L.M.P.S. :: RAF Strubby History

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The ex-Guard Room now used as HQ by the LMPS.
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In early 1943 contractors moved unto an area just east of Strubby Village, Lincolnshire to build an airfield which was to be known as R.A.F. Strubby. It was ready by April 1944. Although it was ready it didn't become operational until August of that year when it became the base for 16 Group Coastal Command. A note of interest was that the airfield was site by the German Luftwaffe before it became an operational airfield.

We are led to believe that the first plane to actually land on the airstrip was a Gypsy Moth, but the first R.A.F. planes there were Wellington Bombers, which were converted into Air/Sea Rescue planes called Warwicks. These carried lifeboats in the bomb compartment which were equipped with food, water and other essentials for survival. They were used for Air/Sea Rescue in order to give ditched pilots a better chance for survival rather than the small dinghies which the fighters and bombers carried.

The R.A.F. Base a Strubby was the closest airfield to occupied Europe. It was formed of five squadrons consisting of:

404 Squadron with Beaufighters - July to September 1944
280 Squadron with Warwicks - April to September 1944
144 Squadron with Beaufighters - July to September 1944
619 Squadron with Lancasters - September 1944 to June 1945
227 Squadron with Lancasters - April to June 1945

In April 1944, 280 Squadron was an Air/Rescue unit perfroming important work rescuing downed pilots. 144 and 404 Squadrons with their Beaufighters helped restrict enemy shiping bringing reinforcements and supplies to Franc and Belgium. These three squadrons were known as the Strubby Strike Wing and saw action both before and after D-Day. Beaufighters struck German shipping in the North Sea and on the Norwegian coast. One of the first strikes was on the Normandy coast where the helped sink a 3000 ton Merchant Ship and damaged another. Strubby and North Coates undertook a combined operation against a convoy off the Heligoland coast, sinking three Merchant Ships, one being the Taunhauser another Siff and the Miranda, along with a Minesweeper and an Air/Sea Rescue Lance. This was considered a well co-ordinate operation. Following this, Strubby Beaufighters helped sink a further 4000 ton Cargo Ship and left an oil-tanker ablaze.

R.A.F. Strubby had a line up of twenty-one Lancaster Bombers with 227 Squadron and the same amount with 619 Squadron. In Lincolnshire there was a grand total of 721 Lancasters. In August 1944 Coastal Command was moved from Strubby and in the September of that year, the Beaufighters left soon to be followed by the Warwicks. Many heavy bombers used Strubby for a variety of reasons, one being that its nearness to the coast, should they crash in the sea due to shortage of fuel or flack damage, they would soon receive help. Some didn't make it back to their own fields, and one Halifax Bomber from Leconfield which had been on a raid of Dutch airfields crash landed on Strubby Airfield. 619 Squadron moved from Denholme Lodge to Strubby in September 1944 with Lancasters and their first operation was to drop bombs on Oslo Fjord, 5 bombers went on that raid but only 4 came back. Squadron 619's last mission on 24^th April 1945 from Strubby was also to drop bombs onto an oslo Fjord, this time they all returned home safely. Following the part of 619 Squadron was made into 227 Squadron and formed 'A' Wing at Strubby on 7th October, 1944. And at the end of October moved to Newark, but returned to Strubby again on 5th April, 1945 where they rejoined 619 Squadron flying P.O.Ws from Northern Europe. They remained at Strubby until the end of the war.

R.A.F. Strubby was also an Anti-Aircraft Training School which had moved from East Kirkby and trained partly on Anderby Creek Firing Range. R.A.F. Strubby closed in September 1945 but re-opened in July 1949 as a Satellite station to RAF Manby and finally closed in September 1972.

Between 149 and 1955, Meteors, Vampires and Athenas were with 2 Squadron and later Hastings Transporters and Hunter Fighters arrived. During the 1960s and early 1970s Vulcan Bombers used Strubby Airfield when on training bombing exercises at Threddlethorpe Bombing Range which was situated on the beach there. According to historian and author Bruce Barrymore Halfpenny, writer of true stories, R.A.F. Strubby is haunted by a headless airman in WWII Flying Kit. The ghost haunts the old hanger at the Maltby-le-Marsh end of the airfield and he hard standing beside it. Legend has it he is the pile of a Lancaster that crashed and burnt out near the hanger. All of the crew died in the crash. At the time of the crash one of the MPs (Military Policeman) refused to go anywhere near the hanger.

Today at Strubby, standing alone and vandalised is the original Watch Tower used in Wartime. Now known as a Control Tower, which is American terminology for watch tower, which is what the Air Ministry called them, it also known as 'Keeper of Memories'.

Also still on the Airfield is the original Nissan Hut which was the Gate House, the Fire Picket which stands opposite and used by the Lincolnshire Military Preservation Society as a field HQ, with a memorial at is side to the memory of those who lost their lives during the Second World War also still remains of the Transport Department, the NAAFI and several billets used by RAF Personnel. Nearby are the remains of the Women's Quarters and the RAF Hospital both of which are now derelict. Several of the Runways are still there and are used by the Strubby Glider Club regularly.

Did you serve at RAF Strubby Airfield? The LMPS would love to hear your story and memories of the airifled. Please contact the group if you would like to tell us your story.