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#RAFLincolnshire
> RAF Bases
Interactive map
Full list of locations
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
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
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: 12 Oct 13
Opened: Apr 1944
Closed: Sep 1977 (still an active glider base)
Airfield code :: NY > SB
ICAO Code :: EGCG
Airfield call sign :: FRUITPICK
Squadrons based here:
280 Sqn :: May 1944 - 6 Sep 1944
144 Sqn :: Jul 1944 - Sep 1944
404 Sqn RCAF :: 1 Jul 1944 - Sep 1944
280 Sqn :: May 1944 - 6 Sep 1944
619 Sqn :: autumn 1944 - Jun 1945
227 Sqn :: summer 1945
5 Group Anti-Aircraft School ::
RAF Strubby was the most easterly of Lincolnshire's airfields but was already surplus to Bomber Command requirements when it opened in Apr 1944. It was therefore initially used by Coastal Command which deployed 144 Sqn and 404 Sqn RCAF - operating the Beaufighter - to RAF Strubby on anti-surface vessel missions. In the autumn on 1944, when the reorganisation of Bomber Command groups moved RAF Scampton, RAF Fiskerton and RAF Dunholme Lodge to 1 Group, and North Coates could attack enemy shipping off the Dutch coast on its own, RAF Strubby Strike Wing dispersed and the Station was occupied by 619 Sqn from RAF Dunholme Lodge. 227 Sqn partly reformed here the following month before moving to RAF Balderton, returning in Apr 1945 for its final operations of the war. After VJ Day RAF Strubby came under the RAF Flying College at RAF Manby, remaining in this role up to closure in 1972.
Coastal Command opened a station at Strubby in 1944 for air-sea rescue aircraft. It soon became a more offensive base when a Beaufighter Strike Wing was added. The station transferred to Bomber Command when North Coates became able to handle the enemy shipping off the coast of Holland on its own.
Mr Vic Croft recollects being a National Service entrant LAC in the DF Truck at Strubby, serving on 12 GCA Unit in 1949. This was at the time when 2 Sqn flew in from the Berlin Airlift.
The CO of 12 GCA was Sqn Ldr McPherson. 12 GCA consisted of a D/F truck at the end of the runway and a Bendix truck containing cathode ray screens. Inside were about four aircraftmen and a talkdown officer. I spoke directly to the pilots (who were going through a course on GCA) as most of them were i/c flying at other airfields. My job was to bring the aircraft 'overhead' then turn them on to a specific course where the bendix truck took over after they were 'in radar contact'. RAF Strubby was a satellite of RAF Mamby. It was used in WW1 as an airfield for landing damaged aircraft as it had long runways. It was closed at the end of WW1 and reopened in 1949 (when I arrived) as airfields with longer runways were being opened for jet aircraft. It was part of Flying Training Command.
Another activity was the magnetic measurements over the Pole with two planes called "Aires 1 and Aires 2". Strubby had a nasty crash in '49 whwn a Hastings full of cadets crashed on take off. A number were killed including Flt Lt. Flowers. I was returning from the D/F truck at the time.
Another interesting point. There were a couple of Athena aircraft. This was a piston engine plane with all the instruments detailing jet aircraft info,(such as 'Jet Pipe temperature'). The pilot and trainee sat side by side.
During the 1950s Strubby also served as the domestic site for RAF Skendleby GCI (E) site.
Brian Reece Bevan served at Strubby in 1957 as an Air Radar fitter, working on Hunter Mk6 and Canberra B6. He recalls there was also a squadron of NF14 s who were part of Strategic Air Command. There were also 2 Canberras B6 that broke the Record for London to Tokio via the North Pole. They were known as Aries 5. During his time, Brian was posted on an attachment to Air Task Group Antler at RAAF Ediburgh Field and Maralinga for Atomic trials with a Valient Squadron.
Conoco / ConocoPhillips used RAF Strubby as a helicopter base from which to ferry equipment and workers to the southern North Sea oil and gas rigs. Much of the remainder of RAF Strubby had disappeared in reclamation work in the 1980s with the runways being ripped up for hardcore. Conoco moved flying operations to Humberside International Airport at RAF Kirmington in the mid 1990s. The long-surviving hangars here have been pressed into service for EU Common Agricultural Policy intervention stores for Lincolnshire's contribution to the grain mountain.
RAF Strubby is active once more as a glider airfield. Strubby Gliding Club has operated from the site since 1978 and changed its name to the Lincolnshire Gliding Club in the 1990s :: click here. Woodthorpe Aquatics also retain a Hangar 1 on the airfield for their pet and fish business.
The airfield is also home to Woodthorpe Kart Club which holds races every month and occupies a large section of the field and buildings.
RAF Strubby map on Multimap.com
Buy an aerial photo of RAF Strubby on GetMapping.com
RAF Strubby on ControlTowers.co.uk
RAF Strubby memories on the Wartime Memories Project
Aviation
Heritage Lincolnshire
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Aviation
Heritage Lincolnshire
(Tourism)
Follow RAF Lincolnshire:
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