RAF Coleby Grange

RAF Coleby Grange was a military airfield in Lincolnshire, roughly seven miles south of Lincoln, that opened in 1939 and operated through to 1963. It began as a grass-surfaced satellite under nearby RAF Cranwell, used at first for flying training, before its wartime career settled around the air defence of the East Midlands. Through most of the Second World War it functioned as a night-fighter base within Fighter Command’s No. 12 Group rather than as a bomber station.

A steady succession of squadrons passed through. Early day-fighter units flew Hawker Hurricanes, while the airfield’s later identity was built on night fighting: Boulton Paul Defiants gave way to Bristol Beaufighters and then de Havilland Mosquitos. Several Royal Canadian Air Force squadrons (Nos. 402, 409 and 410) were based here, alongside No. 307 Polish Night Fighter Squadron, also flying Mosquitos. For a period a United States Army Air Forces night-fighter unit operated from the field as well.

After the war the station saw further training and support use. From 1959 to 1963 it took on an entirely new role as a launch site for Thor intermediate-range ballistic missiles operated by No. 142 Squadron. Following closure the land was sold and returned to agriculture; the wartime control tower and traces of the missile installation can still be seen.