Wickenby
WICKENBY: Military later civil aerodrome
Note: All these pictures were obtained from Google Earth ©
Note: Other pictures by the author unless specified.
Military user: WW2: RAF Bomber Command 1 Group
12 Sqdn (Vickers Wellingtons & Avro Lancasters)
626 Sqdn (Lancasters)
Post WW2: 12 Sqdn (Avro Lincolns then English Electric Canberras)
109 Sqdn (DH Mosquitos)
Operated by: 1980s/1990s: Wickenby Flying Club
2000: Lincoln Aviation
Civil activities: Post 1956: GA private and training
Flying club/school: Post 1956: Fly 365 (microlights), Lincoln Aviation, Wickenby Flying Club, Wickenby Aviation
Helicopter ops: Foremans Aviation
Location: NW of B1399, SSE of Wickenby, W of Holton cum Beckering, 8nm NE of Lincoln
Period of operation: Military 1942 to 1956. Civil from ? to present day (listed as disused in 1985)
Note: These maps are reproduced with the kind permission of Pooleys Flight Equipment Ltd. Copyright. Robert Pooley 2014.
Runways: WW2: 09/27 1829x46 hard 03/21 1280x46 hard
16/34 1280x46 hard
1990/2000: 03/21 650x18 hard 16/34 664x18 hard
Note: An AAIB report EW/G2012/05/15 states that a “triangular shaped area of grass formed in the northern angle between the runways, provided a landing distance of 200m.” As the aircraft involved was a Tiger Moth, and it was operating from this area, a distance of 200 metres seems far too small?
NOTES: A small but interesting museum and a friendly café is situated in the control tower.
The history of 109 Sqdn who were based here briefly after WW2 demonstrates very well the mania the RAF had for constantly moving squadrons about both during WW2 and afterwards. During WW2 after being formed at WYTON they moved to MARHAM then LITTLE STAUGHTON. Between the war ending and 1950 and being disbanded they then moved five times. First to WOODHALL SPA, then to WICKENBY, HEMSWELL, CONINGSBY and finally back to HEMSWELL. Why?
SOMETHING OF INTEREST?
As said elsewhere, no ‘Guide’ to British flying sites would be complete without a few ghost stories, and this one from Military Ghosts by Alan C. Wood takes some beating: “Michael Bentine, the BBC Goon Show comic, was a RAF Intelligence Officer during the Second World War, and has written on his service in briefing and debriefing aircrew, before and after raids on Germany. At one briefing, before the aircraft took-off, he looked into the face of the airman before him, and instead of a face he saw a skull. Bentine knew that this airman would not return from his raid over Germany. Sadly the airman did not return.”
“Bentine was Intelligence Officer at RAF Wickenby, a No. 1 Group, Bomber Command airfield, 9 miles north of Lincoln, during the harsh winter of 1943 – 1944. He had as an oppo (RAF term for a close friend), a fellow Flight Lieutenant, who had finished a full thirty-mission tour of bombing missions. Bentine went to go on a ‘48’ (forty-eight hour Saturday and Sunday weekend pass (Called in RAF slang as a ‘48’ or ‘295’)), and before he went, he said goodbye to his oppo.”
“Bentine returned late on Sunday night – his ‘48’ expired at 11.59 p.m. Sunday – and found RAF Wickenby covered in snow, which showed up all the Nissen corrugated huts which served as sleeping quarters for all ranks due to wartime shortages.” (My note: Not all RAF Bomber Stations had aircrew living in Nissen huts). “As Bentine walked to his billet, he saw his oppo walking in the snow, some 40 feet across his path, heading for his own Nissen hut. Bentine called out a greeting, which his oppo returned before disappearing. The next day, Bentine was told that his oppo had been killed in an air crash, twenty-four hours before Bentine had seen and spoken to him, late on Sunday night.”
Many similar stories exist, also with a good pedigree; so, it is hard to discount them?
A VERY RARE TYPE IN THE UK
I took this picture when delivering the CAP 232 in January 2008 (see mention below) but couldn't quite put my finger on the type; so I initially placed it in my article 'What is this?' In March 2017 I was kindly contacted by Chris Wilkins who informed me it was an Il-2 Stormovik, (almost certainly G-BZVW) and under restoration for the RAF Museum. Chris also informed me that the remains of a second Stormovik are stored at WICKENBY.
A PERSONAL QUEST
In August 2002 I decided that my wife and I should make a flight into the area bounded by Derbyshire, South Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. Along the way flying over RAF Lindholme where my mother served as a WAAF to a Polish bomber squadron flying Lancasters. I had booked a Cessna 172, but that had been damaged whilst taxying at TOP FARM. I then got checked out on an Aero Commander 112B, but decided this was far too complex a type to handle for a couple of strips I wanted to visit. The alternative was a Cessna 150, G-DENB, then based at BOURN. Some people believe that you really cannot go touring, two-up, in a Cessna 150, but, you most certainly can.
ANOTHER PERSONAL MEMORY
In January 2008 I was given the job of collecting the Mudry CAP 232 (F-GJGM) from Cuneo-Levaldigi airport in northern Italy, roughly forty miles south of Turin. The loading went very well and, before driving off I was invited by an engineer who had helped me load the CAP to take the right-hand seat in a Piper PA28-200R Arrow (I-GITA) for an air test, after a minor repair if the owner, who was to fly the sortie agreed. Which he did.
As we had a while to wait before the owner arrived, I decided to give the aeroplane a full pre-flight inspection. I was somewhat surprised when the owner arrived, chatting away on his mobile, that his preflight inspection consisted of lifting the cap off one fuel tank - and that was it. Nevertheless he seemed very pleased to take an English pilot for a short tour of the surrounding area, which included his house in a nearby town.
With the engineer sat in the back seat to oversee the flight test, off we went, and I had a fine view of the pilots house as, flying across the rooftops, we were below the top of the church spire! He then showed me his daughters house; too fast to grab a coffee, but certainly low enough. This guy certainly knew how to fly, I had no fears about that, but it was a wonderful introduction about how others relate to what is permissable, and it appeared, acceptable.
N J Perry
This comment was written on: 2020-06-10 19:35:38Visited here in 1965. Links air Touring Group were flying a Proctor 4 G-ANXR (still flying) and Auster J/4 G-AIJS. Later Pat Miller based his crop spraying fleet here Miller Spraying using Pawnees and later as agent for Grumman Ag-Cats.
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