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RAF Spilsby
Station History
Spilsby airfield was located east of Spilsby village, to the north of Great Steeping. Opened in September 1943, it was a Class 'A' bomber airfield allocated to 5 Group. The main runway length was 1430 yards and the remaining two were 1400 yards, both these were later extended to 2000 yards. Two T2 hangars were provided, one in the technical site on the south-west side of the airfield and the other off the eastern perimeter track. A B1 hangar was sited off the northern perimeter track, close to the bomb stores. The communal and accommodation sites were dispersed around the village of Great Steeping.
On 12th October 1943, No.207 Squadron arrived from Langar, Nottinghamshire equipped with Lancasters. The squadron carried out operations from Spilsby until the end of WWII, leaving for Methwold, Norfolk on 30th October 1945. Spilsby became a two-squadron airfield when Lancasters of No.44 Squadron arrived from Dunholme Lodge on 30th September 1944, staying almost ten months before departing to Mepal, Cambridgeshire on 21st July 1945. Their place at Spilsby was taken by No.75 Squadron until they disbanded in October 1945. The airfield was retained by the RAF and housed a series of fighter units until April 1946, when it was put on Care and Maintenance. It saw a return to life as a USAF non-flying site in 1955 but was fully closed in 1958.
Today, several fragments of perimeter track and parts of dispersals can be seen alongside the minor roads to the east of Great Steeping. The B1 hangar still stands, as does the operations block. Some of the communal and accommodation buildings are still extant, in use as farm buildings. A fine memorial can be found built on the base of the crash tender shed. This replaced an existing memorial and was unveiled on 21st June 2012.
Station Timeline
Date Squadron Notes
September 1943 Station opened.
October 1943 No.207 SqnOperating the Avro Lancaster. The squadron left the station on the 30th October 1945.
September 1944 No.44 SqnOperating the Avro Lancaster. The squadron left Spilsby in on the 21st July 1945.
July 1945 No.75 (NZ) SqnOperating the Avro Lancaster and Lincoln. The squadron was disbanded at the airfield on the 15th October 1945.
November 1945 No.2 APSOperating the de Havilland Mosquito, Miles Master, Supermarine Spitfire and Miles Martinet. The Armament Practice School left Spilsby on the 1st May 1946.
May 1946 Station placed on care and maintenance.
June 1955 Station allocated the the US Air Force.
July 19567536th Material SqnThe Material squadron left the airfield on the 25th May 1957.
March 1958 Station allocated back to the Air Ministry and closed.
1962 RAF Spilsby placed up for sale.
RAF Spilsby is located three miles east of the market town of Spilsby in Lincolnshire. The airfield was constructed in 1942 – 1943 and followed the standard Class A design. Spilsby had three runways, orientated through 05-23, 11-29 (both 1,400 later extended to 2,000 yards) and 16-34 (1,430 yards). There were three hangars, two T.2s and one B.1, which still stands today. Hardstandings consisted of 17 pans and 19 loops. To the north lay the bomb store, and to the south-west, the communal site. The airfield was home to 2,112 male, 222 female service personnel. Its callsign was the rather odd-sounding 'Foamrange'.
Following the arrival of the United States Army Air Force in the UK, some RAF squadrons were ousted from their bases to make room for their American brothers in arms. One such unit was 207 Squadron, who, having converted from the troublesome Avro Manchester, was now flying the Lancaster. Relocating from RAF Langar to Spilsby on 12th October 1943, 207 Squadron wore the code EM and were part of 5 Group.
As was the case with many airfields built during wartime, Spilsby lacked the facilities that the more permanent Expansion Period sites were equipped. Spilsby's domestic accommodation would have consisted mainly of Nissen huts, which would have been most unwelcome in the depths of a Lincolnshire winter. Heating was typically provided by a single pot-bellied stove for which there would have been a minimal supply of fuel. Cold, rain, mud and wind would have greeted those posted to Spilsby during its opening weeks, but they made the best of it and soon formed into an effective fighting unit.
Action came quickly for 207 Squadron, and their first operation from Spilsby took place on 18/19 October with a trip to Hanover. During this raid, the squadron lost Lancaster I W4276 EM-L and III LM326 EM-Z. Six crew were killed, and eight became POWs.
Operations continued over Germany in the following weeks. On the night of 18/19 November 1943, the squadron mounted its first raid in what became known as the Battle of Berlin. 207 Squadron were fortunate not to lose any aircraft this night, but the story could have been very different. The risk of attack from night fighters and flak were always uppermost in crew's minds. However, another enemy constantly stalked the bomber stream, this one not of an adversaries making. On this night, Plt Off Bill Baker piloting Lancaster I DV361 EM-V, would meet this unseen foe, one that went by the name of collision. In the stream on the way to Berlin, DV361 hit the rudder of 9 Squadron Lancaster III ED871 WS-X. The collision tore a large hole in the nose of DV361, the unfortunate bomb aimer Sgt E.H. Shimeild who, not wearing a parachute, fell to his death through the escape hatch, which was forced open due to the impact. The 9 Squadron Lancaster crashed near Berlin. The rear gunner was lost, with the rest of the crew becoming POWs. Baker turned for home and nursed his damaged Lancaster back to Spilsby on three engines where he safely landed. All through the flight back across the North Sea, an icy wind blast cut through the damaged aircraft creating conditions that caused frostbite. Due to this, Baker lost several fingers and was later invalided out of the RAF. However, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal for the outstanding feat of airmanship in saving his aircraft and the lives of the surviving members of his crew.
Bomber Command could not sustain the losses incurred with attacks on Germany, and their Commander in Chief Sir Arthur Harris's vision of defeating the Third Reich by bombing alone had not come to fruition. Crew morale was also falling, and Harris's standing in the eyes of his superiors was reduced. With D-Day coming ever closer, Bomber Command was tasked to take on a more tactical role in softening up the defences and infrastructure on the Continent prior to the invasion.
Life on a bomber airfield also had other dangers other than those created by an enemy. While it was mainly the aircrews who were subject to the most significant perils, tragedy sometimes came closer to home. Such an occurrence came to pass on 10 April 1944 when a tragic accident struck Spilsby's bomb dump. A 1,000lb delayed-action bomb, which was being disarmed, suddenly exploded. The blast claimed the lives of ten personnel, a mix of armourers and general duties airmen, three of whom were never found.
Bomber Command's rapid expansion during the war led to an inevitable strain being placed on organisational administration. To alleviate this problem, an intermediate level of command was put in place between Group HQs and individual stations. Known as the Base System, it consisted of a Base station with either one or two substations. On 15 April 1944, RAF Strubby (227 and 619 Squadrons) and RAF East Kirkby (57 and 630 Squadrons) joined Spilsby in becoming 55 Base - East Kirkby.
One of the operations planned to soften up the German's capacity to resist before D-Day was to Mailly-le-Camp in France, which took place 3/4th May 1944. The Wehrmacht used the camp for training and reinforcement of front-line Panzer units. It was clear that such a threat would need to be reduced. Problems with communications on the night of the operation led to bombers circling the target, waiting for an attack order, giving Luftwaffe night fighters ample time to get among them and wreak havoc. Forty-two bombers were lost, including two from 207 Squadron, Lancaster III ND556 EM-F and ND575 EM-M. The crew from ND575 were all lost. Of those on ND556, two were killed, four evaded, and one became a POW. One of the evaders, Sgt R.T. Emery, was the last airman to cross the Pyrenees' via the Comete Line, set up by Belgium and French Resistance to help downed Allied airmen in Occupied Europe escape back to Britain. The attack itself on the camp destroyed barrack blocks, transport sheds, ammunition stores, tanks and vehicles.
The 6 June 1944 saw the D-Day Landings taking place, and 207 Squadron undertook raids both before and after the seaborne assault. During this time, 207 Squadron was used more tactically by bombing V weapon sites, munitions facilities, synthetic oil plants, and railway targets. On 7 June, in a daylight raid, the squadron was attacking targets near Caen. One of their Lancasters piloted by Wg Cdr John Grey came under attack from a Junkers Ju 88. Grey's gunners, Flt Lt W McIntosh (rear) and Canadian Larry Sutherland (mid-upper), opened fire in response to the attack sending the aircraft to the ground.
Shortly after a second Ju 88 came in, again the two gunners took up the defence and brought the machine down. The crew pressed on to complete their bombing run, but on the way home, a third Luftwaffe fighter intercepted and was once again shot down. For this feat, the two intrepid gunners were awarded immediate DFCs and a hand-written note of congratulation from Sir Arthur Harris. By the end of the war, McIntosh was Bomber Command's highest-scoring air gunner with eight confirmed kills and a probable to his credit.
The devastating losses that Bomber Command had suffered since it went to war in September 1939 were slowly beginning to reduce, but as in any war, attrition continues. Thus, for example, a raid to the synthetic oil plant located at Wesseling on 21/22 June 1944 proved costly for 207 when 5 of their Lancasters, DV360 EM-U, LL973 EM-M, ME683 EM-W, ME827 EM-I and LM578 EM-L, failed to return with the loss of 32 men. For other squadrons, 44, 49 and 619, the cost was higher, with each losing 6 Lancasters. In total, 37 of the 133 Lancasters taking part were lost, a casualty rate of 27.8%.
207 Squadron were again to suffer high losses on the night of 7/8 July 1944 during an operation to destroy a flying-bomb storage dump located at St Leu d'Esserent. Luftwaffe night-fighters intercepted the bombing stream, and 29 Lancasters along with 2 Mosquitos failed to return. Spilsby's squadron lost 5 Lancasters, LM218 EM-N, LM129 EM-Y, ND866 EM-B, ME805 EM-J and ND567 EM-V; of the crews, 19 were killed, 7 became POWs, and 9 evaded.
For nearly a year, 207 Squadron had been a sole resident at Spilsby, but they were joined 30 September 1944 by 44 (Rhodesia) Squadron who relocated from RAF Dunholme Lodge. The unit had been the first squadron to be equipped with the Lancaster when three were received at RAF Waddington on 24 December 1941.
The squadron also undertook the first operation of the war using the new aircraft when on 3 March 1942, four Lancasters were detailed to lay mines off Heligoland Bight.
In November 1944, the dangers of flying heavy bombers in wartime once again became very evident at Spilsby. On the 1st of the month, an operation was planned to the Meerbeck oil plant located near Homberg. Tasked to take part in his first solo mission with 207 Squadron, Fg Off A.T. Loveless opened up the throttles on Lancaster I PD290 EM-N. He knew that his aircraft would start to swing on commencement of the take-off run, something he would counter with the use of opposite rudder. On this day, his counteractions were not enough to keep the Lancaster straight, and the aircraft swung to port, left the runway, swerved across the grass and collided with Halifax III MZ424 AL-Z of 429 (Bison) Squadron RCAF. The Halifax, along with others, had diverted to Spilsby after an operation to Koln and was parked out on the dispersal area.
The Lancaster's bomb load exploded, and the resulting blast wrecked three more of 429 Squadron's aircraft. Loveless and his crew escaped, but one of the Halifax crew members, Plt Off Platt, who tried to save Halifax III MZ824 AL-G by moving it, sustained injuries from which he later died. Platt was assisted in his action by Splisby's Chief Technical Officer (CTO). They had managed to get one engine started before explosions blew off the Halifax's nose. Thankfully the CTO survived. Another of 207's Lancasters, NN724, was just becoming airborne when the blast occurred, almost causing the aircraft's wing to touch the ground. The situation was rescued by the pilot, Fg Off J. W. Downing, and he managed to regain control.
A further accident occurred on 11 November when Lancaster III LM648 KM-K of 44 Squadron collided with PB428 EM-T of 207 while both were in Spilsby's circuit. The two aircraft were returning from an operation to the Rhenania-Ossag oil refinery, and the ensuing crash cost the lives of both crews. The subsequent Court of Enquiry held the cause of the collision to be "a lack of flying discipline and failure to keep an adequate lookout", with most of the blame going to LM648, which was travelling in the wrong direction to the other aircraft within the circuit.
The threat from the Luftwaffe at this late stage in the war was considered negligible. However, on 3/4 March 1945, Operation Gisela was mounted, and Spilsby was to be on the receiving end of the action in the form of an Intruder attack. Intruders (Luftwaffe night-fighters) would mingle with the returning bomber streams and carry out attacks on both aircraft and airfield structures. On this occasion, Spilsby received two bombs close to a runway, and a number of cannon shells were fired.
One shell struck a flagpole near the Watch Office, causing a hole that can still be seen today, as it is preserved nearby at The Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre East Kirkby (photograph above). Twenty-three heavy bombers and one Mosquito were brought down during Operation Gisela, including a Lancaster III of 44 Squadron. ME442 KM-V was returning from an operation to attack the Dortmund-Ems Canal at Ladbergen when it was picked up by an Intruder and shot down at around 01:00hrs near Grimsby with the loss of all crew. In the two and a half hours the Intruders had been over Britain, they had caused considerable destruction and mayhem. This action had demonstrated just how dangerous a force they could be when operated in this aggressive manner.
The final losses for 44 and 207 Squadrons took place on 10/11 April 1945 during an operation to attack the Wahren railways yards in Leipzig. Lancaster III ND631 KM-B failed to return with the loss of seven crew members, with one surviving to become a POW, while 207 lost Lancaster III ME472 EM-O. The aircraft was damaged by flak, causing oil pressure loss to the starboard engines, which were feathered. Flt Lt Anderson (RCAF) DFC remained in control, but around 90 minutes later, the port inner engine also failed, and the order was given to bail out. All crew members took to their parachutes and landed in American hands except Anderson, who was found near the crash site of his aircraft.
Spilsby's two resident squadrons continued to fly throughout the remainder of the war, and their final operation took place on 25 April 1945 when Berchtesgaden, Hitler's mountain refuge, was attacked. During their time at the airfield, 207 flew 2,558 sorties, 82 Lancasters were lost on operations, with 8 more crashing in Britain. Of the crews, 510, including a number of ground personnel, were killed, 103 became POWs and 30 evaded capture to return home. 44 Squadron lost 19 Lancasters flying from Spilsby with 89 crew killed, 38 becoming POWs and 2 evading.
Although offensive operations were almost at an end, there was still important work for 44 and 207 Squadrons to contribute to, along with many other squadrons within Bomber Command. Thousands of British and Commonwealth POWs had been released in Europe and required repatriation from the Continent to Britain. To deal with this situation Operation Exodus (and later Operation Dodge) was implemented, which used Bomber Command's aircraft and others to ferry former internees back to reception centres set up on many airfields in the south of England.
With the end of the European war, attention turned to Japan and the Far East. On 21 July 1945, 75 (New Zealand) Squadron arrived at the airfield to become part of and train for Tiger Force. On the same day, 44 Squadron left Spilsby and relocated to RAF Mepal. Had the atomic bomb not ended the Far East war in August 1945, Tiger Force would have been used on operations against Japan. However, it was no longer needed, so this led to the disbandment of 75 Squadron on 15 October 1945, 207 Squadron left Spilsby on 30 October for RAF Methwold.
On 26 October 1945, Spilsby was taken over by 12 Group Fighter Command with 2 Armament Practice Station locating to the airfield. The School flew a number of aircraft types until May 1946, before moving to RAF Acklington, leaving the station to be placed under Care and Maintenance. The airfield remained in this state until June 1955 and was then re-opened for use by the United States Air Force for non-flying duties in support of their units at nearby East Kirkby. The Americans undertook some upgrading works, but by May 1957, they were gone, leaving Spilsby to be returned to Air Ministry control, its sale coming in 1962.
Today very little of the airfield remains with the two T.2 hangars demolished, and the runways were torn up to be used as aggregate for the Humber Bridge. The Operations Block, the B.1 hangar, some sections of perimeter track and a few loops are still to be found in place, along with part of Dispersed Site No 2 located nearby on private farmland.
Two memorials commemorate those who served at Spilsby, one is located in the grounds of Monksthorpe Baptist Chapel, the other dedicated on 21st June 2012, has been erected on the site of the former fire tender shed.
As with all Bomber Command airfields, Spilsby suffered its fair share of losses, some through enemy action some through accidents. For anyone interested in the fate of a typical bomber crew the book, Sortie Not Completed - Our Search For A Lost Bomber Crew by A and R Armstrong is well worth a read.
