RAF Dishforth

RAF Dishforth opened in September 1936 near Thirsk in North Yorkshire, one of the bomber stations built during the pre-war expansion of the Royal Air Force. It joined No. 4 Group of Bomber Command, and its early units flew the biplane Handley Page Heyford before re-equipping with the Armstrong Whitworth Whitley. No. 10 and No. 78 Squadrons were among the first based there, followed by No. 51 Squadron, whose Whitleys took part in leaflet-dropping “Nickel” sorties and the early-war bombing campaign over occupied Europe.

The station’s aircraft supported several celebrated special operations, including the 1941 parachute raid on the Italian aqueduct at Tragino (Operation Colossus) and the 1942 Bruneval radar raid. Wing Commander Percy Pickard, later famous for the Amiens prison raid, commanded No. 51 Squadron here in 1942. From 1943 Dishforth passed to No. 6 (RCAF) Group, hosting Canadian squadrons such as Nos. 425 and 426 flying Vickers Wellingtons, alongside heavy conversion units that trained crews for the four-engined bombers.

After the war the airfield moved to Transport Command and a training role, and for a period the buildings served as a police training college. In 1992 it transferred to the British Army, becoming an Army Air Corps base, and the site remained in military aviation use rather than being returned to farmland.