Expansion period airfields - why so many?
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.