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RAF Ludford Magna was a Royal Air Force airfield operated by Bomber Command during the Second World War and the Cold War. The station lay on agricultural farmland immediately south of the village of Ludford, Lincolnshire and was sited 21.4miles (34.4 km) north east of the county town of Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England. The remains of the station can be seen from the B1225 Caistor High Street, and the long distance footpath the Viking Way passes right next to the eastern perimeter track. Used for Avro Lancaster bomber operations in the latter part of the Second World War the station was placed on care and maintenance until the mid-1950s when it was reactivated as a Cold War base for Thor intermediate range ballistic nuclear missiles (IRBMs). The station closed in the early part of the 1960s and has been mostly dismantled and returned to agricultural uses ==History== The station was constructed by George Wimpey with concrete runways on a site in June 1943, on the site of High Fields Farm, and originally assigned to No. 1 Group RAF, headquartered at RAF Bawtry. It was the highest bomber airfield in England at above sea level, and cost £803,000. No. 101 Squadron RAF arrived on 15 June 1943 from RAF Holme-on-Spalding Moor and was declared operational three days later on 18 June. The squadron remained the primary occupants during the Second World War. Ludford Magna was the first airfield in 1 Group to be equipped with the experimental FIDO dispersal system, first used on 10 March 1944, as one of only fifteen RAF stations to be equipped with the pyrotechnic fog landing system in the UK. Six T2 and one B1 hangars were eventually erected on the airfield. There were three concrete runways, one north-south main at and two runways in a standard triangular layout. The station's main gate was on ''Sixhills Lane''. Due to the condition and poor drainage of the airfield it quickly acquired the nickname ''Mudford Magna''. It had accommodation for 1,953 male and 305 female personnel, although the accommodation sites were inconveniently situated north of the village and widely dispersed on various agricultural fields. The station technical site was located on the north western edge of the station. Bombs for Ludford Magna's Lancasters and for many other local airfields' planes, were supplied from RAF Market Stainton (233 Maintenance Unit). The airfield's bombs were stored widely spaced along the edge of Caistor High Street to avoid a sequence of detonation if the base was attacked or sabotaged. Its two satellite airfields were RAF Wickenby and RAF Faldingworth, each the other side of Market Rasen, with all three airfields part of No. 14 Base from 16 December 1943, although the base operations began on 20 January 1944. It was planned to base No. 576 Squadron RAF at the airfield, with crews drawn from No. 101 Squadron and No. 103 Squadron RAF, but in November 1943 more suitable facilities were located at RAF Elsham Wolds. 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 Ludford Magna」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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