|
RAF Harlaxton was a Royal Air Force station near the village of Harlaxton, south west of Grantham, Lincolnshire, England. The airfield was located in a triangle of flat fields midway between Harlaxton Manor (now the University of Evansville's British campus) and the nearby village of Stroxton. Originally constructed as a Royal Flying Corps aerodrome in November 1916 it closed between the wars, reopening in 1942 as a Royal Air Force flying training establishment until its final closure in 1957. During the Second World War Harlaxton Manor was requisitioned by the Royal Air Force as the station's officers' mess and later to temporarily house the headquarters of the 1st Airborne Division. ==History== The airfield opened in November 1916 as a Royal Flying Corps training aerodrome with three grassed runways laid out in an equilateral triangle, unusually oriented to the north.〔(Opening and runways )〕 The aerodrome remained busy throughout the First World War as a flying training establishment with a large number of aircraft present, flying mostly a motley assortment of de Havilland DH marques and Sopwith Camels. The Royal Flying Corps' No.98 Squadron formed at Harlaxton from elements drawn from the training squadrons. After training at the station and Old Sarum Airfield the squadron was deployed to France in a day-bombing role flying DH-9s.〔(98 Squadron RFC )〕 The station was mothballed and placed on a care and maintenance basis between the wars. Surveyed in 1937 as a possible fighter airfield for the defence of Nottingham, Leicester and Birmingham it was decided that the terrain was unsuitable for tarmac runways.〔(Reopening )〕 Instead the grass runways were retained and a major building expansion programme was undertaken. In 1942 RAF Harlaxton reopened as a satellite field and relief landing ground for the flying training squadron posted to RAF Spitalgate, Grantham under the command of No. 21 (Training) Group RAF.〔(Satellite field )〕 Harlaxton Manor was requisitioned by the War Department and utilised as the station's officers' mess. In the period ahead of the D-day invasion the manor also housed the Headquarters of the Army's 1st Airborne Division during their detailed preparations.〔(Harlaxton Manor use in war )〕 As the war came to a close the station continued in a satellite and occasional relief landing ground role but now for the flying training facility at RAF Cranwell. When flying training at Cranwell switched to jet aircraft in the mid-1950s Harlaxton's grass runways were no longer suitable and the RAF station finally closed in 1957.〔(Cranwell takes over )〕 A Royal Observer Corps aircraft spotting post was located on the north-east perimeter of the airfield during the Second World War and would have been responsible for initiating air raid warnings to the Grantham area during hostilities. An underground nuclear bunker was built on the same site in the 1960s and was used throughout the Cold War.〔(Grantham ROC post )〕 The underground post was only abandoned in 1991 when the ROC was stood down and now stands derelict after a fire was started by vandals. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「RAF Harlaxton」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|