RAF Hemswell / RAF Harpswell - Lincolnshire
The site of Hemswell airfield today with Hemswell village top left and Harpswell bottom left. 3 hangars are clearly visible but the Thor launching pads which were top middle have disappeared
Hemswell is my favourite former airfield in the area. It has a rich and diverse history going back to Harpswell in WW1. Reopened in 1935 and was active in WW2. Postwar the airfield was still in use into the 1970s. The old airfield has now been put to good use as a thriving centre for commercial and light industry of various sorts and also a very prominent and well known Antique Centre and venue for car boots and jumbles of various sorts. Well worth a visit with plenty to see.
WW1 - The first airfield on the site opened in 1918 by the Royal Flying Corps and called RFCS Harpswell after the nearby village. During the WW1 it was used as a night landing ground for training pilots prior to posting to night bomber Squadrons in France. 2 Squadrons were active from the airfield in this role from April 1918 - 199 Sqn and 200 Sqn. Their stay was short lived and both were disbanded in June 1919 when the grass airfield was returned to agricultural use.
WW2 - With the expansion of the RAF from the mid 1930s the site was chosen for a new bomber airfield and construction began in 1935. The airfield a fine pre war station typical of the time and was opened on the 31st December 1936 and called RAF Hemswell.
The airfield was bounded at the south by the A631 road and to the west by the B1398. On the eastern side towards the main road north to south were 4 C Type hangers and behind those were workshops barracks and misc buildings. There was also a KQ decoy site at Toft Grange 6 miles to the south east from 1940
Hemswell was the home to 144 Squadron from February 1936 which operated a variety of aircraft at this time - Hawker Hind, Hawker Audax, Avro Anson, Bristol Blenheim and Boulton Paul Overstrand.
61 Squadron were posted there in March 1937 with the new Handley Page Hampdens and were very active during the early stages of the war. The station and its squadrons formed part of 5 (Bomber) Group RAF with its group HQ at Grantham.
In June 1941 the base transferred to the control 1 Bomber Group RAF at RAF Hucknall.
G/C Wray OC RAF Hemswell in 41/42. Wray was very popular with the Poles and flew at least 5 ops with various crews ( see short item below )
Between 1941 and 1943 3 Polish bomber squadrons, 305, 301 and 300 were resident at the airfield for their Wellington operations at various times. These squadrons also used nearby RAF Ingham while training and flew operations from there whilst the runways were being laid at Hemswell in 1943 to make it suitable for use by the heavier Avro Lancaster.
With the arrival of the Avro Lancaster Hemswell took on a training role and became the home to 1 Lancaster Finishing School the purpose of which was to give Lancaster experience to aircrews who had just finished their training at a Heavy Conversion Unit prior to posting to an operational squadron.
During 1944 Lancasters were being used at Heavy Conversion Units and the Lancaster Finishing Schools were disbanded and Hemswell again took on an operational role. 150 and 170 squadrons were based there and flew bomber operations until the end of the war. The film "Night Bombers" was shot at Hemswell during this period.
Walter Sheen who was OC RAF Hemswell Nov 44 to April 45. Walter Sheen was a former OC 49 Squadron at nearby Scampton early in the war and OC RAF Elsham Wolds during the summer of 1944 and OC RAF Coningsby in 1945. Post war he OC RAF Binbrook in the early 50s
RAF Hemswell Station Officers with Walter Sheen sat front row middle and Basil Templeman-Rooke back row right.
Cold War - After the war a variety of aircraft were stationed at Hemswell including de Havilland Mosquitos of 109 139 and 199 Sqns, Avro Lancasters and Avro Lincolns of 83, 97 and 199 Sqns, English Electric Canberras of 199 Sqn
They undertook various peacetime roles from 1945 to 1956 including prisoner-of-war repatriation, the dropping of food supplies during the relief of Holland and the Berlin Air Lift, goodwill visits to foreign countries, electronic counter measures and nuclear air sampling over hydrogen bomb test sites in the Pacific and Australia. Hemswell continued in operational flying use by RAF Bomber Command until as 1956.
The last flying squadrons had departed in January of that year but RAF Hemswell was then established as an RAF Bomber Command Missile Unit maintaining and operating three PGM-17 Thor Intermediate Range Ballistic Nuclear Missile launchers of No 97 (Strategic Missile) Sqn RAF that remained at Hemswell from December 1959 to May 1963. RAF Hemswell was also the headquarters for the No. 5 (Lincolnshire) Missile Dispersal Sites located at RAF Bardney, RAF Caistor, RAF Coleby Grange and RAF Ludford Magna. The Cuban Missile Crisis brought the entire UK based Thor missile force to maximum strategic alert and readiness for a ten-day period during October and November 1962.
In 1964 the station was designated and prepared as an operational conversion unit for the expected deployment of the planned TSR-2 (Tactical Strike and Reconnaissance) aircraft. this was a potentially outstanding machine. The whole programme was cancelled by the Labour Government of Harold Wilson in 1965 which was an outrageous blunder typical of the time.
RAF Hemswell had a brief existence as a sub site of 7 School of Recruit Training whose headquarters were at RAF Swinderby. Recruit training continued from Hemswell but the station was eventually placed on Care and Maintenance in 1967 when it was decided that all future recruit training would be carried out at RAF Swinderby. During 1967 the gliders of 643 Gliding School RAF Air Training Corps moved in from Kirton in Lindsey and operated from Hemswell until 1974 moving to RAF Lindholme on 1 April 1974.
This marked the last RAF use of the airfield which closed and was sold with the runways being broken up and used as hardcore for the extension of the A180 road. For several years the buildings were occupied by Ugandan nationals expelled from their country.
The entire technical site and domestic blocks including estates of post war married quarters were sold off in the 1980s. The remaining buildings are used for various commercial activities and also weekly market and car boot sales. There was a serious fire on the site in 2009 when a hanger housing a plastic recycling plant was destroyed.
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Night Bombers.
In 1945 a Bomber Command documentary called Night Bombers was produced and directed by Air Commodore H I Cozens. Ifill Cozens was OC 15 Base, which included RAF Hemswell, where the film was made. The film was made in early 45 and all the participants were serving at Hemswell at the time which adds to the interest and authenticity. The scenario depicted is however recreated partly due to technical reasons. It was clearly impossible to film in an aircraft on an actual operation and those scenes were recreated in a Lancaster in a Hemswell hanger. Cozens chose to build his story around a typical raid on Berlin but there were no big raids on the German capital in the later stages of the war. Apart from that it is all authentic. I believe the film was made using an 8mm camera and colour film so the results are exceptional and great credit to his expertise.
Ifill Cozens had a keen interest in film and photography and must be congratulated for having the initiative and foresight to produce this work as there is so little film of Bomber Command in action and certainly none in colour. It is a particularly ambitious project for an amateur although he clearly had the advantage of considerable rank and authority to organise this and engage the co-operation of others.
Of particular interest to those with an interest in RAF Elsham Wolds is that Night Bombers features three prominent officers who served at the airfield. Boyd Sellick formerly OC 576 Sq, Basil Templeman-Rooke was a Flight Commander with 576 Sq and William E Jones who was Intelligence Officer at Elsham Wolds for three months in 1942. All three are featured prominently in the briefing scenes.
Bill Jones from Night Bombers
At the time the film was made Sellick was OC RAF Hemswell, Templeman-Rooke was OC 170 Sq and Jones was the Hemswell Intelligence Officer. Jones mentions the film in his splendid book published in the 1980s – Bomber Intelligence. He comments that the briefing scenes were filmed on the 9th March 1945. The Base was on a Stand Down that day due to bad weather.
Boyd Sellick from Night Bombers
The dvd of Night Bombers is widely available and well worth acquiring for those who have not seen it. The original film was actually released in the late 1970s with a suitable commentary. Being 8mm film the results are a bit grainy but perfectly watchable nevertheless and the colour is excellent.
William Jones comments in his book he did not see the finished work till 33 years later. He was invited by the BBC for a TV interview at the then derelict Hemswell to be talk about it with Ifill Cozens and Eric Chandler who played the lead role of F/O Harris. The interview was used for a complete showing of the Air Commodore’s film shown on TV as part of the RAF Diamond Jubilee Commemorations.
Ifill Cozens.
This gentleman was clearly a most interesting fellow. Amongst a variety of decorations he received was the Polar Medal which is very rare, particularly for an airman.
Cozens was a member of the highly successful British Arctic Air Route Expedition (BAARE) of 1930-31 to investigate the possibility of a new and shorter air passage between England and Canada. The proposed air route would cross the Arctic via the Faroes, Iceland, Greenland, Baffin Island and Hudson Bay before reaching Winnipeg. With the patronage of the Royal Geographical Society and support from the British Air Ministry, Admiralty and War Office and a number of commercial sponsors, the BAARE’s aim was to survey the least known part of the flight path, the east coast and central ice plateau of Greenland. By monitoring weather conditions, crossing the ice sheet by dog sled and aeroplane, as well as surveying part of the mountainous coast, it would report on flying conditions and the possibility of establishing an air base in the region. Organised and led by Henry (Gino) Watkins, the BAARE consisted of fourteen men with an average age of 25 and little Polar experience between them. Equipment included two aircraft, two motorboats, dogs and sleds. The BAARE left London on the Shackleton’s old vessel, 'Quest', on July 6, 1930. Cozens was the expedition photographer and one of the pilots.
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Arthur Mostyn Wray DSO MC DFC and bar AFC MID 3 times Virtuti Militari 5
An outstanding airman with a unique career. He was wounded and decorated in WW1. Interwar he had a most varied and interesting career. During WW2 as G/C and A/C he was held in the highest regard and respected by all. He flew numerous operations as co-pilot or first pilot in spite of approaching 50 years of age and was decorated accordingly. For more information re Arthur Mostyn Wray see his Air of Authority web page here.
Finally a few photos relating to Hemswell I took myself in 2021.
St Chads Church at nearly Harpswell where a number of former Hemswell men are buried
Hemswell Memorial
Former Hemswell Control Tower now used as office premises by a large recycling firm
One of the old hangars at Hemswell which has been put to good use and is in good condition.
Guard room now an antique centre.
Canberra House Antique Centre
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RAF Harpswell
Middle section of a formal group photo taken at RAF Harpswell in 1919.
This picture is very wide and framed behind glass. It was donated to me in early 2024 and I will pass this on to the Lincolnshire Life Museum , Lincoln for safe keeping in the summer.
Item Compiled by David Fell with photos from my archive. Wray photo courtesy of Chris Ward/Grzegorz Korcz - 300 ( Mosovian ) Squadron Profile.
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