a Lincolnshire lake". Lincolnshire Constabulary. Lincolnshire Constabulary. 12 June 2020. Retrieved 17 June 2020.

Bibliography
  • Falconer, J. (2012). RAF Airfields of World War 2. UK: Ian Allan Publishing. ISBN 978-1-85780-349-5.
  • Bruce Barrymore Halpenny Action Stations: Wartime Military Airfields of Lincolnshire and the East Midlands v. 2 (ISBN 978-0850594843)
  • Bishop, Patrick (2012). Target Tirpitz. HarperPress. ISBN 978-0-00-731924-4.
  • Bateman, Alex (2009). No 617 'Dambuster' Sqn. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 9781846034299.
  • Rohwer, Jürgen (2005). Chronology of the War at Sea, 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two. Annapolis: US Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-59114-119-8.

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