RAF Driffield, July 2009

Shortly after 1pm on 15th Aug 1940 radar operators picked up inbound echoes over the North Sea. This was Adlertag (Eagle) Day - the 2nd part of an attack on the North East coast in which the Luftwaffe hoped to eliminate the RAF before the german invasion.
Their target became clear - the RAF airfield at Driffield, 10 miles inland of Bridlington and home to 2 Whitley squadrons. It's uncertain how many aircraft reached the airfield (reports vary between 12-40), what is clear is that the airfield was devastated and 13 people were killed. This was the heaviest raid of the war on a RAF bomber station.

Driffield was first used in WW1 by the RFC, it was chosen for airfield construction in 1932 and was the first expansion period airfied to open in Yorkshire. At the outbreak of war 102 and 77 sqns were flying Whitleys until the attack described above.
The station reopened as a fighter base until Apr1941 when 104 sqn was formed on Wellingtons, they flew from Driffield until May 1942. Halifaxes were coming into use with 4 group and Driffs grass runways couldn't cope; the concrete runways were sorted and in Jun 1944 466sqn arrived with its Halifaxes. 466sqn was later joined by 462sqn; they flew on most of the major raids in the later stages of the war.
Flying continued after the war until in 1958 Driffield was converted to house Thor ballistic missiles, these remained until 1963, afterwards the base was briefly used as a test centre for Buccaneer aircraft from Brough.

In 1977 it was aquired by the army for the school of mechanical transport and became known as Alamein Barracks. The runways were removed, the air raid shelters disappeared and the hangers were converted to store surplus grain.
The army used Driffield for driver training until RAF Leconfield was enlarged. In 1992 ownership passed back to the RAF, it was renamed RAF Staxton Wold - Driffield.
In June 1996 the RAF ensign was lowered for the last time at Driffield - which makes it fair game!

I visited with Chauffer and Bugsouperstar - thanks for the tour.

The pics:

Squash court:




Barrack H Block:




Barracks from barracks:




Officers Mess Entrance:




Officers Mess Kitchen:




Mess Servery:




Dining Room:




Ballroom:




Feds have been using the place for a bit of training:




Towards the NAAFI - under the sofa they couldn't remove!:





Inside the NAAFI there are exits here, here and here:




The Shopkeepers guide to profit:




Through the shot window:




Some old boilers:




Nice box:




Bug finds time to relax:




Lightning - now that's a proper aircraft:




Light and shade in stores:




That's all folks:





Thanks for looking.

Nice "shots"

Been past there a few times on my way to see relatives in Bridlington, would love to take a closer look sometime.

Cheers
Charles

Thats an extremely nice RAF Base Runner. Like those old Boilers, sort of remind me of the Mrs! Seriously, well captured.

Nice report and 'potted' history. This place has certainly changed over the years since I first saw it - as a five year old traveling to Bridlington in the family car during September 1948. My mother and father ran a cafe on the seafront opposite the Spa prior to WW2 putting a stop to seafront activities. Father joined up in 1939 and in July 1940 Mother moved back to the old family town of Doncaster to work. I was brought up in Doncaster, but my parents pre-war friendships forged in Bridlington remained, we visited Bridlington many times each year and always holidayed there. The husband of one family friend was in charge of the RAF Range/Rescue Launches based in Brid harbour (a trip was very exciting for a young child!), but more importantly in the context of this report, one of their sons was stationed at Driffield in the early 1950s. So the Officer's Mess I remember, looked somewhat different from the one depicted in the pictures.

The Lightning mural (I assume it is hand painted and not bits of a large poster stuck on a blue wall) raises questions. Clearly P. Cawthorne is/was a very talented artist, but the date of commission- 13/3/82 does not tie in with RAF occupancy. Do you know/remember which building it was in?

To add to your comments about runway removal. The rubble thus acquired was used to form the 'mini hills' that suddenly appeared all over the site. Sometimes if you stopped on the main road, you could have an amusing time watching the antics of drivers on these artificial hills.

Thanks for the memories!

Thanks for the comments,

Dirus - the lightning painting is one of the former stores buildings near the hangers.
It's hand painted, I understand that P. Cawthorne was an air cadet, but I have no more information.
I should be seeing a guy who might know some more in the week; I'll post if I find out any more.

I'm pleased it brought back some good memories!

Runner said:

I understand that P. Cawthorne was an air cadet, but I have no more information.

Click to expand...

You are correct about Cawthorne, evidently he went on to become a RAF pilot. There is plenty on the net about Driffield ATC Detachment, but I give the following link because it makes specific mention of Cawthorne. The old stores building, in what was then the Alamein Barracks, was the Detachments headquarters - hence the reason for the position of the mural.

http://www.driffieldaerodrome.co.uk/cadets/cadets.htm

It also seems that many people (ex cadets I suppose) wanted to turn the Officer's Mess into a museum. If you are interested just Google 'Air Cadet Corps at RAF Driffield', a great deal of information is revealed.

Once again thanks for providing the impetus for this little stroll down memory lane!

Thanks for the link Dirus.

There's some good stuff on there; I didn't find it when I was looking for info for this post. Found the "Memoirs of a Space Cadet" well written and entertaining.

Nice report Runner. I've been down that way many times but never seem to get the chance to call in here and have a look about. Love the shot of the sofa, looks like they are trying to see how many bricks they can get on it before it snaps