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> RAF Bases
Interactive map
Full list of locations
on site
Alma Park
Anwick
Bardney
Barkston
Heath
Belton Park
Binbrook
Blankney Hall
Blyton
Boston Wyberton Fen
Bottesford
Bracebridge Heath
Braceby
Buckminster
Bucknall
Caistor
Cockthorne
Coleby Grange
Coningsby
Cranwell
Cuxwold
Digby
Donna Nook
Dunholme Lodge
East Halton
East Kirkby
Elsham Wolds
Faldingworth
Fiskerton
Folkingham
Freiston
Fulbeck
Gosberton
Goxhill
Grantham
Great Limber
Greenland Top
Grimsby
Grimsthorpe Park
Harlaxton
Hemswell
Hibaldstow
Holbeach
Humberston
Immingham
Ingham
Ingoldmels
Kelstern
Killingholme
Kirmington
Kirton in Lindsey
Langtoft
Leadenham
Lincoln West Common
Ludford Magna
Manby
Market Deeping
Market Stainton
Mere
Metheringham
Moorby
Morton Hall
New Holland
Nocton Hall
Normanby
North Coates
North Killingholme
North Witham
Norton Disney
Orby
Rauceby
Saltby
Sandtoft
Scampton
Scopwick
Sibsey
Skegness
Skellingthorpe
Skendleby
South Carlton
South Elkington
South Witham
Spilsby
Spitalgate
Stenigot
Strubby
Sturgate
Sutton Bridge
Swinderby
Swinstead
Theddlethorpe
Tydd St Mary
Waddington
Wainfleet
Waltham (Grimsby)
Wellingore
Wickenby
Wigsley
Winterton
Woodhall Spa
Updated: 22 Feb 08
Opened: 1 Jun 1940
1967 Parenting transfered to RAF Scampton as Hemswell closes.
Closed: Apr 1985 ?
Returned to land owner: 1994/6
World War II
RAF Normanby opened on 1 Jun 1940 as a Wireless Telegraphy Transmitting Station, or DF transmitter site. It was administered by RAF Hemswell and served Hemswell, Scampton and Kirton in Lindsey as ??? with parenting by RAF Scampton.
Post-War Role
From the early 1950s into the 1960s the unit located at Normanby was officially ?? Signals Unit, subordinate to HQ No 1 Group at Bawtry Hall, and part of the Bomber Command network.
In the mid-1950s Normanby was home to around a dozen airmen who were all wireless or aerial technicians. At this time the mail, rations and any technical stores requrired by the high-power transmitters were transported every few days from RAF Hemswell.
The site was commonly referred to in the area as 'Normanby Transmitters'. The high-powered transmitters were 'Swabs' short wave broadcasters. SWB transmitters were maintained at permanent readiness, ready to transmit and relay instantly any message required by a morse operator at Bomber Command HQ when he pressed his Morse key.
Throughout all the days of the V-Force the air signallers, and later AEOs, were required to send a position report to Bomber Command by Morse every hour, wherever in the world they were flying.
At 30 minute intervals the Bomber Controller’s radio operator at High Wycombe would broadcast a message which included a codeword which all airborne V Bombers were required to log. For alerts or the transmission of war codes, 'go' messages would have been transmitted simultaneously on every available transmitter in the Bomber Command network.
At some point before Hemswell's closure in 1967, maintenance of the transmitters and their generators was transfered to RAF Scampton where a small team of ground electrical engineers commanded by a SNCO was dedicated to supporting the Normanby site. Regular fuel checks continued until at least 1980. Some single story brick buildings remained until the 1990s at the site and the transmitters' diesel generators were still in place in 1996 when the fuel tanks were finally emptied. The aerials have been dismantled.
The site is now owned by Normanby Youth Club.
The
is some confusion over the simultaneous operation of site for the SWB
Transmitters and as the outer marker for approach to Runway 23 at
RAF Scampton. The site certainly served Canberra and
Vulcan aircraft operating into Scampton as beacon, initially in the Standard
Beam Approach system and then as the outer marker.
The presence - documented by photograph - around 1989 of two lattice
aerial mastsand three modern christmas-tree type aerials may confirm
the site's dual purpose.
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