RAF Swinderby 1940-1993

RAF Swinderby Crest

Eight miles from Lincoln and seven from Newark, on the east side of the A46 (the Roman Fosse Way) RAF Swinderby was one of the second phase of airfields planned for the county during the second phase of airfields planned for the county during the expansion programmes of the 1930’s and construction had still not begun when war broke out. It eventually got underway in the first few weeks of 1940 and by the early summer the main contractors, John Laing, were ready to hand over part of the airfield to the Royal Air Force. RAF Swinderby received three of the economical curved-roof Type J hangars instead of the Type C hangars more commonly found on airfields built during this period. However, the barracks, administrative and much of the technical site buildings were built to the pre-war specification and grouped together on the A46 side of the station. A public road ran through camp on the east side.

Many of the Polish Air Force had escaped from both German and Russian invaders and had arrived in Britain, via France, ready to continue the fight against Nazism. The first Polish Squadron to be formed at RAF Bramcote’s Polish Training Unit was 300 (Masovian) Bomber Squadron on 1st July 1940 and shortly after its sister squadron 301 (Pomeranian).

No. 300 and No. 301 Polish Air Force Squadron’s Crests

On 20th August just as General Sikorski had conferred a Polish decoration on Group Captain Davidson, HM The King unexpectedly visited the squadrons. The Poles had never seen him before, so there was not only much satisfaction but also great interest. He chatted with crews, signed the squadron’s logbook and wished everybody well. The general opinion among the Poles was that soon they would find themselves in front line service.

King George reviewing the airmen. King George with General Sikorski.

King George, General Sikorski and Other Dignatories. Flypast in 1941 for King Georges visit.

A few days later, on the 23rd August 1940, No. 300 (Masovian) Squadron arrived at RAF Swinderby shortly after joined by No.301 (Pomeranian) Squadron. RAF Swinderby had been built as a bomber airfield and was allocated to No.1 Group, Bomber Command.

It was not immediately to their liking, 300 Squadron was led by Wing Commander Waclaw Makowski. His complaint was the station was not finished. There were, he said, no chairs, no beds, no bar and no Vodka. A few days later the Station Commander at Swinderby, Wing Commander Lewis had done his best to make life easier for the Poles. After several days of hard work, the place begun to look like the bomber squadron base and there was now a makeshift bar (with vodka) and 300 Sqn WC Makowski and 301 Sqn WC Rudkowski declared their units were ready to go to war.

Each squadron were equipped with 16 Fairey Battles together with an Avro Anson, used for training and communication. They had 30 aircrew and 180 ground crew, and were immediately made welcome by the people living in the Swinderby area.

Fairey Battle. Avro Anson.

They went into action on their first operation on the night of September 14th 1940 when three aircraft from each squadron bombed invasion barges in Boulogne harbour that had been amassed in readiness for the German ‘Operation Sealion’ - their planned invasion of Great Britain. This was the first Polish bomber raid from Britain. Since then, weather permitting, the squadrons flew missions over the continent every other night. The invasion ports of Boulogne, Calais, Dunkirk and Ostend were to be their targets. On the night of 13th-14th October, the squadron suffered its first loss when the airfield was subjected to attacks by German bombers. The German plane cruised near the airfield and kept it blacked out so that homing bombers had to wait in the air until the petrol was nearly all gone. They finally had to make forced landings in darkness and mist. The aircraft crashed during landing, burst into flames and the whole crew perished. Two more aircraft crashed at Blidworth on their way back to Swinderby from an attack on Boulogne.

The Fairey Battle was quite unsuited for night operations and was always intended as a stop-gap until the arrival of something more suited to the task. The first twin-engined Wellingtons began arriving in October 1940 and within two months both squadrons had converted to what was the best bomber in the RAF’s armoury at the time. On the 22nd December 300 and 301 Sqn’s used their wellingtons for the first time on an operation when they attacked an oil refinery near Antwerp. All the aircraft returned safely and then, for several days, the crew were busy acknowledging congratulations, reading Press reports about themselves and so on. A few days later when 3 more aircraft were bombing the same target, one of the Wellingtons crashed burying its crew.

Members of No. 300 Sqn with a Wellington. Vickers Wellington.

Swinderby had been built without hardened runways, so twenty-four pan hard standings and a concrete perimeter track were constructed during the winter of 1940, three spurs with three pans each being positioned on the far side of the A46. Consequently, traffic had to be halted when aircraft crossed the road to and from these dispersal points.

On 1st January 1940, Wellingtons from both Polish squadrons at Swinderby were among 140 aircraft which attacked Bremen and targets in Holland, Belguim and northern France. It was to be the unit’s first nearly seven hour sortie. The crews reached the target and dropped their loads. The Poles returned to Lincolnshire to encounter a snow blizzard and nil visibility. Most of the aircraft landed safely but one crashed attempting to land at Winthorpe, but without casualties, and two more crashed at Waddington, killing 11 men with only one tail-gunner surviving.

Pilot Officers at the Alter in a Hangar at RAF Swinderby.

During 1940, the squadron’s flew 97 missions for a total of 368 hours.

Wellington IC GR-H receiving its bomb load 1941.

No. 300 Sqn’s Sgt Nowakowski's crew just before a mission. RAF Swinderby 1941.

On 27th January 1941 the monotony was broken by a long awaited visit of H.M. the King and Queen Elizabeth. The royal pair spoke with several Polish Officers who wore their best blue, and one of who handed the Queen an arresting bouquet.

King George and Queen Elizabeth’s visit 1941.

Once the weather improved, missions resumed. The 300 and 301 squadron’s took part in raids on Hamburg, Bremen, Cologne, Brest, Mannheim, Dusseldorf and Frankfurt. A number of the crews were lost.

No. 300 Squadron prepare a Wellington.

RAF Swinderby, May 1941. No. 301 Squadron. The crew of GR-O: S/Ldr Brejnak (left), F/O Lapa, Sgt Hasinski, Sgt Zaremba, P/O Bylenski and P/O J.

Wojcik.

On 11th June the squadron was visited by AOC-in-C Bomber Command, Air Marshal Sir Richard E.C. Peirse and by HRH the Duke of Kent the day after.

But the greatest day for the units came on 16th of July 1941. The senior Polish Air Formation was entrusted with the Polish Air Force standard. It was an inspirational event with service celebrated by Mgr. Gawlina, Military Bishop for the Polish Forces, and with the participation of the President, the Commander-in-Chief and many other distinguished British and Polish visitors. It remained with No. 300 squadron for three months and was kept in rotation for a like period by each of the Polish bomber and fighter squadrons.

C-in-C Polish Armed Forces General Sikorski, in the presence of the President of the Republic of Poland Wladyslaw Raczkiewicz and other dignitaries, preparing to pass the Polish Air Force standard to C-in-C

Polish Air Force AVM Stanislaw Ujejski at RAF Swinderby on 16 July 1941 prior to handing it over to 300 Squadron.

Two days later on 19th July 1941 the two Polish Squadrons left for Hemswell at which time RAF Swinderby station had been passed to No. 5 Group in a general re-allocation of airfields in Bomber Command. No. 50 Squadron was moved in from RAF Lindholme on the 19th July 1941, resuming operations with its Hampdens on July 20th.

No. 50 Sqn Crest. Members of No. 50 Sqn.

When 50 Sqn arrived it joined another squadron, 455 (Australian), which had begun forming in Australia on the 23rd May 1941 and had been at RAF Swinderby since 6th June 1941. 455 had no aircraft of its own so began inheriting Hampdens from 50 Sqn until they were deemed operational. Its first raid (a single sortie) did not take place until August 29/30 1941 when the squadron’s commanding officer, Wing Commander Gyll-Murray took part in an attack on Frankfurt.

No. 455 RAAF Sqn. Crest. Wing Commander Gyll-Murray.

Both squadrons were to mount attacks on a number of German cities in the autumn of 1941 as well as operations to drop mines off the Norwegian, German, Dutch and French coasts. There was one reported incident when a Hampden was reported to have made a perfect landing on the main Newark-Lincoln road. It was only when the pilot realised his mistake that he is reported to have run the bomber into a ditch.

Hampden.

RAF Swinderby had been waterlogged the previous winter and was badly rutted from taxing Wellingtons. As a result, the airfield had a priority for the installation of hard runways and in November 1941 the two resident squadrons took their Hampdens to RAF Skellingthorpe so that construction could commence. The runways were completed by April 1942 but then lengthened to comply with revised specifications, the main runway being extended to 2000 yards across the Swinderby-Norton Disney road which was closed. There were also small extensions to 02-20 and 11-29 at the 20 and 29 ends, the former causing the closure of Norton Lane. At the time the runways were laid down, the number of pan hardstand was increased to 36 and three Type T2 hangars were erected on the north side of the technical site during 1941- 42. Bomb stores were situated beyond the south side of the airfield between the heads of runways 02 and 29. Three additional domestic sites were dispersed in countryside towards Thurlby raising the total accommodation to 2127 males and 349 females.

The airfield was ready for use by June 1942, so No. 50 Squadron returned to convert to Manchester’s while runways were being put down at RAF Skellingthorpe. This lasted until October when the squadron returned to its former base.

Avro Manchester.

A No. 50 Squadron Lancaster failing to return on the night of September 23rd, 1942 is believed to be the last Bomber Command aircraft lost in operations from RAF Swinderby, bringing the total wartime losses to 84. These were 2 Battles, 54 Hampdens, 12 Wellingtons, 2 Manchester’s and 7 Lancaster’s.

RAF Swinderby was then selected as the airfield where heavy conversion training would be concentrated for No. 5 Group with the formation of No. 1654 Heavy Conversion Unit using Manchester’s and Lancaster’s on the 19th May 1942. In May 1942 the first of the 1000 bomber raids, target Cologne, and No. 5 Group contributed 162 aircraft and 286 tons of bombs. Flying Officer L T Manser, a pilot stationed at RAF Swinderby, was awarded a posthumous VC for his role in the raid.

Halifax. Lancasters in colour at RAF Swinderby 1942.

In August 61 and 207 Squadron Conversion Flights arrived at Swinderby soon to be joined by similar flights from 97 and 106 Squadrons. Together they combined to form 1660 Heavy Conversion Unit. However, a shortage of Lancaster’s in the autumn of 1943 caused most to be withdrawn from the HCU and Stirling’s were employed instead until the position improved. Some form of training activity was henceforth to be Swinderby's lot. No. 1660 HCU came under the control of No. 7 Training Group in November 1944.

Short Stirling.

Training reached its peak during 1944 when Swinderby became grossly overcrowded. At times there were around 3,000 aircrew on conversion courses. Double bunks were fitted to many of the Nissen huts and the pressure inevitably led to more accidents and more crashes. No 7 Training moved to RAF Lindholme in 1946.

RAF Swinderby 1950’s.

It was replaced at RAF Swinderby by No. 17 OTU, initially with Wellingtons - later redesignated No. 201 Advanced Flying School and was assigned with Vickers Varsity which trained several thousand aircrew members their flying skills in the Varsities ‘Flying Classroom’ being joined by No. 204 AFS using Mosquitos.

Mosquito. WF369 Vickers Varsity at No. 201 AFS.

On 22nd August 1955, 8 FTS arrived operating DH Vampires with Swinderby remaining a flying training establishment until March 1964. During the fifties there was ongoing construction work at the station with the addition of a new apron while improvements were made to the taxiways and several buildings including the control tower.

DH Vampire T11.(Courtesy Robin A. Walker) Members of No.8 FTS at RAF Swinderby 1960.

In 1964 RAF Swinderby ceased to be an active airfield and embraced a new role, that of recruit training and the formation of No 7, School of Recruit Training.

Recruits Handbook. RAF Bus 1974. Passing out Parade Vinyl Sleeve.

1964, The band didn’t turn up. WRAF’s 1983. Passing out Parade 1986.

The RAF Flying Selection Squadron was added to the ground school in 1979 for the express purpose of prospective pilot assessment operating DHC Chipmunks and in 1988 the squadron was renamed the Elementary Flying Training Squadron.

DH Chipmunks at RAF Swinderby.

For over 30 years the station was the RAF's major establishment for recruit assessment and basic training, the airfield remaining open for flying visitors but this activity ceased in 1993. The 629 acres were put up for sale in 1995 with permission to develop the site for new homes and a business park with the creation of the new village Witham St Hughs.