RAF Church Fenton

RAF Church Fenton lay in North Yorkshire, some four miles south-east of Tadcaster, and opened in 1937 as one of the Royal Air Force’s expansion-period fighter aerodromes. Through the Second World War it served under Fighter Command, passing between Nos. 11, 12 and 13 Groups, and acted as a base for the air defence of the industrial cities of Leeds, Bradford, Sheffield and the Humber. Its grass surface was later given hard runways as the demands of operational flying grew.

A long succession of fighter squadrons rotated through the station, flying aircraft such as the Gloster Gladiator, Hawker Hurricane and, later, the twin-engined night fighters that Church Fenton specialised in supporting. No. 54 Operational Training Unit, an early night-fighter training school, formed here in 1940. The station is best remembered as the birthplace of the first American “Eagle” squadron, No. 71, formed in 1940 from volunteers who crossed the Atlantic to fly for Britain before the United States entered the war. Polish and Canadian units, including Nos. 306 and 242 Squadrons, also operated from the field.

After the war Church Fenton continued in RAF use, moving to a training role and operating jets including the Gloster Meteor and Hawker Hunter, and later the Short Tucano. It closed as an independent RAF station at the end of 1992. The site was sold in 2013 and reopened for civilian flying as Leeds East Airport.