| Royal Air Force Station Wymeswold | |
|---|---|
| Located near Wymeswold, England | |
| Type | Military airport |
| Built | 1942 |
| In use | 1942-57 |
| Controlled by | Royal Air Force |
| Garrison | RAF Bomber Command RAF Transport Command Royal Auxiliary Air Force |
| Occupants | 93 Group, 44 Group, 4 Group, 12 Group
RAF Wymeswold, shown within Leicestershire
|
RAF Wymeswold is a former Royal Air Force military airfield in Leicestershire, England.
Contents |
It was opened on 16 May 1942 during the Second World War and was home to Wellington bombers amongst others. It was not used for operations over Germany, but for training.
RAF Castle Donington was a satellite airfield (now East Midlands Airport).
It initially trained bomber pilots until 1944, then was taken over by Transport Command, to train Dakota pilots. On 14 April 1944 at around 16.30, Airspeed Oxford LB415 from 1521 Flight from the airfield collided with Avro Lancaster W4103 RC-E, from the 5 Lancaster Finishing School at RAF Syerston, over the Nottinghamshire village of Screveton.
From 1949 it was part of Fighter Command, flying Spitfires until 1950, then Meteors, although the aircraft were flown by the Royal Auxiliary Air Force. The RAAF was disbanded on 10 March 1957, which led to the closure of the airfield, after it had served as a satellite station of RAF Syerston for its Jet Provost training aircraft.
On Saturday 7 July 1951, a Meteor from the airfield, piloted by Auxiliary Pilot Officer H Elliot, exploded in the air, killing the pilot.
It was used by operational training units.
It was closed as an RAF station in early 1957, although it continued to be used for aircraft maintenance by various private organisations until 1968.
It did not close as an RAF Base in 1957 as RAF Syerston still used it as a satellite airfield in 1963. I did my first RAF solo from Wymeswold due to Syerston being restricted due to frequent closures for snow clearance on December 16th 1963. The aircraft I had was Jet Provost mk3 XM386 and the controllers were Syerston based but use to bus to Wymeswold when it was being usd by 2 FTS. I actually came from Loughborough and knew the airfield well and it was not closed in 1957, as I took a Tiger Moth in there from Sywell in 1959 in addition to the previously mentioned flight.
The airfield is now disused although many of the original buildings remain and there is currently an industrial estate on the site; the runway still exists and is used for motorsport.
The airfield is around four miles north-east of Loughborough, east of the A60, between Hoton, Wymeswold and Burton on the Wolds, laying in the current district of Charnwood. The entire airfield and associated buildings lie completely outside the civil parish of Wymeswold, with the north half being in Hoton, and the southern half in Prestwold. On the eastern fringe of the airfield is the Wymeswold Industrial Estate, where there is a go-karting facility. The Hoton-Wymeswold road runs alongside the airfield.
The airfield has also been host for regattas of land sailing.
In the early 1990s, there were plans for a 6,000 population new town to be built on the airfield.