RAF Hemswell
Is a former Royal Air Force station located 7.8 miles (12.6 km) east of Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, England.
Located close to the village of Hemswell in Lincolnshire, England the disestablished airfield is now in full use as a civilian industrial and retail trading estate, forming part of the newly created parish of Hemswell Cliff along with the station’s married quarters and RAF built primary school that are now in non-military ownership.
The airfield used by RAF Bomber Command for 20 years between 1937 and 1957 and saw most of its operational life during the Second World War. Later used again by RAF Bomber Command as a nuclear ballistic missile base during the Cold War it closed to military use in 1967.
On 19 March 1940 RAF Hemswell-based Handley Page Hampdens of No. 61 Squadron RAF were the first Bomber Command aircraft to drop bombs on German soil during the Second World War. The target was the Hörnum seaplane base on the northern Germany coast.
RAF Hemswell was immortalised on film when it was used as a substitute for RAF Scampton in all the ground based filming of the 1954 war film The Dambusters.
The Dam Busters (Film)
(1955) is a British Second World War war film starring Michael Redgrave and Richard Todd. It was directed by Michael Anderson. The film recreates the true story of Operation Chastise when in 1943 the RAF’s 617 Squadron attacked the Möhne, Eder and Sorpe dams in Germany with Barnes Wallis’s “bouncing bomb”.
The film was based on the books The Dam Busters (1951) by Paul Brickhill and Enemy Coast Ahead (1946) by Guy Gibson. The film’s reflective last minutes convey the poignant mix of emotions felt by the characters – triumph over striking a successful blow against the enemy’s industrial base is greatly tempered by the sobering knowledge that many died in the process of delivering it. A remake has reportedly been in development since 2008, but has yet to be produced as of 2015.
Hemswell was used as a substitute for RAF Scampton in the ground based filming of the 1954 film The Dam Busters as the wartime layout of both Scampton and Hemswell was similar in many places. The film “Night Bombers” remains the best known filmed record of what RAF Hemswell looked like during and just after the war, which is a colour film of Avro Lancasers at Hemswell in preparation for a raid over Germany which shows briefings, loading of bombs and the raid itself and was the only known colour film of Lancasters at War. Scenes for the Dambusters film were filmed in various offices of the station headquarters; the front entrance, the bedrooms, ante room and dining room of the officers’ mess; hangars and the NAAFI canteen with the latter used for the squadron briefing theatre scenes, as well as on the roadways within the base.
The similarities between Scampton and Hemswell continue to cause confusion. It has been said that, at the end of the film actor Richard Todd can be seen walking up the main driveway at Hemswell past Gibson House in the direction of the hangar line; this scene was in fact shot at Scampton.
At the time of filming R.A.F. Hemswell operated Avro Lincolns, very similar in design to The Lancaster and several of these aircraft appeared in background shots during filming, doubling for additional No 617 Squadron Lancasters, as the filmmakers only had three airworthy and fully flying Lancasters available to them.
WWII
In 1935 construction began on compulsory repurchased land. The new bomber airfield, now called RAF Hemswell, was opened on New Year’s Eve 31 December 1936 to accommodate the rapidly expanding Bomber Command. The station was home for Hawker Hind, Hawker Audax, Avro Anson, Bristol Blenheim and Boulton Paul Overstrand aircraft in its early days.
On 19 March 1940 RAF Hemswell-based Handley Page Hampdens of No. 61 Squadron RAF were the first Bomber Command aircraft to drop bombs on German soil during the Second World War. The target was the Hörnum seaplane base on the northern Germany coast.
The station and its squadrons (61 and 144) initially formed part of No. 5 Bomber Group RAF with its group headquarters at St Vincents House, St Vincents Road, Grantham,[4] transferring to No. 1 Bomber Group RAF at RAF Hucknall, Nottinghamshire in June 1941.
During the war years various squadrons were posted to Hemswell, including many Polish personnel flying Vickers Wellingtons. During the war a total of 122 bomber aircraft and their crews were lost on operations from Hemswell, including 38 Handley Page Hampdens, 62 Vickers Wellingtons and 22 Avro Lancasters.
Hemswell operated as a dual site with a nearby overflow airfield at RAF Ingham. RAF Ingham was a grassed field landing ground with few buildings or facilities. Between 1941 and 1943 the Polish bomber squadrons (No. 305 Polish Bomber Squadron, No. 301 Polish Bomber Squadron and No. 300 Polish Bomber Squadron) used the airfield for their Wellington operations. The squadrons used Ingham while training and also flew operations from there whilst the runways were being laid at Hemswell in anticipation of the arrival of the heavier Avro Lancaster. Ingham was later renamed RAF Cammeringham and became a full station in its own right, closing for aircraft use in 1945 when the grass runways became unstable and taking on a ground training role.[6] Cliffe House, that had been commandeered as the officers’ mess and a number of pre-fabricated buildings, quonset huts and the brick built control tower still stand at the abandoned airfield.
With the arrival of the Avro Lancaster, Hemswell took on a training role, becoming the home to No 1 Lancaster Finishing School. This school was tasked with giving Lancaster experience to aircrews who had just finished their training at a Heavy Conversion Unit prior to posting to an operational squadron. During 1944, as Lancasters were then being used at Heavy Conversion Units, the Lancaster Finishing Schools were disbanded and Hemswell again took on an operational role. No 150 and 170 squadrons took up residence and commenced flying bomber operations until the end of the war. The film “Night Bombers” which is available on DVD and video was shot at Hemswell during this period.
Guy Gibson
While RAF Scampton, where the real raid launched, was used for some scenes, the principal airfield used for ground location shooting was RAF Hemswell, a few miles north and still an operational RAF station at the time of filming. Guy Gibson had been based at Hemswell in his final posting and the airfield had been an operational Avro Lancaster base during the war. At the time filming took place it was then home to No. 109 Squadron and No. 139 Squadron RAF, who were both operating English Electric Canberras on electronic counter measures and nuclear air sampling missions over hydrogen bomb test sites in the Pacific and Australia. However, part of the RAF’s fleet of ageing Avro Lincolns had been mothballed at Hemswell prior to being broken up and several of these static aircraft appeared in background shots during filming, doubling for additional No 617 Squadron Lancasters. The station headquarters building still stands on what is now an industrial estate and is named Gibson House. The four wartime hangars also still stand, little changed in external appearance since the war.
Serving RAF pilots from both squadrons based at Hemswell took turns flying the Lancasters during filming and found the close formation and low level flying around Derwentwater and Windermere exhilarating and a welcome change from their normal high level solo Canberra sorties.
RAF Squadrons
The first airfield on the site was opened in December 1918 by the Royal Flying Corps and called RFCS Harpswell after the village of that name just across the A631. It was initially used by the RFC as a night landing ground and in 1918, No.199 and No.200 Training Squadrons were established at the airfield. Shortly after the end of WWI the site returned to farmland. A new RAF Station, now called Hemswell, was built in the 1930’s to a very high standard and was one of a number of permanent bases being built to accommodate the then rapidly expanding RAF. Bomber Command was formed in 1936 and on 31st December 1936, Hemswell was opened as one of the first airfields within No.5 Group of the newly formed Command.
No.144 Squadron arrived on 9th February and No.61 Squadron on 8th March 1937, equipped with Avro Anson and Hawker Audax aircraft. Bristol Blenheim’s replaced these by January 1938 and they were completely re-equipped with Handley Page Hampden’s by 20th March 1939. Both Squadrons took part in the very earliest operations of the war. No. 144 Squadron suffered an early loss on the 29th of September 1939, when a formation of five Hampden’s were all shot down over Heligoland. Five men were saved to spend the rest of the war in prison camps and fifteen were killed, including Ronald Herd whose sister, Mrs Kath Edgson of Horncastle, Lincolnshire, was invited to unveil the RAF Hemswell Memorial in 1995. Hemswell’s Hampden’s are credited with being the first Bomber Command aircraft to drop bombs on German soil.
From July 1941 to February 1944, Hemswell, now in No.1 Group, and its satellite airfield at RAF Ingham, were home at various times to No.300, No.301 and No.305 Polish Air Force Squadrons, equipped with Wellington’s . No.199 RAF Squadron equipped with Wellington’s also operated from Ingham from February to June 1943. They all played a very important part in the bomber offensive of that period and suffered heavy losses. The last of the Polish Squadrons moved from Hemswell to Ingham in late 1943 to enable concrete runways to be laid and so bring the airfield up to Class A Standard. Hemswell reopened in January 1944 and No.1 Lancaster Finishing School used the base until, with the arrival of No.150 & No.170 Lancaster Squadrons in November 1944, Hemswell resumed operations against the enemy. The last hostile operation from Hemswell was on 25th April 1945, the target being the SS Barracks at Berchtesgaden. From 29th April final war operations were of a more humane nature, when No.150 and No.170 Squadrons took part in Operation Manna, dropping food to the starving Dutch people prior to final surrender on VE Day, 8th of May 1945. From then until their disbandment in November 1945, No.150 and No.170 Squadrons used their Lancaster’s, firstly to transport ex-POWs back to the UK, and then to collect long-serving 8th Army men from Italy to well-earned leave in the UK.
The much longer Cold War brought Mosquitos of No.109 and No.139 Squadrons who stayed until November 1946. In 1950, No.109 and No.139 Squadron Mosquitos returned, converting onto Canberras in 1952 and finally leaving Hemswell in January 1956. Lincolns of No.83, No.100 and No.97 Squadrons arrived in October/November 1946. No.100 Squadron moved away in 1950 but both No.83 and No.97 Squadrons remained at Hemswell until December 1955. No.199 Squadron operated from April 1952 to September 1957 equipped at various times with Lincolns, Mosquitos, Canberras and Valiant’s. No.76 and No.542 Squadrons operated from April 1957 to July 1958 equipped with Canberras.
No.97 Squadron returned in 1959 for a further four years, but this time equipped with Douglas Thor Missiles when Hemswell became the lead Station of a group of five missile sites. They were all on full alert, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and at that time, RAF Hemswell had a large contingent of Americans who partnered their RAF counterparts and lived among the personnel on the station. After the Thor missiles were withdrawn in 1963, the Americans left and the missiles were returned to the USA where most of them were used in the US Space Program.
Following on from Thor, Hemswell was earmarked to return to a flying role when it was decided to move the final development stage of the ill-fated TSR.2 project to Hemswell. In the early autumn of 1964 the whole TSR.2 project team was posted from Weybridge to Hemswell where they occupied the old Thor site. The first pilot training course on TSR.2 avionics systems began in November 1964, with the second course under way when the project was suddenly cancelled in the March 1965 Budget. Hemswell’s future could have been very different with the return of real aeroplanes, but it was not to be and final RAF use was as No.1 Recruit Training School and the Station ceased all RAF activities in 1967.
RAF Station Hemswell, having started life as a peacetime Station in 1937, quickly settled back into its peacetime role as a permanent part of the local community after WWII. Further married quarters were built and RAF Hemswell School was established to cater for the children of RAF families. Because of its air of permanence and relative comfort, Hemswell became a very popular posting.
In May 1967, the RAF switched off the lights, closed the gates and the base entered a very unhappy period and its handsome buildings were to be sadly neglected for many years. In 1972 the station became the temporary Hemswell Resettlement Camp when it received Ugandan-Asian refugees expelled from Uganda by president Idi Amin. Some years later, a group of entrepreneurs decided to try to rescue the site and turn it into a trading estate. Although not preserved as a museum, the old road layout has been retained and most of the buildings have been restored for various new uses. To the delight of returning veterans in recent years, Hemswell is perhaps the only pre-war RAF Station converted to private use, which has retained its character and still has an unmistakable Royal Air Force feel to it.
In 1995, the RAF Hemswell Memorial was erected on the edge of the old parade ground to commemorate all who served there during its thirty-year life as a Royal Air Force Bomber Command base. The memorial is also an important piece of local history and records the successful transition of a former Bomber Command airfield with its married quarters, into its present more peaceful role as part of the new Parish of Hemswell Cliff. Most appropriately, the children who take such an important part in the annual commemorative service at the memorial on RAF Hemswell Day (third Wednesday in September) are from Hemswell Cliff School, which began life as Royal Air Force Hemswell School.
By mid 2008 the last RAF presence on the site departed and the station is now totally civilian. However, the RAF still own the community centre and have spent considerable money refurbishing it. The old H Block other rank accommodation buildings on the site have now become home to one of Europe’s largest antique centre’s and there are also various shops, a garden centre, hairdresser, used book shop and several cafes. On Sundays there is a very large Sunday market and car boot sale. Hemswell Cliff Primary School, formally the RAF primary school, still serves the children of the nearby communities. The former station officers mess is now known as Hemswell Court and provides an elegant venue for weddings, banqueting and conference facilities. The Hemswell hangars have been pressed into service as European Union Common Agricultural Policy Intervention Stores on several occasions as a Lincolnshire location for the occasional EU grain mountain excesses. Some very good internal and external views of the Officers Mess can be seen in the film ‘The Dam Busters’ which was mainly filmed at RAF Hemswell, although the actual raid by No.617 Squadron was from RAF Scampton.
No. 301 Polish Bomber Squadron
After several weeks the weather improved and 301 Squadron joined in a bombing campaign over France and Germany. Among common targets were Bremen, Hamburg, Brest and Essen. 301 Squadron flew on many more missions in following two years. On 18 July 1941 the squadron moved to RAF Hemswell base, along with 300 Squadron. On the night of 31 May 1942, the squadron took part in a large bombing raid on Cologne, and on 6 June it visited Essen, where it lost two crews. On 27 June it bombed Bremen in the last thousand-aircraft raid, losing an additional air crew. On 3 July yet another crew was lost. Over the night of 22 July, another three were lost to enemy AA fire and fighter planes.
Due to big losses suffered in 1942, from a second half of the year, 301 Squadron undertook mainly less dangerous mining sorties against German waters. At that time, the Polish HQ was lacking manpower and with too few experienced airmen, HQ decided to disband 301 squadron on 31 March 1943.[2] Most of the air crews and bomber aircraft were transferred to No. 300 Polish Bomber Squadron.