Royal Air Force Wombleton or RAF Wombleton is a former Royal Air Force sub-station located east of Helmsley, North Yorkshire and north-east of Easingwold, North Yorkshire, England.
Station history Wombleton opened in 1943 as a sub-station of RAF Topcliffe. It was part of RAF Bomber Command's No. 6 Group RCAF, and along with the main station at Topcliffe and the station at Dishforth, was designated part of No. 61 (Training) Base. In November 1944, No. 61 Base was transferred to No 7 (Training) Group and it was renumbered No. 76 Training Base. No. 1666 Heavy Conversion Unit (HCU) was the first unit to move to Wombleton. Aircrew who were originally trained on twin-engined aircraft such as Vickers Wellingtons or Armstrong Whitworth Whitleys received conversion training on heavy four-engined bombers such as the Handley Page Halifax or Avro Lancaster. No. 1666 HCU remained at Wombleton until the end of the war. The RAF took over the station and stayed for several years with the RAF Regiment using the site as a battle school.
Units and aircraft Unit From To Aircraft Version Notes No. 1666 'Mohawk' HCU 21 October 1943 3 August 1945 Handley Page Halifax Avro Lancaster Mks.II, III, V Mks.I, II, III, X No. 1679 HCF 13 December 1943 27 January 1944 Avro Lancaster Mk.II Disbanded into 1666 HCU No. 261 Maintenance Unit RAF 15 November 1945 10 September 1946
Current use Wombleton aerodrome is now used for aircraft maintenance.
See also List of former Royal Air Force stations
References
Citations
Bibliography
Delve, Ken. The Source Book of the RAF. Shrewsbury, Shropshire, UK: Airlife Publishing, 1994. .
External links Airfields in Yorkshire – Wombleton Control towers – RAF Wombleton airfield Wombleton RCAF Memorial Former RAF Wombleton on Wikimapia Wombleton on Air of Authority – A History of RAF Organisation Image of RAF Wombleton in 1946