RAF Bircotes

RAF Bircotes
IATA: none – ICAO: none
Summary
Airport type	Military
Owner	Air Ministry
Operator	Royal Air Force
Location	Bircotes
Built	1941
In use	1941-1948
Elevation AMSL	108 ft / 33 m
Coordinates	53°26′08″N 001°02′31″W / 53.43556°N 1.04194°WCoordinates: 53°26′08″N 001°02′31″W / 53.43556°N 1.04194°W
Map
RAF Bircotes Location in South Yorkshire
Runways
Direction Length Surface ft m 09/27 0 1,400 Grass NW/SE 0 1,235 Grass 18/36 0 1,410 Grass

RAF Bircotes is a former Royal Air Force satellite airfield located within South Yorkshire and the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster and was formerly located within the boundary of Nottinghamshire.

History

RAF Bircotes was located next the No. 1 Group RAF, RAF Bomber Command HQ at RAF Bawtry, Bawtry Hall, Bawtry, England. The airfield consisted of a grass strip with a connecting perimeter track with T2, B1 and blister hangars plus other miscellaneous buildings.^[1]

The Airfield opened in late 1941 and was used by the Avro Ansons, Vickers Wellingtons, and Avro Manchesters from No. 25 Operational Training Unit RAF (OTU) at nearby RAF Finningley.^[2]

A variety of training units occupied the airfield including two operational Training units, No 25 OTU and No. 82 OTU with a range of different aircraft types.^[2]

The No. 1 Group Bomber Command Communications Flight RAF^[2] from RAF Bawtry were also present at Bircotes from April 1941. The unit had moved from RAF Hucknall and at Bircotes the unit was using Miles Masters, Airspeed Oxfords, Miles Martinets, Tomahawks and Westland Lysanders.^[1][3]

Towards the end of the Second World War and afterwards a number of different units used the airfield such as No. 250 Maintenance Unit RAF (MU) which formed at the airfield while under the control of RAF Maintenance Command and No. 61 MU which absorbed NO. 250 MU and used Bircotes as a sub site between 1944 and 1948.^[1]

Current use

The airfield is currently farmland after being decommissioned on 13 July 1948 with little of the perimeter track left,^[2] while many of the hangars are still in use within a warehousing complex, containing many more modern buildings too, that is operated by DHL..A model aircraft club now fly on the site from a small grass runway just within the piri track

References

Citations

1. "RAF Bircotes, Yorkshire". Airfield Archaeology. Retrieved 16 June 2012.
2. "Bircotes (Bawtry)". Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust. Retrieved 16 June 2012.
3. Halpenny 1981, p. 47

Bibliography

• Halpenny, Bruce. Action Stations 2; Military airfields of Lincolnshire and East Midlands. Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, UK: Patrick Stephen Publishing, 1981. ISBN 0-85059-484-7.

External links

• Roy Calvert service record details
• An aerial view showing evidence of the layout of the former Airfield. The existing buildings are shown in the bottom left hand corner. Bawtry and Bawtry Hall are shown towards the east.