RAF Folkingham USAAF Station AAF-484 |
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Folkingham Airfield - 9 May 1944 with scores of gliders and C-47s about a month before D-Day.
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Summary | |||||||||||||||||||
Airport type | Military | ||||||||||||||||||
Owner | Ministry of Defence | ||||||||||||||||||
Operator |
Royal Air Force United States Army Air Forces |
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Location | Folkingham, Lincolnshire | ||||||||||||||||||
Built | 1943 | ||||||||||||||||||
In use | 1943-1947,1959-1963 | ||||||||||||||||||
Elevation AMSL | 266 ft / 81 m | ||||||||||||||||||
Coordinates | 52°51′29″N 000°26′34″W / 52.85806°N 0.44278°WCoordinates: 52°51′29″N 000°26′34″W / 52.85806°N 0.44278°W | ||||||||||||||||||
Map | |||||||||||||||||||
Location in Lincolnshire | |||||||||||||||||||
Runways | |||||||||||||||||||
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Royal Air Force Station Folkingham or RAF Folkingham is a former Royal Air Force station located south west of Folkingham, Lincolnshire and about 29 miles (47 km) due south of county town Lincoln and 112 miles (180 km) north of London, England.
Opened in 1940, it was used by both the Royal Air Force and United States Army Air Forces. During the war it was used primarily as a troop carrier airfield for airborne units and as a subsidiary training depot of the newly formed Royal Air Force Regiment. After the war it was placed on care and maintenance during 1947 when the RAF Regiment relocated to RAF Catterick.
During the late 1950s and early 1960s, the RAF Bomber Command used Folkingham as a PGM-17 Thor Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile (IRBM) base.
Today the remains of the airfield are located on private property being used as agricultural fields, with the main north-south runway acting as hardstanding for hundreds of scrapped vehicles.
Folkingham was known as USAAF Station AAF-484 for security reasons by the USAAF during the war, and by which it was referred to instead of location. It's USAAF Station Code was "FK".
US personnel started to arrive in January 1944 to prepare for the 313th Troop Carrier Group scheduled to transfer from Trapani/Milo Airfield, Sicily. On 5 February it opened as a USAAF IX Troop Carrier Command station flying four squadrons of C-47s. Operational squadrons and fuselage codes were:
The 313th TCG was part of the 52nd Troop Carrier Wing.
However, at the end of February 1945, the group began its move to a new base in France at Achiet (Advanced Landing Ground B-54), although the last elements did not leave until well into March.