Page 29 - Dennis Ovenden

Most of the domestic sites were dispersed in fields close to the Fiskerton village to Stainfield road,
comprising of seven domestic, two communal, one WAAF and sick quarters. Maximum
accommodation was 2016 males and 297 females. Despite the station being completed in
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November 1942, it wasn’t to receive its first residents until 2 January 1943 with the arrival of
No.49 Squadron from RAF Scampton. With the arrival of its first squadron came the airfields first
aircraft in the form of the Avro Lancaster. With the station now active, it was assigned to No.5
Group, and became a sub-station for 52 Base, with had established at near-by Scampton. No.49
Sqn’s stay was to be short lived though, and they were forced to leave the station due to the
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runway at the airfield starting to break up. So, on the 13 September 1943 they left the station
heading for nearby RAF Dunholme Lodge, but were later to return to the airfield on the 24
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October 1943. During this period of inactivity not only was the runway repaired, but they also took
this opportunity to install the fog dispersal system called FIDO (Fog Investigation Dispersal
Organisation). But the installation of this system initially caused a number of problems for pilots
when landing. The up draught from the heat and the glare from the flames was impairing the pilot’s
visibility when landing. One Lancaster landing there was said to have made several attempts to
land before finally getting the aircraft down. But these early problems were soon overcome once
the pilots got more accustomed to the conditions. As at most airfields with the FIDO system
installed, it was used as a last resort, due not only to the high cost of petrol, but also the amount of
petrol the system used. On a single burn during December 1944, the system used a massive
188,000 gallons of petrol. At the time Fiskerton was one of only 15 airfields to receive this newly
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developed system. More activity was to take place at the station on the 2 January 1944, the
airfield became the home of No.1514 Beam Approach Training Flight, bringing with
them the Airspeed Oxford.
More change was to take place in October 1944, when RAF Scampton was transferred to No.1
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Group, on the 7 October; with this the station became a No. 1 Group Base station (15 Base).
No.49 Sqn remained under the command of No.5 Group, and subsequently left the airfield on the
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16 October 1944. With this move, it left the station with only the resident BAT flight and a single
detachment of No.141 Sqn flying ʻSerrateʼ night operations which had arrived on the
4 September with its Mosquitos, as the only operating aircraft at the airfield. ʻSerrateʼ operations
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involved armed Mosquito’s night fighters flying in the Main Force bomber stream seeking out
German night fighters, the fox hunting the fox. But they were soon joined by the first arrival from
No.1 Group, No.576 Squadron. The Squadron arriving on the 30 October, with two days later, on
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the 1 November, joined by No.150 Squadron, this bomber unit having been disbanded in North
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Africa being reformed at Fiskerton. This with the arrival of both squadrons brought nearly 40 Avro
Lancasters to the airfield. No.150 Squadron moved to RAF Hemswell three weeks later, the
squadron having suffered no losses whilst at Fiskerton.

A total of 117 Lancasters failed to return from operations with No.49 and 576 Squadrons.

No.576 Squadron casualties were:

Killed: 269

POW: 68

Died in Captivity: 2

Evaded and returned to the UK: 11