Royal Air Force Full Sutton or RAF Full Sutton is a former Royal Air Force station located 2 miles (3.2 km) south east of Stamford Bridge, East Riding of Yorkshire and 4.7 miles (7.6 km) north west of Pocklington, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The base did not open until May 1944, and so was the last airfield built for RAF Bomber Command.
RAF Full Sutton | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full Sutton, East Riding of Yorkshire in England | |||||||||||
  RAF Full Sutton Shown within East Riding of Yorkshire  RAF Full Sutton RAF Full Sutton (the United Kingdom) | |||||||||||
| Coordinates | 53°58′47″N 000°51′53″W / 53.97972°N 0.86472°W | ||||||||||
| Type | Royal Air Force station | ||||||||||
| Site information | |||||||||||
| Owner | Ministry of Defence | ||||||||||
| Operator | Royal Air Force | ||||||||||
| Controlled by | RAF Bomber Command | ||||||||||
| Site history | |||||||||||
| Built | 1943/44 | ||||||||||
| In use | May 1944 - April 1963 | ||||||||||
| Battles/wars | European theatre of World War II | ||||||||||
| Airfield information | |||||||||||
| Elevation | 16 metres (52 ft) AMSL | ||||||||||
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History
edit
The airfield opened in 1944 under No. 4 Group, as part of RAF Bomber Command, with No. 77 Squadron RAF arriving at RAF Full Sutton on 15 May 1944 with the Handley Page Halifax Mks III and VI.[1] The base was the last operational airfield constructed for Bomber Command in the Second World War.[2] The base was laid out in the standard design of a heavy bomber station, having three runways in an 'A' shape. The longest was 5,940 feet (1,810 m) long, the second was 5,100 feet (1,600 m), and the shortest was 3,900 feet (1,200 m).[1] The runways, which crossed in an almost perfect triangular pattern, were laid down with different lengths to a standard heavy bomber base design. The non-standard runway distance has been put down to the land boundaries of the base.[3] To the south-west side of the airfield, was a railway line connecting York to Beverley.[4]
No. 77 Sqn switched to the Douglas Dakota aircraft in July 1945, then the squadron moved to RAF Broadwell on at the end of August 1945.[5] RAF Full Sutton was switched to RAF Transport Command being used by a flight of No. 231 Squadron RAF between 1 December 1945 and 15 January 1946 operating the Avro Lancastrian C.2 before being disbanded.[6]
In the 1950s it was part of RAF Flying Training Command,[7] as No. 103 Flying Refresher School RAF was here between May and November 1951[8] which became No. 207 Advanced Flying School RAF, which was here between November 1951 and June 1954,[9] this unit then became No. 207 Flying Training School RAF and was here between June and July 1954 when the unit was disbanded.[10] These schools held training on Gloster Meteor aircraft as a response to the Korean War.[11] One of the aircraft, WF831, crashed onto the railway line in 1952 just as a goods train was passing.[12]
The airfield was then placed on care and maintenance until 1959 when No. 102 Squadron RAF arrived and the airfield was re-modelled as a PGM-17 Thor missile site, operating until 27 April 1963.[13][14]
The area is now used as the civilian Full Sutton Airfield, being home to the Full Sutton Flying Centre,[15] and another part of the site houses HMP Full Sutton, which opened in April 1988.[7]
References
editCitations
edit- ^ a b Halpenny 1982, p. 87.
- ^ Otter 1998, p. 129.
- ^ Delve 2006, p. 135.
- ^ Delve 2006, p. 136.
- ^ Jefford 2001, p. 84.
- ^ Jefford 2001, p. 74.
- ^ a b Delve 2006, p. 137.
- ^ Sturtivant & Hamlin 2007, p. 133.
- ^ Sturtivant & Hamlin 2007, p. 33.
- ^ Sturtivant & Hamlin 2007, p. 138.
- ^ Halpenny 1982, p. 88.
- ^ Ranter, Harro. "Incident Gloster Meteor T Mk 7 WF831, 26 Feb 1952". aviation-safety.net. Retrieved 14 October 2022.
- ^ "RAF Full Sutton airfield". Control Towers. Retrieved 20 June 2012.
- ^ Jefford 2001, p. 54.
- ^ "Full Sutton Airfield". Retrieved 20 February 2019.
Bibliography
edit- Delve, Ken (2006). Northern England : Co. Durham, Cumbria, Isle of Man, Lancashire, Merseyside, Manchester, Northumberland, Tyne & Wear, Yorkshire. Ramsbury: Crowood. ISBN 1-86126-809-2.
- Halpenny, Bruce Barrymore (1982). Action stations 4: military airfields of Yorkshire. Wellingborough: Stephens. ISBN 0-85059-532-0.
- Jacobs, Peter (2021). Bomber Command Airfields of Yorkshire. Barnsley: Pen and Sword. ISBN 978-1-78346-331-2.
- Jefford, C. G. (2001). RAF squadrons : a comprehensive record of the movement and equipment of all RAF squadrons and their antecedents since 1912 (2 ed.). Shrewsbury: Airlife. ISBN 1-84037-141-2.
- Lake, Alan (1999). Flying units of the RAF : the ancestry, formation and disbandment of all flying units from 1912. Shrewsbury: Airlife. ISBN 1-84037-086-6.
- Otter, Patrick (1998). Yorkshire airfields in the Second World War. Newbury: Countryside Books. ISBN 1-85306-542-0.
- Sturtivant, Ray; Hamlin, John (2007). Royal Air Force flying training and support units since 1912. Tonbridge, UK: Air-Britain (Historians). ISBN 978-0851-3036-59.