Page 26 - Dennis Ovenden

RAF Hemswell is a former Royal Air Force station located 7.8 miles east of Gainsborough,
Lincolnshire. Located close to the village of Hemswell. The disused airfield is now in full use as a
civilian industrial and retail trading estate, forming part of the newly created parish of Hemswell
Cliff along with the station's married quarters and RAF built primary school that are now in
non-military ownership. The airfield was used by RAF Bomber Command for 20 years between
1937 and 1957 and saw most of its operational life during the Second World War. It was used
again by RAF Bomber Command as a nuclear ballistic missile base during the Cold War and then
closed to military use in 1967. On 19 March 1940 RAF Hemswell-based Handley Page
th
Hampdens of No. 61 Squadron RAF were the first Bomber Command aircraft to drop bombs on
German soil during the Second World War. The target was the Hörnum seaplane base on the
northern Germany coast. RAF Hemswell was used as a substitute for RAF Scampton in all the
ground-based filming of the 1954 war film The Dambusters

The first airfield on the site was opened in 1918 by the Royal Flying Corps and called RFCS
Harpswell after the village of that name just across the A631 road. During the First World War it
was used as a night landing ground and two-night flying training squadrons were established
there. In June 1919 the grass airfield was returned to its former use as farmland.

In 1935 construction began on compulsory repurchased land. The new bomber airfield, now called
RAF Hemswell, was opened on New Year's Eve 31 December 1936 to accommodate the rapidly
st
expanding Bomber Command. The station was home for Hawker Hind, Hawker Audax, Avro
Anson, Bristol Blenheim and Boulton Paul Overstrand aircraft in its early days.

The station and its squadrons (61 and 144) initially formed part of No. 5 Group with its Group
Headquarters at St Vincents House, St Vincents Road, Grantham, transferring to No.1 Group at
RAF Hucknall, Nottinghamshire in June 1941.During the war years various squadrons were
posted to Hemswell, including many Polish personnel flying Vickers Wellingtons. During the war a
total of 122 bomber aircraft and their crew’s were lost on operations from Hemswell, including 38
Handley Page Hampdens, 62 Vickers Wellingtons and 22 Avro Lancasters. Hemswell operated as
a dual site with a nearby overflow airfield at RAF Ingham. RAF Ingham was a grassed field landing
ground with few buildings or facilities. Between 1941 and 1943 the Polish bomber squadrons
(No.305 Polish Bomber Squadron, No. 301 Polish Bomber Squadron and No. 300 Polish Bomber
Squadron) used the airfield for their Wellington operations. The squadrons used Ingham while
training and also flew operations from there whilst the runways were being laid at Hemswell in
anticipation of the arrival of the heavier Avro Lancaster. Ingham was later renamed RAF
Cammeringham and became a full station in its own right, closing for aircraft use in 1945 when the
grass runways became unstable and taking on a ground training role. Cliffe House, that had been
commandeered as the officers' mess and a number of pre-fabricated buildings, Quonset huts and
the brick-built control tower still stand at the abandoned airfield.
With the arrival of the Avro Lancaster, Hemswell took on a training role, becoming the home to
No. 1 Lancaster Finishing School (1LFS). This school was tasked with giving Lancaster
experience to aircrews who had just finished their training at a Heavy Conversion Unit prior to
posting to an operational squadron 1 LFS disbanded as more Lancasters became available to the
HCU’s, with conversion to this type being done also at squadron level, Hemswell again taking on
an operational role. No. 150 and 170 squadrons took up residence and commenced flying bomber
operations until the end of the war. The film "Night Bombers" was shot at Hemswell
During this period.