RAF Hemswell

RAF Hemswell (Formerly RFCS Harpswell)
Hangars and buildings still standing at Hemswell
IATA: none ICAO: none
Summary
Airport type	Military
Operator	Royal Flying Corps Royal Air Force United States Air Force
Location	Hemswell Cliff, Lincolnshire
Elevation AMSL	177 ft / 54 m
Coordinates	53°23′56″N 000°34′26″W / 53.39889°N 0.57389°W / 53.39889; -0.57389Coordinates: 53°23′56″N 000°34′26″W / 53.39889°N 0.57389°W / 53.39889; -0.57389
Map
RAF Hemswell Location in Lincolnshire
Decommissioned and closed in 1967 Military Bomber airfield and a later Ballistic Missile base

Royal Air Force Station Hemswell or more simply RAF Hemswell is a former Royal Air Force station located 7.8 miles (12.6 km) east of Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, England.

Located close to the village of Hemswell in Lincolnshire, England the disestablished 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 used by RAF Bomber Command for 20 years between 1937 and 1957 and saw most of its operational life during the Second World War. Later used again by RAF Bomber Command as a nuclear ballistic missile base during the Cold War it closed to military use in 1967.

On 19 March 1940 RAF Hemswell-based Handley Page 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 immortalised on film when it 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.