RAF Finningley

RAF Finningley opened in 1936 on the South Yorkshire side of the Nottinghamshire border, near Doncaster. Built as a bomber station, it joined the pre-war expansion of the Royal Air Force and passed through No. 3 and later No. 5 Group of Bomber Command. Early units flew biplane and early monoplane types, including Handley Page Heyford and Armstrong Whitworth Whitley bombers, with squadrons such as Nos. 7, 102 and 106 operating aircraft like the Hampden and Fairey Battle.

For much of the war the airfield concentrated on training rather than front-line operations, preparing crews who went on to serve across the bomber force. Air Chief Marshal John Boothman, the pre-war Schneider Trophy pilot, served as a commanding officer here in the early 1940s.

In the post-war decades Finningley took on a central role in Britain’s nuclear deterrent, becoming a V-bomber base equipped with the Avro Vulcan and hosting Vulcan conversion training, alongside Vickers Valiant electronic-countermeasures work. It later housed flying training and, from the mid-1970s, the headquarters of the RAF Search and Rescue Wing, and was long famous for its large Battle of Britain airshows.

The RAF withdrew in 1996. The site was redeveloped for civil aviation and reopened in 2005 as Doncaster Sheffield Airport, which operated until its closure in 2022.