Fulbeck
FULBECK: Military aerodrome
Note: These three pictures were obtained from Google Earth ©
Military users: WW2: RAF Bomber Command 5 Group
49 (Rhodesia) & 189 Sqdns (Avro Lancasters)
USAAF 434th TCG
Location: SW of Stragglethorpe village, 6nm ESE of Newark on Trent
Period of operation: 1940 to 1970
Runways: WW2: 05/23 1829x46 hard 11/29 1280x46 hard
18/36 1280x46 hard
NOTES: At the start of 1943 Bomber Command had 105 ‘operational’ airfields, in other words airfields with squadrons dedicated solely to attacking the enemy, and this would rise to 128 by the end of the year. Even so other various activities did take place at these airfields. Training and associated exercises for operational squadrons plus visits by diverted aircraft, detachments, the Station Flight aircraft, and perhaps a training squadron flying Oxfords or Ansons for example. It all makes for a hugely complex picture.
For example at one period 169 Squadron based at GREAT MASSINGHAM in NORFOLK were detached here with their Mosquitos for ‘Affiliation’ duties, enacting mock attacks - presumably at night?
A BIGGER PICTURE
By 1945 the bombardment of Germany was reaching epic proportions but still the Nazi regime refused to surrender. In his excellent book Bomber Crew John Sweetman gives a good idea of the scale of operations. “During January 1945, inclement weather officially restricted bomber activity over Germany. Nevertheless, operational figures remain impressive. Excluding 100 Group, primarily engaged in countermeasures and mine laying, 10,370 sorties were flown to targets in Germany. These included raids by Mosquitoes against selected targets, but also main force ones on Duisburg, Hanover, Munich and Stuttgart. On four nights one thousand or more bombers were despatched…….”
Even so the RAF were not having an easy time, as Sweetman points out, “In that month 153 aircraft were lost, some of them two-man Mosquitoes.” As the majority of these losses were heavy bombers with crews of seven or eight this meant the loss of roughly 1,100 airmen to the RAF. Obviously many managed to bale out, but they would mostly be taken prisoner. And this was a “quiet” month! What I still find both morbidly fascinating, but also somewhat inspiring, is that losses like these for one month, and often much higher, had then been going on relentlessly since 1942. And yet, even so, RAF bomber crews would still clamber on board their aircraft.
I wonder if any other single offensive in history, in this case strictly the bombing of Germany, has ever lasted so long with such a sustained rate of attrition?
A FEW FACTS
In late 1944 the RAF had 2835 personnel on station. This was obviously a fairly major base with hardstandings for 50 heavy bombers. I wonder how many people in the UK, if asked today what FULBECK means to them, would even know of the name? It certainly wouldn’t have meant anything to me, (and I have travelled extensively around the UK), until I started compiling this 'Guide'.
SOME MEMORIES
In September 2021 I was kindly contacted by Mr Chris Harrison who had these memories to tell us.
"As a teenager I did holiday work on a local farm that grew crops around Fulbeck airfield. In the summers of 1976 and '77 a team of excavators was brought on to break up the dispersal pans on the airfield, and I was engaged to help "pick" the stones and tarmac once they'd been broken up, so that the farmer could sow and harvest crops more easily, without having to navigate around the protuberances."
"The main runway was preserved as an emergency strip should aircraft from Cranwell, Waddington, Scampton, Barkston Heath, and the rest, get into trouble while doing circuits etc. In 1962 an experimental Victor tried to use it, in an emergency, but fell short and crashed in the middle of the village of Stubton."
"In the 1960s and 70s, Fulbeck airfield was an illicit playground for local children. Apart from the control tower, there was little left above ground. But the bomb dumps were still intact, although supposedly cleared out. Even so, a couple of my mates found some small canisters that they kicked around for a while before someone pointed out they might actually be live ordnance. They were WW2-era incendiaries! Plod and EOD spent a couple of weeks ensuring that everything was cleared up, as it should have been two decades earlier!"
"In the winter, we'd take a water bowser out and spray the runway so that it would freeze over during the night. The next day we'd take the farm van out and do pirouettes. It was a brilliant lesson in driving on ice."
And of course, a fine example of early recycling - of a type. Indeed, when first learning to drive, I was taken out to a disused airfield in the New Forest in the summer, where I could practice all sorts of vehicle handling exercises. Very good training indeed, and a great confidence booster. Over the last seventy years, parts of ex-WW2 airfields, runways especially of course, have been widely put to use in all sorts of ways - usually involving vehicles - ranging from Go Kart racing to HGV training. (Don't get me started on the ignorant pillock who changed HGV to LGV).
John Hinchliffe
This comment was written on: 2020-09-27 08:11:07Fulbeck is my home village and I have happy memories of driving down the runways before they were mostly taken up.Heard of flying incidents/accidents that occured there with OTU Oxfords and also the arrival of the USAAF Troop Carriers.Interaction between the Americans and the locals produced some humourous events! Joe Louis was seen in the village at one time and the local garage owner [Reg Livesley] also ran a taxi service carrying US personnel to/from Lincoln/Nottingham festooned with them in the blackout!.My late Uncle,George Porter was a Special Constable and had a variety of 'run-ins'! A fascinating time as I was born in 1945 but listened intently.
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