RAF Kirton In Lindsey

RAF Kirton in Lindsey opened in May 1940 on the high ground of Lincolnshire north of Lincoln, a sector fighter station guarding the north-east of England. Defiants and Spitfires flew its Battle of Britain patrols, and Sergeant Ian Clenshaw, killed on a dawn sortie on 10 July 1940, is often remembered as the first British fighter pilot lost in the battle. The airfield became notably cosmopolitan: it hosted the American-manned Eagle Squadrons — Nos. 71, 121 and 133 — as well as Polish units including Nos. 302, 303, 306 and 307, and in 1942 the USAAF flew P-38 Lightnings and P-39 Airacobras from it. After the war it served in flying training and then passed to the Army as Napier Barracks; limited flying continued for decades, and the technical site has more recently been earmarked for redevelopment.