RAF Lindholme - that's Something I Didn't Know

[Warmtoast]

In this weeks Sunday Times Max Hastings in his review of the book "Air Force Blue: The RAF in World War Two" by Patrick Bishop mentions:

In January 1943, Arthur Harris, the notoriously explosive C-in-C of Bomber Command, was briefly distracted from his obsession with destroying Germany’s cities by the vexed matter of venereal disease among his aircrew. Many of the men, knowing they were likely to be dead within weeks, sought consolation in the pleasures of wine and song, and more controversially of women. The airfield at Lindholme, from which airmen ventured into nearby Doncaster, achieved the unenviable record of having the highest VD rate in Bomber Command, far higher among fliers than ground crew.
Harris chose to interpret succumbing to such frailties as a deliberate attempt to escape attacking Germany. He decreed that any man who contracted VD during his “tour” of 30 operations should be obliged to start the whole cycle over again. This order stood until it reached the shocked ears of the Air Ministry and parliament, whereupon it was abruptly countermanded.
Can't say I'm familar with Lindholme - thank goodness!


Details here:
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/magazine/culture/air-force-blue-raf-world-war-two-patrick-bishop-review-5vpp8nkqk

[Tankertrashnav]

Did my NBS course there - didnt catch the pox, even though I lived out in Doncaster

Mrs TTN would have had something to say about it if I had :eek:

[rolling20]

Lindholme was 1 Groups HCU from October 42 onwards. So they were unlikely to be on Ops during the period mentioned in the article. One would imagine however that they had more time on their hands for the pleasures of Donny?
6 Group ( Canadian) had by all accounts, the highest VD rate in Bomber Command.

[chevvron]

I always thought 'Lindholme Willy' was a ghost, not a symptom.

[thunderbird7]

Bet they were all Flight Engineers.... 😉

[Dougie M]

I did the "Vis Bombing" course there in early 65, and I was on the lead ship in a stream of Varsities from Lindholme on a night sortie to the Jurby target. I managed to knock out the light on the target pontoon with my second 25lb smoke and flash bomb which was a pure fluke. Anyway nobody else got to drop a bomb so we all had to trudge back to base and I had to buy lots of beer in the Salutation in Donny. It all got a bit indistinct after that because everybody bought me one back to celebrate the "early stack". We ended up in a club somewhere in Sprotborough so I must have narrowly missed catching something.

[Blacksheep]

I never realised "The Mecca" was going as early as 1942... :oh:

[roving]

RAF Hatfield Woodhouse officially opened in June 1940 under No.5 Group Bomber Command. 50 Sqn, operating Handley-Page Hampden bombers, arrived the following month.
On 18 August, two and a half months after its official opening, notification was received that the station name was to be changed to Lindholme. The reason was possible confusion with Hatfield airfield in Hertfordshire.
50 Sqn was the sole resident at Lindholme until June 1941. That month a new Canadian manned bomber squadron was raised there. It was 408 Sqn, which was also equipped with Hampdens and, once it was up and runnning, it was moved to RAF Syerston to begin operations in July. The following month, RAF Lindholme was one of a number of 5 Group stations handed over to 1 Group. As a result, 5 Group moved its 50 Squadron to RAF Swinderby.

Lindholme (http://www.forgottenairfields.com/united-kingdom/england/south-yorkshire/lindholme-s1420.html)

[langleybaston]

One assumes that those who did not frequent the brothels of Donny made do with the Slow Hand Clap?

Here's a thought: how big does a hamlet, village, township, town or city have to be to make a brothel a going concern? I ask because I assume that it needs to be open 7/24, or at least all weekend, so will need about 5 or 6 tarts.

One on madam/door/bar duty,
one on the job,
one on call to deal with a rush from a stag do or whatever,
one on a day off,
one on a course/leave,
one on sick leave.

[Pontius Navigator]

Donny, Sheffield, Mexborough, Rotherham, and famously the Barnsley Witch!

Lindholme had a very small married patch in the 60s and everyone was VERY friendly even if you didn't need your car keys to get home.

[Pontius Navigator]

One assumes that those who did not frequent the brothels of Donny made do with the Slow Hand Clap?

Here's a thought: how big does a hamlet, village, township, town or city have to be to make a brothel a going concern? I ask because I assume that it needs to be open 7/24, or at least all weekend, so will need about 5 or 6 tarts.

One on madam/door/bar duty,
one on the job,
one on call to deal with a rush from a stag do or whatever,
one on a day off,
one on a course/leave,
one on sick leave.

Obviously a close study the LB

[Fareastdriver]

I stayed at Lindholme once; that was during the 60th RAF show. All I remember was that it had a coal fired fish and chip shop which produced the best I have ever tasted.

[langleybaston]

From a discrete distance, more than 6 inches or so.

[Pontius Navigator]

From a discrete distance, more than 6 inches or so.

Bragging ?

[Brian W May]

Bet they were all Flight Engineers.... 😉

I resemble that . . . AND I live near Lindholme !!! :=:=

[Haraka]

Apocryphal(?) story told to me ( nearly 50 years ago now ) about night flying at Lindholme .

"Darling ,when you get back from night flying and fly a few circuits , could you come over the quarter and flash the landing lights on the last one so that I can get supper ready?"
.
.
Giving the visiting "friend" more than ample time to finish what he was up to, roll out of bed , get his clobber on and leg it......

[BEagle]

No surprise that Doncaster was a pox-ridden dump in the 1940s - just as bad 30-40 years later.

Doncaster and navigators - somehow they deserved each other....

[aw ditor]

Anything to do with Lindholme Gear' which we dropped' a lot in the Kipper Fleet.

[Dougie M]

Doncaster and Navigators?
Why Mr. Beags. How uncharitable of you. You had two of these unhappy people sat facing aft as you performed your faultless asymmetric rollers in your tin triangle. Have some humanity.

[682al]

From the article:-

Bomb squad: Guy Gibson, second from left, with some of his Dam Busters, 1943

...really?

[ShyTorque]

I resemble that . . . AND I live near Lindholme !!! :=:=

Give the man a clap! :E

[langleybaston]

I did the clap joke several posts back to a total lack of acclaim.

[langleybaston]

From the article:-



...really?

complete with the flying ar*ehole badge too.

[BEagle]

The photo was taken at RAF Scampton on 22 Jul 1943 and shows the 617 Sqn crew of Lancaster ED285/`AJ-T' sitting on the grass, posed under stormy clouds.

Left to right: Sergeant G Johnson; Pilot Officer D A MacLean, navigator; Flight Lieutenant J C McCarthy, pilot; Sergeant L Eaton, gunner. In the rear are Sergeant R Batson, gunner; and Sergeant W G Ratcliffe, engineer.

[lasernigel]

Did an ATC camp there back in '67, bit too young to get the clap. Varsities and Hastings. Did a trip down to Thorney Island with some VIP on board in a Varsity. Highlight of the week was going up to Finningley to see the Vulcans.

[ian16th]

Did two and a half years there, Apl 54 to Oct 56, too young and innocent to do anything immoral.

:)

[chevvron]

Did an ATC camp there back in '67, bit too young to get the clap. Varsities and Hastings. Did a trip down to Thorney Island with some VIP on board in a Varsity. Highlight of the week was going up to Finningley to see the Vulcans.

Camp in 1965 for me. We drove past Finningley to go to Rossington Colliery where we went down t' pit.
Little did I know then that I would be based at Lindholme during most of '73 doing my (civil ATCO) Area Radar practical training at what was then called Northern Radar, a Joint Air Traffic Control Radar Unit (JATCRU). On my previous visit in 1965 it had been called 'Humber Radar' and prior to being ATC it was an air defence unit designed to spot attacking bombers and direct the Bloodhound SAMs at places like North Coates to hit them before they could hit our Thor ICBM sites eg Hemswell.
In '65 the Hastings had all been grounded due to some airframe problem (I think it was just after an accident at Colerne with a transport version dropping paras) so we only flew in the Varsities however by the time the airfield closed in '72 (the station didn't close until the radar unit did) it was also used for some maintenance on Victors, and one or two were still in one of the hangars in '73. The only unit still based on the airfield then was the bomb score unit, with the bombing school on the main camp.

[pr00ne]

chevvron,

A Victor? At Lindholme? You sure? I would have thought the runway too small for a Victor.

[chevvron]

chevvron,

A Victor? At Lindholme? You sure? I would have thought the runway too small for a Victor.

Yeah I wondered too when I was told a few months previously. My ATC squadron attended camp there in '72 and they told me about the Victor (first camp I'd missed in years as I was stuck in Glasgow training in aerodrome control) so I wasn't surprised.
I think it was a 'standard' 6,000ft bomber runway so just about doable on min fuel I would guess; don't think Radlett was much longer.
Any Victor drivers elucidate? It was definitely in the hangar in '73 and of course they frequently visited Finningley that year too, Lindholme being on final for Finningley.

[initials]

Victor SR2 XL193 was at Lindholme, parked outside in early August 1972 - following work by HSA Ltd, I believe.

[ACW342]

There were two Victors in the hangars at Lindholme in'72. I went into one hangar and chatted with a civvie contractor who told me that the aircraft were recovering to UK after a flag waving visit somewhere west of the Andes and hit CAT so severe it cracked the main spar joints on both aircraft. IIRC it was either scrap them or convert them to tankers. The aircraft were in the hangers for about two years and I watched the first of them depart Lindolme with about 2 egg cups full of fuel for the literal "hop" over the road to Finningley. There can't have been much fuel as FY only sent one MK IV fire wagon to cover the departure.

I was at Northern Dairies Early 71 to late 73. Having arrived at Lindholme from Wattisham as a singly I departed for Kai Tak after having married the present Mrs 342 in Hatfield Woodhouse.

[beefix]

Correct. 543 Sqn Victor XL 193 was flown into Lindholme for a main spar change. The club foot end of the spar was cracked. I and quite a few others spent some considerable time there getting the aircraft ready for the CWP and also recovering it on completion of the spar change.

[ian16th]

I was at Northern Dairies Early 71 to late 73. Having arrived at Lindholme from Wattisham as a singly I departed for Kai Tak after having married the present Mrs 342 in Hatfield Woodhouse.

Did you have the reception in the Robin Hood & Little John?

:):):):):)

[skua]

I think it is the proverbial "well known fact" that the Canadians had a higher incidence of the clap in WW1 than the RFC average.

[Linedog]

There were brothels in Donny???
Finningley, sometime around 1980. Saturday night in Donny pub and a local young "lady" approached me and asked if I was RAF. Yes I said. "Good, hold me pint while I go for a slash". As she returned I asked why she asked if I was RAF. Local lads would 'ave supped it she quipped. Then, "Come on, yer've pulled".

She made a decent breakfast as well. :ok:

[langleybaston]

Brilliant! made my day!
I lived in a suberb of Donny for several years, and the tale is very believable. Lovely people, pity about the place.

[Linedog]

Thank goodness we didnt have mobiles with camera or facebook in those days. :eek: