RAF Dunholme Lodge

RAF Dunholme Lodge was a Royal Air Force bomber station in Lincolnshire, sited between the villages of Dunholme and Welton a few miles north-east of Lincoln. It came into use in 1942 and served under Bomber Command, latterly within No. 5 Group, drawing on the nearby parent station at Scampton during its development.

The airfield’s principal occupant was No. 44 Squadron, which flew Avro Lancasters from here between 1943 and 1944. It was later joined by other Lancaster units, including No. 619 Squadron and, briefly, No. 170 Squadron, all operating the same heavy bomber over occupied Europe. The cost of these operations was heavy: roughly 120 Lancasters were lost flying from the station during the war. Front-line flying ended in late 1944 when the resident squadrons moved on.

The site reopened in a very different role during the Cold War, when No. 141 Squadron operated Bristol Bloodhound surface-to-air missiles there from 1959 until the station finally closed in 1964. In the intervening years the disused airfield hosted motorcycle and car racing. Today much of the ground has returned to farmland, with a public road, William Farr School and other uses occupying parts of the former station and traces of the runways still discernible.