RAF Kirmington

England — County: Lincolnshire

53.5778, -0.3442 — view on OpenStreetMap ↗
Photograph of RAF Kirmington
ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force official photographer, February 1944 (IWM CE 126) - LAC E Turner painting the 65th 'raid completed' symbol on Avro Lancaster B.III ED731 'AS-T2' "Dante's Daughter" of No. 166 Squadron RAF at Kirmington, after a raid on Berlin 15/16 Feb 1944 (via Wikimedia Commons, Public domain)

About

RAF Kirmington opened in Lincolnshire, north-east of Brigg, in 1942 as a Bomber Command station in No. 1 Group. Its best-known resident was No. 166 Squadron, which flew Avro Lancasters from the airfield on the main offensive against Germany from 1943 to the end of the war, and several other bomber squadrons passed through. The station closed after the war, but its concrete runways gave it a second life: in the 1970s it reopened as a civil airport and today operates as Humberside Airport, with the old station bell preserved in the terminal.

Sources: This page was compiled from publicly available historical sources, including Kirmington — Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust and RAF Kirmington — Wikipedia. The text is original and has been written from factual source material; no source text has been copied unless specifically quoted and attributed.

Photographs

IWM caption : LAC E Turner paints the 65th 'raid completed' symbol onto the nose of Avro Lancaster B Mark III, ED731 'AS-T2' "Dante's Daughter", of No. 166 Squadron RAF at Kirmington, Lincolnshire, following the aircraft's return from a raid on Berlin on the night of 15/16 February 1944. ED731 started its operational service with No. 103 Squadron RAF in March 1943, being transferred to 166 Squadron in September of that year. It completed more than 70 Sorties before being lost on the last major Bomber Command raid on Berlin on 24/25 March 1944. The artwork acknowledges a DFC awarded to the pilot and three ice creams among the bomb symbols, indicating raids on Italian targets.
ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lancaster_nose_art_Dante%27s_Daughter_1944_IWM_CE_126.jpgView source & full licence →

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People connected to this base

19 persons cross-referenced to this airfield — through a posting here, a squadron based here, or aircrew who flew from it.

NameRankConnectionDates
Allan, Robert Sergeant Aircrew (squadron based here) —
Allan, William James Sergeant Aircrew (squadron based here) —
Bannister, R H Flight Sergeant Aircrew (squadron based here) —
Bastick, Howard Anthony Sergeant Aircrew (squadron based here) —
Binder, Albert Sergeant Aircrew (squadron based here) —
Brown, Peter Henry Sergeant Aircrew (squadron based here) —
Burnett, Walter Henry Pilot Officer Aircrew (squadron based here) —
Edmunds, L E Warrant Officer Class 2 Aircrew (squadron based here) —
Fennell, Roy Barton Flight Sergeant Aircrew (squadron based here) —
Halliwell, Joe Hilton Sergeant Aircrew (squadron based here) —
Harvey, Douglas Venning Flight Sergeant Aircrew (squadron based here) —
Keigwin, Flight Sergeant Aircrew (squadron based here) —
Park, V W R Pilot Officer Aircrew (squadron based here) —
Procter, Gordon Arbuthnot Flight Lieutenant Aircrew (squadron based here) —
Saunders, Frank Sergeant Aircrew (squadron based here) —
Storer, Frank Sergeant Aircrew (squadron based here) —
Taylor, F Flight Lieutenant Aircrew (squadron based here) —
Toole, J Sergeant Aircrew (squadron based here) —
Williams, Ronald Sergeant Aircrew (squadron based here) —