RAF Collyweston

RAF Collyweston No. 5 Training Depot
Collyweston, Northamptonshire in England
Captured German Focke-Wulf Fw 190A-3 and Junkers Ju 88S-1 aircraft of 1426 Flight undergoing maintenance by RAF ground crew at Collyweston, February 1945
RAF Collyweston Shown within Northamptonshire Show map of Northamptonshire RAF Collyweston RAF Collyweston (the United Kingdom) Show map of the United Kingdom
Coordinates	52°36′11″N 0°30′07″W
Type	Royal Air Force satellite station
Code	WI[1]
Site information
Owner	Air Ministry
Operator	Royal Air Force
Controlled by	RAF Fighter Command 1940–1945 *No. 12 Group RAF RAF Flying Training Command 1945 *No. 21 Group RAF[1]
Site history
Built	1917 (1917) 1939/40
In use	1917 May 1940–1945 (1945)
Fate	returned to agriculture
Battles/wars	First World War European theatre of World War II
Airfield information
Elevation	86 metres (282 feet)[1] AMSL
Runways Direction Length and surface 00/00  grass 00/00  grass 00/00  grass 00/00  grass

Royal Air Force Collyweston or more simply RAF Collyweston is a former Royal Air Force satellite station located 3.2 miles (5.1 kilometres) south-west of Stamford, Lincolnshire and 11 miles (18 kilometres) north east of Corby, Northamptonshire, England.

The airfield was a satellite station of RAF Wittering, and used by the No. 1426 Flight (Enemy Aircraft) Flight RAF during the Second World War.

History

Founded in 1917 as No. 5 Training Depot Station, the station was renamed RAF Collyweston following formation of the Royal Air Force, via merger of the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) on 1 April 1918. The airfield was absorbed as a satellite station of RAF Wittering in 1939. A unit at Collyweston during the war was No. 1426 (Captured Enemy Aircraft) Flight, they flew and assessed enemy aircraft that crashed or forced landed.

In 1941, the runways of Wittering and Collyweston were joined to make one 2 miles (3.2 kilometres) long grass runway.[2]

Units

The following units were based at Collyweston at some point:

• No. 23 Squadron RAF (1940)[3]
• No. 133 Squadron RAF (1941)[4]
• No. 152 Squadron RAF (1941–42 & 1942)[5]
• No. 266 Squadron RAF (1940 & 1941)[6]
• Detachment from No. 288 Squadron RAF (1943 & 1944 & 1945)[7]
• No. 349 Squadron RAF (1943)[8]
• No. 658 Squadron RAF (1944)[9]

Current status

Most of the former RAF Collyweston site has been returned to agricultural uses. No infrastructure remains of the former airfield, the exception being its remote weapon storage area (WSA, or bomb dump), which is now used by a private company for secure logistics storage.

References

Citations

1. Falconer 2012, p. 68.
2. "RAF Wittering station history". Royal Air Force. Retrieved 3 March 2013.
3. Jefford 1988, p. 32.
4. Jefford 1988, p. 59.
5. Jefford 1988, p. 62.
6. Jefford 1988, p. 81.
7. Jefford 1988, p. 83.
8. Jefford 1988, p. 88.
9. Jefford 1988, p. 103.

Bibliography

• Falconer, J. (2012). RAF Airfields of World War 2. England, UK: Ian Allan Publishing. ISBN 978-1-85780-349-5.
• Jefford, C.G. (1988). RAF Squadrons. A comprehensive record of the movement and equipment of all RAF squadrons and their antecedents since 1912. Shrewsbury, England: Airlife Publishing. ISBN 1-85310-053-6.

External links

Media related to RAF Collyweston at Wikimedia Commons