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Royal Air Force Fiskerton or more simply RAF Fiskerton was a Royal Air Force substation located north of the Lincolnshire village of Fiskerton, 5.0 miles (8.0 km) east of Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England. The airfield closed at the end of the war in 1945 being a satellite to RAF Scampton and very little now exists. The station was home to some 2000 personnel during the war, and various technical sites were in what is now the village of Fiskerton. A small cluster of semi-derelict buildings still exist and are still in use at the end of the present village on the road out to short ferry. Drake's view is the entrance to these old buildings.
RAF Fiskerton | |||||||||||
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| Fiskerton, Lincolnshire in England | |||||||||||
  RAF Fiskerton Shown within Lincolnshire  RAF Fiskerton RAF Fiskerton (the United Kingdom) | |||||||||||
| Coordinates | 53°14′37″N 000°25′40″W / 53.24361°N 0.42778°W | ||||||||||
| Type | Royal Air Force 52 Base substation | ||||||||||
| Code | FN[1] | ||||||||||
| Site information | |||||||||||
| Owner | Air Ministry | ||||||||||
| Operator | Royal Air Force | ||||||||||
| Controlled by | RAF Bomber Command * No. 1 Group RAF * No. 5 Group RAF | ||||||||||
| Site history | |||||||||||
| Built | 1942 | ||||||||||
| In use | January 1943 - December 1945 | ||||||||||
| Battles/wars | European theatre of World War II | ||||||||||
| Airfield information | |||||||||||
| Elevation | 15 metres (49 ft)[1] AMSL | ||||||||||
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History
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It was one of many new bomber airfields built in the early part of the Second World War. The airfield was situated north of the village. It was one of only 15 RAF airfields equipped with FIDO,[2] a fog-clearing system utilising petrol pumped through pipes alongside the main runway and burned via a sequence of nozzles.
No. 49 Squadron RAF and No. 576 Squadron RAF were stationed at RAF Fiskerton. 49 Squadron took part in the Peenemünde raid on the research and development centre for the V2 missile. 576 Squadron took part in the raid on Hitler's hideout at Berchtesgaden and in Operation Manna.[2]
During WWII, Billy Strachan, who would go onto become a pioneer of Black civil rights in Britain, took part in 15 bombing missions from RAF Fiskerton as a member of 576 Squadron.[3]
Between 1962 and 1992 a Headquarters of the Royal Observer Corps was located within the airfield boundary.[2]
The following units were here at some point:[4]
Current use
editVery little now remains of the old airfield. Land which once formed part of the aerodrome was donated by the owner, the late Geoff Stuffin, so a memorial to 49 and 576 Squadrons could be erected. Today the memorial can be found on the side of the road near the old main runway together with a plaque recording the generosity of Mr Stuffin.[5] The majority of the rest of the airfield was handed back to the farmers.[2]
Gallery
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Flag staff and memorial RAF Fiskerton -
Runway 05 RAF Fiskerton (February, 2019) -
Memorial commemorating 49 & 576 Squadrons, RAF Fiskerton -
Inscription on memorial commemorating 49 & 576 Squadrons, RAF Fiskerton
See also
editReferences
editCitations
edit- ^ a b Falconer 2012, p. 94.
- ^ a b c d Barrymore Halpenny, Bruce (1981). Action Stations 2: Military airfields of Lincolnshire and the East Midlands (reprint 1984 ed.). Wellingborough: Patrick Stephens. pp. 95–97. ISBN 0 85059 484 7.
- ^ Horsley, David (23 May 2019). "Billy Strachan's was a remarkable life". Islington Tribune. Archived from the original on 7 May 2023. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
- ^ "Fiskerton". Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust. Retrieved 20 June 2020.
- ^ "Memorial Page".
Bibliography
edit- Falconer, J. (2012). RAF Airfields of World War 2. UK: Ian Allan Publishing. ISBN 978-1-85780-349-5.
External links
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- FiskertonAirfield.org.uk
- Airfields & Aviation Memorials
- RAF Fiskerton in the IBCC Digital Archive.