RAF East Kirkby

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RAF East Kirkby opened on the 20th August 1943 as a Bomber Command Station and is situated in Lincolnshire (not far from RAF Coningsby).

Stationed at East Kirkby were:

• No. 57 Squadron RAF (5 Group) 27 August 1943 - 27 November 1945
• No. 630 Squadron RAF (5 Group) 15 November 1943 - 18 July 1945

The last raid from East Kirkby was flown on 25 April 1945. In total, 212 operations were carried out from this airfield from which 121 Lancasters failed to return. Another 29 were lost in operational crashes/accidents.

630 Squadron disbanded in July that year and its place was taken by No. 460 Squadron RAAF from RAF Binbrook. This squadron joined No. 57 for transfer to the Far East as part of Tiger Force.

The station closed in 1958 and is now home to an air museum, Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre, run by two Lincolnshire farmers, whose prize exhibit is the Lancaster Bomber "Just Jane".

The control tower is believed to be haunted. The airfield was featured in a 1980s BBC seres about WWII airfields.

The airfield was originally built in 1939 along with Sibsey to fool the German Luftwaffe. Much of the runway is still intact today but used by local farmers as hard standing

A memorial to the fallen can be found outside the main gate where the guard house once stood.