Opened:
13 April 1943
Care & Maintenance :: Oct 1945
Transferred to Army
:: 1945, for vehicle storage
Thor Missile Site
:: 1959 - 1963 (106 Sqn)
Closed:
1963
Squadrons
based here:
IX
Sqn :: 13 Apr 1943 - 7 Jul 1945
189
Sqn :: Nov 1944, Apr-Oct 1945
227
Sqn:: Oct 1944 -
106 Sqn :: 1959 -
1963
Airfield
code: BA
Airfield
call sign ::
RUDKIN, SMALLTYPE (Apr 1943)
RAF Bardney was opened
in Apr 1943 as a 53 Base substation, a satellite airfield to RAF
Waddington. IX Sqn moved
in; 227 Sqn formed
here in Oct 1944 with personnel from 9 Sqn making up one flight,
moving to RAF Balderton; 189
Sqn formed here in Nov 1944, again with personnel
from 9 Sqn, moving to RAF
Fulbeck and returning in Apr 1945 and departing
again, this time for RAF
Metheringham
in Oct 1945.
While based here
9 Sqn bombed U-boats and dropped a Tallboy on the Tirpitz.
RAF Bardney was home
to 106 (SM) Sqn from Jul 1959 - May 1963 with 3 Thor
IRBM launchers.
Each missile was armed with a one-megaton nuclear warhead, controlled
by the US Air Force under so-called dual-key arrangements. RAF Hemswell
was the headquarters for the 5 Lincolnshire dispersal sites at RAF
Hemswell, RAF
Bardney, RAF
Caistor, RAF
Coleby Grange and RAF
Ludford
Magna.
In later years Bardney
became home to a glider club and crop sprayers.
There is a memorial
in Bardney village made to 9 Sqn from the propeller and spinner from
a Lancaster
and a piece of Norwegian stone. Photographs and a description are on
the RAF Bardney memorial page.
The Viking
Way long-distance footpath passes within 800m of
the RAF Bardney site at King's Hill.
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