Expansion period airfields - why so many?

[Roadster280]

I was back in the UK last week, and my travels took me to "RAF Lincolnshire", where my folks have moved to. We went to visit the "antiques centre" at Hemswell while there. It got me thinking, Hemswell was only used for 30 years, 1937-1967, and that could be said of a great many of the expansion period stations, some even less.

Why then, did the RAF/Air Ministry build quite so many? There must have been nearly 80 of them, plus others that were pre-existing, but brought up to speed with new buildings. It must have cost an absolute fortune in those days. They're nearly all brick built, so must have been very labour intensive to build. Indeed, why were some built with metaled runways and others with just grass?

The political climate at the time must have been getting a bit more tense than the 20s, but to build 80 new airfields "on spec" (as it were) must have been a huge ask. Chamberlain's "peace in our time" moment must have been a huge "I told you so" moment for the Treasury. Soon to be proved wrong, of course, but even so, there were a LOT of these places built, and they were no small undertaking.

Was it perhaps the fledgling RAF building itself up as a Service to a level of credibility with the other two?

Whatever the reasons, I do think it a terrible shame that a good half of them are no longer in MoD hands. Hemswell's fared better than some, but I spared a thought for the SWOs past of the station. They'd be rupturing their spleens at the state of the place today.

[spectre150]

Maybe something to do with Nazi expansionism and the looming prospect of another European War?

[Gulfstreamaviator]

As I undersand the OP, this impending war was covered....but the question was, I suspect, how were the RAF able to get the airfieldsn and infrastructure pushed thru, when many of the local authorities would not funds to build.

glf

[Wensleydale]

Not all the WW2 airfields in Lincolnshire are from the expansion period (1936 - 1939). The rapid increase in the Bomber Force after 1942 led to a need for many more airfields, and many temporary airfields were built as satellites for the main bases. Equipped with makeshift accommodation (Nissen huts etc) these airfields took just a few months to complete and began to come online in 1943 - the extra capacity of the satellites allowed Squadrons to move off the main bases for a few months and concrete runways were then put down before more squadrons moved in again.

Most main bases ran two satellites airfields - for example, Waddington was the main administrative centre for Bardney and Skellingthorpe, the whole complex being known as "Base 53" (3rd Base of 5 Group). The "Base" was under the command of an Air Commodore who outranked the Stn Cgrs at the 3 airfields. By 1944, Waddington's Base 53 could call on 5 Squadrons: 9; 50; 61; 467 RAAF; 467 RAAF; (around 100 Lancasters) to send on operations.

However, for all the details on the expansion programs etc read "The Right of the Line" by John Terraine (available on all good internet/auction sites for not much money) which covers the subject in great detail.

[Sloppy Link]

They heeded Lord Palmerstons advice.

[KG86]

A glance at The Airfields Of Lincolnshire (http://www.content-delivery.co.uk/aviation/airfields/regional/Lincolnshire.html) reveals that, at its peak, Lincolnshire had 119 airfields. Some of them were well-found, like Hemswell, with hangars, technical and domestic accommodation, runways etc, but the vast majority were satellite airfields, with little in the way of large buildings, and merely grass strips. This sort of number was required due to the vast number of ac to be accommodated. There were huge numbers of bombers (and, of course, some raids comprised over 1000 ac), plus fighters and training ac, and the inevitable repair and salvage organisation. In addition, some of the airfields served as decoys, to draw attacks away from the real ones. As well as simply accommodating the ac, they also served to disperse them, so that an attack on one airfield wouldn't incur too great a loss.

They would all have been 'acquired' by compulsory purchase, or the land would have been 'borrowed' from the owner, to be handed back after the war. This was also the case for many large houses, and even pubs, which were commandeered to serve as accommodation for the squadrons (hence the lack of buildings on many of the airfields).

To put things into context, Lincs now has the grand total of 4 active airfields.

[Mechta]

Maybe some consideration was made of what would happen when the surviving aircraft of a thousand bomber raid returned, shot up and low on fuel, possibly with injured pilots, with a good number likely to block runways on landing?

[Pontius Navigator]

The real answer for why there were so many permanent airfields such as Binbrook 1940, Manby 1938, Coningsby 1940, Cranwell 1916, Digby 1918, Waddington 1916, Scampton 1916, Hemswell 1937, Kirton Lindsay 1940, Spittlegate 1916, Swinderby 1940, North Coates 1935 is the policy instituted by Trenchard.

He realised that aircraft would be in service for very short periods before they were superceded by newer better types. It was better therefore to create a proper infrastructure and only expand the aircraft inventory when required.

You mentioned hard runways; many hard runways were only built during the war and extended in the 50s for the newer types.

The hangars were a masterpiece of design. They have blast doors that would minimise fragmentation damage and soft blow-out roofs so that an explosion inside would be contained. Hangar services were also split with each half having separate plumbing and electrics.

If you look at the various officers' messes you will see that they are all of single story construction. If you go west and north outside the then presumed range of the enemy bombers operating from Germany you will find messes with 3 floors. These rear area airfields also have many more hangars for aircraft storage.

I will, if I have time check the other airfield of which I think there are 34. These were temporary airfields which were handed back to prior owners etc post war. One, Spilsby, was identified as a USAF cold-war recovery base for B47s. East Kirby nearby was an emergency airfield up into the 1960s. It was unmanned but had a newly resurfaced runway and fuelled goose-necks for a flare path as late as 1965.

And ultimately why so many? The many were, as said, required for the huge number of bombers required to take the war to Germany.

[aw ditor]

Not just Lincolnshire, go North to Yorkshire or South into Cambridgeshire and a similar situation existed, especially around the Pathfinder main bases such as Wyton and Oakington. Wyton remains a flying station' (just) with Grobs' and is expanding to accept the JARIC move from Brampton, whereas Oakington is about to get 1,500 houses, the first tranche of up to a possible 10,000!

[spekesoftly]

If you look at the various officers' messes you will see that they are all of single story construction. If you go west and north outside the then presumed range of the enemy bombers operating from Germany you will find messes with 3 floors ......


Located near the east coast of Lincolnshire, any idea why RAF Manby's three story Officers' Mess was an exception?

[KN647]

I was once seconded in the late 60s to the MPBW (Ministry of Public Building & Works) Airfield Safeguarding Section.
In their store room they had large maps on thick card which showed all of the military and civil airfields in Britain with their status (active, Closed, etc.).

I think that I counted more than 1,000 at one time.

I read a very good book (I think 'No Time For Fear') by Basil Embery about his war experiences.
I am sure that he described how he unofficially had the runways extended at his base .
By extending the main runway, he cut down the number of crashes on the base significantly. The 'powers that be' were not amused, however he proved his point. I think that when word got around they had many more aircraft land on their longer runway.

[tornadoken]

On 24/8/39 UK Parliament passed the the Emergency Powers (Defence) Act. That gave Govt. rights that (IIRC in his WW2 History) Churchill noted as exceeding the (legitimate) powers of any totalitarian regime. Property, any private property, could be requisioned for (the sense is) Defence purposes. All normally: to be returned to the original owner when Defence purpose lapses...but, sometimes, Govt. imposed compulsory purchase, at (some kind of) pre-War, normal market, price.

For airfields, before you rush in to buy from (whatever MoD Estates is called today), you need to know whether a descendent of the original owner can still claim title. The surveys done in 1938-42 identified even more sites than were actually turned into airfields: Policy from mid-1938 was to build up a b....y Paralyser Force, to encircle, blockade and thus reduce Germany. After Anschluss, Auto industry ceased civil work 21/4/38, RAF Expansion Scheme L was funded 27/4, including 250 Halifax (10/38: 500), and the contracts placed by 11/38. Agency Factories were funded to build all this. I have 560 airfields built Sept,38-Sept,46, from 2,000 surveys: in ’44 £1Mn. (Civil Works, plus land requisitioning) for each triangle layout RAF Builds for War,HMSO,97,P113. Paddy fields using hardcore helpfully provided by the Luftwaffe were turned into airfields by 60,000 strong men, many volunteer Eire citizens. Done in fewer months than the years taken today to do a modest stretch of road.

1942 was the peak airfield building time, after FDR & WSC agreed Germany First and the Combined Bombing Offensive.

[Roadster280]

Thanks chaps.

It wasn't just Lincs that I was interested in, I find the whole programme interesting. I just happened to be in Lincs where there's a surfeit of them.

What struck me about Hemswell though was the very short career of such an extensive building programme. There were others with short lives, Middleton St George comes to mind. Others were kept in the estate and left to rot (Syerston, and Scampton particularly).

It seems such a shame that there wasn't a bit more joined up thinking in the 60s/70s/80s to keep these places in the MOD estate and in use. There was obviously money in the pot, as the MOD retained a lot of other sites that were of a far lower standard.

I used to drive past Little Rissington every weekend, and find it shocking that it was just left to rot, while places such as Weeton camp (another ex-RAF station) were retained. To recover places like Little Rissington and Scampton back to life would cost inordinate sums today, but had they been occupied and maintained, the MOD would have a far better quality estate than it does now.

Some really odd decisions seem to have been made. Church Fenton is a half derelict place, yet it is still partly occupied. Scampton had its Airmens' Mess used for a totally different purpose, yet they have to use Kirton to live in. Why not just build the bloody thing in a new building at Scampton, or even at Kirton? Or even, put it in a bunker. Oh no, silly me, they've all been left to flood & rot too...

[Pontius Navigator]

Spekesoftly, no I don't. It is just possible that it was a postwar addition. When I was there in '57 it was the College of Air Warfare which of course catered for senior officers.

There was considerable expansion at many other messes too. The original messes had the anteroom to the right of the main entrance and the dining room ran back at right angles on the other side of the corridor.

The expansion involved increasing the length of the anteroom to nearer the east wing. A second and much larger dining room was then built at the end of the existing dining room and, I think, new kitchens off that. At the same time a number of changes were made to the east and west wings. The variations probably depended on the ground available. Typically the east and west wings were extended to the north. On some messes additional short wings were pushed out from east and/or west wings as well. Finningley was a good example of that.

The main building additional stories may have been done as part of this new cold war expansion. Another anomalous mess was, IIRC, Upwood, which also had larger than normal accommodation wings.

While Manby was an important post-war airfield and had a number of Lincoln aircraft its runway was apparently not long enough for the Canberras used by the Spec N course which instead operated from Strubby.

[Pontius Navigator]

a bit more joined up thinking in the 60s/70s/80s

I think it is self-evident that there were a fair number of thinking lapses (or defence reviews) due to money constraints.

The V-force future was in doubt in 1968. The TSR2, for which Coningsby had an extensive refurbishment programme, was cancelled in 1965. The buy of 400 Tornados never materialised in that sort of numbers at any one time.

You can almost imagine one committee deciding in isolation: 400 Tornado = 40 sqns = 13 airfields.

The jet age also saw a major runway extension programme as bigger and increasingly heavier aircraft demanded longer and longer runways. The 9000 feet runway became the defacto V-Force runway. Other runways were increased to around 7500 feet and others remained at their WW2 length of 6000 feet.

To decide which airfields would be improved a secret document was prepared for all the airfields. This survey examined the potential extensibility of all the runways and commented on road diversion, building demolition, bad ground etc.

As we know, Scampton extension required a realignment of the A15. Wittering was a classic with extension gained by joining it with Collyweston and it had a potential of 13,500 feet.

[Wensleydale]

From Ian Philpott's book "The Royal Air Force - an encyclopaedia for the interwar years":

"In the 1930s, during the expansion period, ..... architect Sir Edward Lutyens was tasked with designing a complete building, rather like a hotel, to comprise sleeping accommodation, dining rooms, lounge, bar, kitchens, games rooms, and mess offices. These messes were built to a standard design accross the UK, mainly in Lincolnshire, Yorkshire and East Anglia, at such stations as Swinderby, Catterick, Honongton and Waddington, but the older stations such as Netheravon and Manston, were not built to the standard pattern, and like Old Sarum and Netheravon had separate sleeping accommodation in bungalows."

[Waddo Plumber]

Upavon was originally an RFC Officers Mess, as the carved panel above the main entrance shows.

[cazatou]

Spekesoftly

If I recall correctly the Officers Mess at Manby was a post war building for the RAF Flying College and later the RAF College of Air Warfare. Because of the large number of Officers attending the courses extra accommodation was required.

[Roland Pulfrew]

architect Sir Edward Lutyens was tasked with designing a complete building, rather like a hotel

How ironic that we now seem to have hotel chains designing (and I use that term loosely) new messes. :{

Sadly this route leads to the monstrosities that are Daedalus Mess at Cranwell and the WOs' and Sgts' Messes at Waddington and Kinloss (I am sure there other equally tacky designs). Personally I cannot see why you couldn't take the original Lutyens design and modernise it - so much more aesthetically pleasing whilst also being functional and practical.

[Pontius Navigator]

The Lutyens design was not confined to the UK. I was intrigued to see that the mess at Ohakea, opened in 1939, followed exactly the same principles. They even used an emergency water tank as a swimming pool :)

[Party Animal]

To put things into context, Lincs now has the grand total of 4 active airfields.


Which is more than Scotland and Wales combined!!
:sad:

[sisemen]

Trenchard was a complete visionary. Not only did he figure the transient nature of the aircraft of the day and decided to put his cash into reasonable airfields he also, because of the depression after WW 1 and the consequent constraints on defence spending, decided rather than junking complete trades like they have done since the 1980s he would run each trade down to the minimum he could get away with. Result? Following the decision to expand he had the trades, and instructors, on hand which meant that the RAF manpower, as well as hard infrastructure, could be expanded relatively easily.

The Lutyens design was not confined to the UK

Quite. A couple of weeks ago I visited the RNZAF museum at Wigram (free entry and a very creditable museum). Most of the ex RNZAF base is now a housing estate but many of the buildings remain. And they are instantly recognisable, as is the base layout, for anybody who has been in the RAF.

[pr00ne]

Expansion period airfields were nothing to do with Trenchard and nor was the architecture.

[sisemen]

He had, still, an enormous influence with the Air Staffs of the time. From what I have read on the subject he was one of the prime instigators of the form of the expansion airfields.

The architectural design was art deco, but with a military edge to it, which was in vogue at the time.

[ExAscoteer]

The earliest of the Expansion Period Officers' Messes (and MQs), and which served as the 'Show Home' for what came later, was of course RAF Hullavington (now Buckley Barracks, 9 Regt RLC).

Hullavington Mess is, of course, 3 stories as is the nearby Mess at South Cerney (29 Regt RLC).

According to English Heritage the Mess at Manby dates from the same era and was originally built as 3 stories.

I remember being told many moons ago that there were 5 classes of Officers' Mess from the immediate pre-War era which all had similar floorplans in the main part of the building, but which differed in size. Class A Messes such as Hullavington and Manby and Class B Messes such as South Cerney having 3 stories.

The reason for Hullavington and Manby being Class A Messes is that these Stations were originally built as Training Units and not Operational Units - Manby being originally the Armament Training School, and Hullavington a Service Flying Training School (including, from 1942, the Empire central Flying School).

What is interesting about Hullavington is that the land was donated by the Duke of Beaufort (IIRC) whose only stipulation was that the architecture should be in keeping with the locality. The upshot of this being that all buildings viewable from outside the camp (including part of the OMQs) were built/clad in local stone, whereas buildings further inside the camp (invisible to the public) were red brick. I believe this was the only Station done like this.

[Pontius Navigator]

The OMQ nearby are also in a cheap imitation of the local vernacular, is concrete made to look like stone.

[ExAscoteer]

If you mean the ones at the front of Valletta Gardens, I recall them being stone built.

[Roland Pulfrew]

pr00ne: Expansion period airfields were nothing to do with Trenchard

Googling "Home Defence Expansion Scheme" would suggest there are many out there who seem to be living under a misapprehension, including English Heritage:

English Heritage
... describes RAF Bicester as
“retaining better than any other military airbase in Britain, the layout and fabric relating to pre-1930s military aviation….. it comprises the best preserved bomber airfield dating from the period up to 1945 ….. It also comprises the best preserved and most strongly representative of the bomber stations built as part of Sir Hugh Trenchard’s 1920s Home Defence Expansion Scheme”


On a different note, wasn't the Officers' Mess at Luqa done to the same Lutyens design, only built from the local Maltese Stone?

[Pontius Navigator]

RP, it certainly had that feel.

Interestingly using standard building designs was not new. Throughout the Caribbean the powder magazines in different forts are identical and these is a similar one in Cape Town. I was also surprised to see the same design for married quarters in Barbados as my grandparents lived in in Calcutta. The same design is also to be seen in Malta at Tigne.

[EngAl]

PN
When I lived in one at nearby Rudloe I was told it was built with "Reconstituted Bath Stone". Yet another name for concrete blocks !

[baffman]

Luftwaffe messes of much the same period were built with the same concern for design.

[Pontius Navigator]

EngAl, that could be it.

ExAscot, Miss PN, in one right now, says it could be either so I guess EngAl has the size of it. I will take a hammer with me when I next visit.

[ExAscoteer]

It would be interesting to find out PN.

I lived in Valletta Gardens when I was on Albert - the OMQs were used as a spillover Mess accom and MQs for Lyneham.

[Wensleydale]

built as part of Sir Hugh Trenchard’s 1920s Home Defence Expansion Scheme


There were two "Expansion" periods. I understood that we were discussing the period 1934 - 1938 which was the second period of expansion (and much the largest). There was a smaller previous expansion in 1926 following the Conservative victory in the General Election. To save money, the expansion included the new Special Reserve (500 series) and Auxilliary (600 series) squadrons of part-timers.

RAF Waddington reopened at this time (having been closed in 1920) and a new Officers Mess "Newall House" (now the Creche and Hive) was built. The Station was completely re-designed in 1936-7 when the current mess and domestic site layout took over from the WW1 buildings on site. (WW1 buildings were demolished in 1943 when the runways were concreted).

[Tinribs]

Post war expansion of big airfields and closure of small ones produced some strange results

They insisted that the fighter airfields had 6000 feet for meteors

RAF Newton was a bit short so they pjut a 10degree bend in the middle, that fixed it

Were there any similar does anyone know or was Newton unique

[Farfrompuken]

Lynehams 18/36 had a very slight kink in the middle; don't know why-maybe a construction error?

[pr00ne]

RAF Newton was an all grass airfield for all of it's life.

[Pontius Navigator]

Just back from Valetta Garden Qtrs. May be Bath stone but definitely concrete blocks made of Bath stone :)

The blocks were very regular but you could also see the concrete form of the blocks on the kitchen door lintel.

The next section of qtrs is in standard brick.