LOST AIRFIELDS | EPISODE 5 • RAF NORTH LUFFENHAM "THE TRAINING STATION OF RUTLAND"
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- Опубликовано: 14 дек 2024
- Ted and I have travelled back in time once more to cover another episode of the Ted Coningsby’s Lost Airfields. In this episode, we are at former RAF North Luffenham, a base that was once home to 61 Squadron and 144 Squadron during World War Two. These runways once served Avro Manchester and Hampden Bombers. After the war, it became home to the Royal Canadian Air Force and then later, a Thor Missile Station.
RAF North Luffenham opened in December 1940. Just like RAF Coningsby, the airfield was constructed first with grass runways in the Class A triangle configuration. This configuration of 60 degrees formation of an A shape set of runways allowed the aircraft to operate in 6 possible directions of travel. The station was initially used by 17 Elementary Flying Training School with Tiger Moths and in July 1941 it began its transition to become a bomber station. RAF North Luffenham was transferred to Number 5 Group of Bomber Command with 61 and 144 Squadrons making the station their new home with Hampdens. 61 Squadron converted to Avro Manchester bombers and took part in major raids into Europe during their short stay as they left in October 1941 whilst 144 Squadron left in April 1942. However, 144 Squadron would return to North Luffenham with a very different role 17 years laters.
61 Squadron engaged in many raids over Berlin, one significant incident led to a change in the rules when flying. On the night of 2nd September 1941 Avro Manchester L7388 with its crew of 7 men, took off on for a raid on Berlin. L7388 was shot down by flak and amongst the 7 crew killed, both 61 Squadron Commander and the Station Commander were amongst those 7. This led to a rule change that a Station Commander and a Squadron Commander would never fly in the same operation. 408 RCAF were also stationed here for a very short period of time with Hampdens.
Just like Operation Conversion Units (OCU) that we have today, where a specific squadron trains pilots and crew on a specific aircraft, during World War 2, there were equivalent units called Operational Training Units (OTU). Today, at RAF Coningsby we have 29 Squadron who train Typhoon pilots, 207 Squadron who train both Royal Navy and Royal Air Force Pilots on the F-35B. During WW2 there were other types of training units such as Heavy Conversion Units and Heavy Glider Conversion Units too. Forming here at RAF North Luffenham was 29 Operational Training Unit who were created and trained airmen on Wellington bombers.
In June 1943 the base closed in order to have concrete hard runways and reopened in March 1944. First to operate on the new runways were HGCU’s (Heavy Glider Conversion Unit) and by 1653 Heavy Conversion Unit which was initially equipped with Stirlings but converted to Lancasters. Many squadron’s were beginning to convert to the new Avro Lancaster.
In 1951, the station was transferred to the Royal Canadian Air Force to become the temporary home of 1 Fighter Wing, the first Canadian NATO base in Europe. 1 Wing moved to Marville, France in 1955.
In late 1955, No. 228 Operational Conversion Unit, temporarily renamed No. 238 OCU, was detached to North Luffenham from RAF Leeming which was having its runways extended to 7000 ft to accommodate Gloster Javelins. The OCU remained for over a year before returning to Leeming.
Then in 1959, RAF North Luffenham was chosen to be one of four main PGM-17 Thor intermediate range ballistic missile stations. This brought back to life 144 Squadron and all Thor Missile squadrons had a new addition to their title, SM, Strategic Missile. The Thor missiles were operated under a dual key system, with the British in control of the launch sequence, and the Americans responsible for arming the missiles nuclear warhead, giving each nation a veto on using the missiles. The squadron, along with the rest of the Thor force, was brought to full readiness during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
The station was taken over by the British Army and renamed St George's Barracks in 1998.
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Ladies, gents and teddy bears. Thank you for watching our Lost Airfields. Nikos, Claire Bear and I will do our best to cover as many possible before they are lost forever. It is important to remember them, remember those who made it their “job” to protect the very skies we live under. They went to free us, many never returned, but we must live on in memory of those that never returned. LEST WE FORGET
Thank you Ted. Wonderful.
Thank you very much Margo
Nikos, your video on the abandoned airfield was absolutely mesmerizing-I felt like I was exploring the site alongside you. Keep up the amazing work!
Oii Oii Christian. Thank you so much. Glad you enjoyed
wonderful video, love these historic sites
Thank you.
So many amazing stories from these Airfields. Thank you for keeping them alive. The drone footage adds so much to the airfield stories. Thank you Ted and Nikos - lest we forget
Thanks Ellesee LEST WE FORGET
Very professional presentation Nikos. Thank you.
Thanks Stephen
Thanks
Oii Oii thanks for the super 🤙🏼
Awesome as Always Nikos and Ted Coningsby, love ❤️ these lost Airfield stories 🫡🫡
Thanks Ian
The "Lost Airfields" series is a favourite. Tremendous footage and narrative. Ted Coningsby, the variety of military aviation you bring to the world is wonderful. Educational, inspiring and very interesting. Thank you ❤
Thanks Margo, glad you like the Lost Airfields series
Another cracking video. So many stories and so many service men and women to remember
Thanks Perry 🤙🏼
Another great video in this series and wonderfully narraTED Thank you Nikos, Claire Bear and of course Ted
Oii oiii thank you so much and glad you enjoyed this episode
Thank you, Nikos and Ted.That was amazing
Thank you David
Truly incredible footage again Nikos and Ted🫡 The Lost airfields series is so important and a fantastic part of the channel. Bless them all who served and for our freedom today
Thanks Davey. Glad you like the series and their importance
VERY Educational,and I love your presentations.
Thank you so much 🤙🏼
❤beautiful work lovely listening to the history of base's
Oii Oii Sally thank you very much
Absolutely brilliant, thank you for all your hard work putting these together.
Oii Oii Tim thank you very much
I hope you visit RAF Twinwood some day. Not 'lost' as such, as there's a museum there, but it has a very interesting history, including the (rather sad) Glenn Miller connection.
Brilliant footage nikos and ted ❤
Thank you
Wow, so much emotion stirred up by the history of these bases. Thank you so much for this series.
Thanks Babs
I find these historical films really insightful but poignant. Loved that SAR Whirlwind just left there 🫡
Oii Oii Captian A 🤙🏼 thanks man. We will try and get through as many as possible. They all have fascinating stories and all played a major role
So much too learn, so many airfields with their own story. So many men. Thousands of Aircraft? Wow! Its like the base was still alive during this video. Incredible series the Lost Airfields is. A firm favourite series of mine. Spectacular views, its all still there. How do you learn and research this? I'm officially very impressed by the backstory.
Hours it must have taken.
A fine tribute to all fallen airman from all allied nations. Fitting the TCs should highlight the story. I will be watching this again.
Trully humbles you.
My thanks to Ted, Nikos for putting this together.
My total admiration for every single Person who served here. The brave shall be remembered. Each story is mesmerising. Hugh thanks for this. Inspired, inspiring and now a little more informed. Big Love ❤️
'LEST WE FORGET'
Thanks Dan. There are many books out there and although the internet is full of info, we have come across some incorrect information. So it is a case of cross referencing sometimes. Books can be found as an electronic source online too for direct and almost instant access. We didn’t mention the Bristol Bloodhound as we were not 100% sure if this was located here but it most certainly was a few miles away at neighbouring RAF Woolfox Lodge. Thanks again man
Anyone who mentions the RCAF is alright in my books. Thanks for this trip, and especially thanks to all those who served (and serve). A really fine video.
Thanks Roderick Canada 🇨🇦
Story of these smaller fields is often forgotten. Thank you for telling. I visited a German Fliegerhorst (airbase) in the Netherlands recently, Havelte to be precise. No buildings left, tarmac gone, but you can still see the layout. There are more in this country. History is an amazingly intruiging topic.
Thank you. It is important to remember them while there are still remains of them
Fantastic, without people like you places like these Lost Airfields would remain Lost keep up the great work
Thank you so much Colin for your kind words.
Thank you for another great Lost Airfields episode. Brilliant footage as always, really enjoy watching these.
Thanks Vicky
Great video...👍
Thanks Allan
This Lost Airfield, North Luffenham, has a very wide runway and from the drone covers a large area, the history ia amazing too thank you Nikos because we need to remember it.
Oii Oii Edward thank you so much. We do as many as we can. They are very important to remember them
You missed out the RAF languages training school that was there with the AMTC - I was there '79 - '80.
Such an important stream of information 👍❗ Thanks!
Oiii oiii Linda thank you so much for the super
Brilliant Nikos - love the drone footage & the historical side of this. I find airfields fascinating places, always have done, don’t know why 🤷♂️ Thank you for producing & sharing 👍
Thank you so much
I really do love these Lost Airfields this one is not far from where my parents live so I will visit next time I am down that way again very soon. Learning the history is amazing thank you Nikos and Ted it makes me think of my Grandfathers who were both in WWII . Thank you again for bringing this Airfield back to life.
Oii oiii Debbie. Oh you’ll have to check it out
Sorry, had to add - the footage is superb & that music is fantastic, there's an air of triumph and pride about it. Tremendous!
Thanks Margo
So much history is lost in these places.
WWII gave rise to do many bars that didn't last much beyond the war, but were the homes off so many lives that were lost.
It's so nice to see your coverage, keeping those stories alive and documenting what is left now before it is completely gone, and just the dust is left.
Thanks Ted, Nikos & Claire Bear ❤
Thank you so much Dex 🤙🏼
LEST WE FORGET
My local airfield, just a few minutes up the road.
Thanks for the history 👍
Amazing video like always!🙏🏼 So cool to see what once was
Amazing stories of lost airfields Nikos just love listening and seeing your streams
Oii Oii Forbes, thank you so much.
I love these videos. So interesting (and atmospheric!). Is that your 'tiny white van' that we can see?!
Thanks Marnie
Great video. Thanks for doing your part in keeping history alive.
Thank you
Did my field training exercise there when basic training at RAF Swinderby in November 1985. Marching up and down the frozen runway with full Bergen and webbing.
Me too, 5flt from Swinderby MFT for a week in 83, frozen & wet through, buzzed by Harriers from Wittering , got to shoot the Bren lmg ,but only 20 blanks for my SLR . My mate Duggie got his first posting after training here no aircraft just midland radar I was posted across the puddle at Cottesmore a brilliant first base.
I remember doing basic field craft training here from RAF Swinderby in 1990 before moving onto RAF Catterick
An excellent and interesting video. Many thanks
Fascinating 🧸
Grew up in a little village called Duddington between North Luffenham and Wittering! We use to use the Luffenham base swimming pool as kids! I never did get to see the actual airfield tho 😄
Great to see Nikos. Can I point out one omission regarding the units of RAF North Luffenham - Midland Radar; this was an ATC Radar Unit (ATCRU) which I believe was in operation there between 1966 & 1990. Never served there but I was at Eastern Radar at RAF Watton near Norwich. There used to be friendly rivalry between the 2 units based on the fact that Midland would always get us to take their traffic claiming they couldn't see it so it was always said that Midland had the biggest radar overhead in the world haha! There were 4 ATCRUs when I was serving namely Midland, Eastern, plus Northern at RAF Lindholme and Border up at RAF Boulmer. Those were the days!
Thanks for the info and thank you for serving
When you think about it all these airfields can tell a story.
Saluted
🫡
The only former bases I've been on was RAF Twyford/North Witham
It’s not far from us
@TedConingsby it felt awesome but tiny bit weird walking on the old runway. I always thought what the base looked like when it was active
I learnt a language there,many years ago. I won't say which one, but it was important at the time. Funnily enough, it is rather important today !
They did indeed mid 60s to the late 90s they taught 2 languages there
I remember this site as I did my ground defence training there in 1990 as a very new member of the RAF
I did my Military Field Training there in Nov 86. Absolutely miserable and the entire time wet through! Always remember one of the trainees having been found out by the regiment having a Mars bar in his ammo pouch! The command and messaging was clear too. “With a Mars bar containing no rounds, standing…..load!” At which most of the mars bar ended up in his SLR!
Used to do our fit to fight run on those taxiways. The reason the RAF went from Star to A configuration of the runways was because if the Germans hit the intersection they would still have a serviceable runway rather than them all knocked out with the star layout.
Class A runways were chosen to give 6 directions of travel with the main being northeast/southwest to increase the possibility of taking off into the wind. This made it safer
You should take a visit to the old Avros Woodford, there's a tiny museum there and behind that are the old hangers, the runway has gone (house's built)😢
Thank you Nikos and Ted for yet another poignant video on our now forgotten history. Soon no one will remember or care to remember unfortunately. Its important to keep the history alive and keep telling the stories. WW11 was not that long ago and the way the world is going... well enough said.
Thank you very much
Like a lot of other airfields......perimeter road looks great for a race track!
This was home to the RAF school of aviation medicine in it's later years, diagnosing and treating problems for aircrews.
I was stationed there in 1974 as a mt driver
What is the music at the end? 👌😃
Interesting as always Nikos just love seeing the old stuff maybe a dumb question but I’m going to ask it anyway IF trouble comes ur way is it all possible u think to use it as an emergency runway like is being practiced on some motorways or is it to far gone
Thank you
Is it still open now ? I went there in 2010 for two weeks military training on railway track track renewal and maintenance ! As I remember there was an Army regiment based there ( I forget which one ) and a small RAF Bomb disposal squadron - who took us out for a ride in one of their APC s one evening around the old airfield . Is it completely disused now !
Oii oiii So the base is now St George’s Barracks and the airfield is disused and left to the elements
I was stationed there 1980 -1983
Thank you for serving
I was at North Luffenham in the late 1990s. The ex-husband was at Cottesmore, and we lived on the married quarters.
Thank you for serving
Been to the ‘Nam many a time!
Rutland flyers radio controlled model club use the main runway and have since 1973. There's also a paragliding club on the airfield. I was led to believe the airfield was geofenced and DJI had built in hardware that would not let the drone fly inside the airfield?
Maybe others aeroclubs interesing this. Airport🤔
It seems every base I ever visited, trained or served at is now a wasteland.
This is the first one of these if watched . Brilliant will definitely be watching the rest. Thanks Ted and Nikos of course👍🏽🫡
Thank you so much
I was stationed there in the 90's, and also did 3 MFT there during basic training whilst at Swinderby.
Used to walk my dog around there, avoiding all the craters that EOD put in the runway