RAF Wainfleet

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RAF Wainfleet
Near Wainfleet, Lincolnshire in UK
Tower and Targets, RAF Wainfleet - geograph.org.uk - 669903.jpg
Tower and Targets, RAF Wainfleet
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Lincolnshire outline map with UK.png
Coordinates Coordinates: 53°04′18″N0°12′48″E / 53.07177°N 0.21321°E / 53.07177; 0.21321
TypeNATO Air Weapons Range
Site information
OperatorDefence Training Estates (East)
StatusClosed
Site history
In useAugust 1938 - June 2010
Airfield information
Identifiers ICAO: EGYW

RAF Wainfleet was a Royal Air Force weapons range on The Wash on the east coast of England near Wainfleet, in the civil parish of Friskney, although the north-east part of the range was in Wainfleet St Mary. Other ranges nearby include RAF Holbeach, also on The Wash, and RAF Donna Nook. It was also known as The Wash (North side) Bombing Range. It was only a few miles south-west of Gibraltar Point. [1]

Contents

History

The range opened to aerial operations in August 1938; but had previously been used as a range from 1890 by the 1st Lincolnshire Artillery. However, there is evidence that the area was in use for military practice as far back as Napoleonic times when the River Steeping was navigable and Wainfleet itself was an important harbour. [2]

During the 1920s and 1930s it was also used by the RAF and Royal Artillery. [3] The range was administered by RAF Coningsby as an Air Weapons Range within RAF Strike Command. During the Second World War, it was used by 617 Squadron to test the Stabilizing Automatic Bomb Sight. [1] Postwar, it was used by both fixed wing and rotary aircraft from NATO. On 1 April 2006 control was transferred to Defence Estates and the range was then administered by Defence Training Estates (East) from their headquarters at West Tofts Camp near Thetford. [4]

Due to funding cuts the range was closed for operations on 2 December 2009 [5] and finally closed in July 2010. [6]

The tower and some surrounding buildings reopened as holiday accommodation in 2017. [7]

Operation

The site was controlled from the Control Tower. Targets included old ships. There were two smaller wooden observation towers to the east nearer the shore but these were demolished in 2009. Access was via a narrow road called Sea Lane via the junction with the A52 at the Barley Mow at Friskney Eaudyke.

Weapons clearance

The site was cleared daily by the Explosive Ordnance Disposal team from RAF Coningsby. [8] Although the range has finally closed unrecovered ordnance and unexploded ordnance will remain for many years.

SSSI

The range area is a Site of Special Scientific Interest thanks to the large number of resident and migrating birds found there. The location is a major stopping point for flocks of brent geese on their way from the Arctic coast. There is also the red-legged partridge. Skegness gets its weather recorded from the automatic equipment at Wainfleet.

Related Research Articles

Lincolnshire County of England

Lincolnshire is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north-west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders Northamptonshire in the south for just 20 yards (19 m), England's shortest county boundary. The county town is the city of Lincoln, where the county council has its headquarters.

The Wash Bay and estuary at NW corner of the East Anglian coast of England

The Wash is a rectangular bay and estuary at the north-west corner of East Anglia on the East coast of England, where Norfolk meets Lincolnshire, and both border the North Sea. One of the broadest estuaries in the United Kingdom, it is fed by the rivers Witham, Welland, Nene and Great Ouse. It is a 62,046-hectare (153,320-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest. It is also a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I, a National Nature Reserve, a Ramsar site, a Special Area of Conservation and a Special Protection Area. It is in the Norfolk Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and part of it is the Snettisham Royal Society for the Protection of Birds nature reserve.

Skegness Seaside town and civil parish in Lincolnshire, England

Skegness is a seaside town and civil parish in the East Lindsey District of Lincolnshire, England. On the Lincolnshire coast of the North Sea, the town is 43 miles (69 km) east of Lincoln and 22 miles (35 km) north-east of Boston. With a population of 19,579 as of 2011, it is the largest settlement in East Lindsey. It also incorporates Winthorpe and Seacroft, and forms a larger built-up area with the resorts of Ingoldmells and Chapel St Leonards to the north. The town is on the A52 and A158 roads, connecting it with Boston and the East Midlands, and Lincoln respectively. Skegness railway station is on the Nottingham to Skegness line.

RAF Scampton Royal Air Force station in Lincolnshire, England

Royal Air Force Scampton or RAF Scampton is a Royal Air Force station located adjacent to the A15 road near to the village of Scampton, Lincolnshire, and 6 miles (9.7 km) north west of the city, Lincoln, England. Wing commander J.T.S. Parker became Station Commander in August 2018. In July 2018, the MoD announced that Scampton would close by 2022 and be sold, with all units relocated elsewhere.

RAF Coningsby

Royal Air Force Coningsby or RAF Coningsby, is a Royal Air Force (RAF) station located 13.7 kilometres (8.5 mi) south-west of Horncastle, and 15.8 kilometres (9.8 mi) north-west of Boston, in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It is a Main Operating Base of the RAF and home to the Typhoon Force Headquarters and three front-line Eurofighter Typhoon FGR4 units, No. 3 Squadron, No. 11 Squadron and No. 12 Squadron. In support of front-line units, No. 29 Squadron is the Typhoon Operational Conversion Unit and No. 41 Squadron is the Typhoon Operational Evaluation Unit. Coningsby is also the home of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF) which operates a variety of historic RAF aircraft.

RAF Holbeach

RAF Holbeach also Air Weapons Range Holbeach, is a United Kingdom Ministry of Defence academic air weapons range (AWR) situated between Boston and King's Lynn near Gedney Drove End on The Wash, in Lincolnshire, eastern England. Most of the range, including the control tower and four observation towers (Quads) are in Gedney, but it does overlap with Holbeach to the west. On UK Civil Aviation Authority issued aeronautical charts the military Danger Area is found marked and identified by the code WRDA D207/II or the ICAO code EG D207, the danger altitude is usually up to twenty-three thousand feet AMSL.

Coningsby Human settlement in England

Coningsby is a village and civil parish in the East Lindsey district in Lincolnshire, England, it is situated on the A153 road, adjoining Tattershall on its western side, 13 miles north west of Boston and 8 miles south west from Horncastle.

Wainfleet All Saints Ancient port and market town on the east coast of England, in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire

Wainfleet All Saints is an ancient port and market town on the east coast of England, in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, on the A52 road 5 miles (8 km) south-west of Skegness and 14 miles (23 km) north-east of Boston. It stands on two small rivers, the Steeping and Limb, that form Wainfleet Haven. The town is close to the Lincolnshire Wolds. The village of Wainfleet St Mary is to the south.

RAF East Kirkby

Royal Air Force East Kirkby or more simply RAF East Kirkby is a former Royal Air Force station near the village of East Kirkby, south of Horncastle in Lincolnshire, just off the A155. The airfield is now home to the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre air museum.

RAF Goxhill

Royal Air Force Goxhill or RAF Goxhill is a former Royal Air Force station located east of Goxhill, on the south bank of the Humber Estuary, opposite the city of Kingston upon Hull, in north Lincolnshire, England.

RAF Woodhall Spa

Royal Air Force Woodhall Spa or more simply RAF Woodhall Spa is a former Royal Air Force station located 2 miles (3.2 km) north of Coningsby, Lincolnshire and 16 miles (26 km) southeast of Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England.

RAF Hemswell Former RAF station in Lincolnshire, England

Royal Air Force Hemswell or more simply RAF Hemswell is a former Royal Air Force station located 7.8 miles (12.6 km) east of Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, England.

East Lindsey was a county constituency based on the East Lindsey local government district of Lincolnshire. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

RAF Donna Nook

Royal Air Force Donna Nook or more simply RAF Donna Nook is a bombing range in East Lindsey in Lincolnshire in England. It is maintained by the Royal Air Force and used by NATO aircraft.

Friskney Human settlement in England

Friskney is a village and civil parish within the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England.

RAF Binbrook Former Royal Air Force flying base in Lincolnshire, England

Royal Air Force Binbrook or RAF Binbrook was a Royal Air Force station, now closed, located near Binbrook, Lincolnshire, England. The old domestic site has been renamed to become the village of Brookenby. RAF Binbrook was primarily used by Bomber Command in World War II. The Central Fighter Establishment moved to Binbrook from RAF West Raynham between 1959 and 1962 and two Lightning squadrons were stationed there between 1965 and 1988.

RAF Cowden Former Royal Air Force bombing range in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England

RAF Cowden was a Royal Air Force bombing range, near to the village of Aldbrough, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The site was used by the RAF and other air forces between 1959 and 1998, though the land part of the site was used by the army for training in the Second World War. Since closure, explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) teams have had to visit the site on numerous occasions due to erosion of the cliffs by the North Sea revealing old practise bombs.

No. 1 Air Control Centre is a deployable mobile command and control unit of the Royal Air Force that is currently based at RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire. The unit acts in conjunction with the Control and Reporting Centre (CRC) at RAF Boulmer in Northumberland, but also detaches staff to overseas locations when the Royal Air Force is engaged in operations. Some of these postings are permanent, such as in the Falklands Islands and at Cyprus.

The Tofts is a 0.8–1 km-wide band of raised ground along part of the Lincolnshire coast, running between Wainfleet All Saints and Wrangle parallel to the Wash.

References

  1. 1 2 "RAF Wainfleet control tower for sale". BBC News. 14 November 2014. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
  2. ↑ "Public information leaflet; Defence Training Estate East" (PDF). www.gov.uk. Defence Estates. p. 5. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
  3. ↑ Halpenny 1981, p. 195.
  4. ↑ "Public information leaflet; Defence Training Estate East" (PDF). www.gov.uk. Defence Estates. p. 8. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
  5. ↑ "RAF-lincolnshire.info :: Wainfleet". www.raf-lincolnshire.info. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
  6. ↑ "Wainfleet History - BCAR.org.uk". www.bcar.org.uk. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
  7. ↑ "RAF Wainfleet - The Tower (ref UKC1178) in Friskney, near Skegness, Lincolnshire | cottages.com". www.cottages.com. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
  8. ↑ "RAF - News and Weather". www.raf.mod.uk. Retrieved 13 January 2017.

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