RAF Ludford Magna

Royal Air Force Ludford Magna
Ludford, Lincolnshire, England
A stretch of original perimeter track still standing at Ludford Magna
Royal Air Force Ludford Magna
Coordinates	53°22′26″N 0°11′34″W / 53.3737874°N 0.1926533°W / 53.3737874; -0.1926533
Type	Disused former RAF Bomber Command airfield
Site information
Owner	Now returned to private agricultural ownership
Controlled by	No. 1 Group RAF, RAF Bomber Command
Open to the public	No
Condition	Dismantled. Former runways visible as cropmarks. Three Thor launchpads still stand at the centre of the airfield, although the brick structures have been dismantled.
Site history
Built	1943 (1943)
Built by	George Wimpey
In use	June 1943 - October 1945 July 1958 - May 1963
Materials	Concrete runways and perimeter tracks. Most buildings were of the temporary Nissen hut type
Demolished	1963
Battles/wars	Battle of the Ruhr Battle of Berlin Cold War
Garrison information
Occupants	No. 101 Squadron RAF 14 Base HQ (1943-5) No. 104 Squadron RAF (1958-63)

RAF Ludford Magna was a Royal Air Force airfield operated by Bomber Command during the Second World War and the Cold War. The station lay on agricultural farmland immediately south of the village of Ludford, Lincolnshire and was sited 21.4miles (34.4 km) north east of the county town of Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England. The remains of the station can be seen from the B1225 Caistor High Street, and the long distance footpath the Viking Way passes right next to the eastern perimeter track.

Used for Avro Lancaster bomber operations in the latter part of the Second World War the station was placed on care and maintenance until the mid-1950s when it was reactivated as a Cold War base for Thor intermediate range ballistic nuclear missiles (IRBMs). The station closed in the early part of the 1960s and has been mostly dismantled and returned to agricultural uses

The station was constructed by George Wimpey with concrete runways on a 650-acre (260 ha) site in June 1943, on the site of High Fields Farm, and originally assigned to No. 1 Group RAF, headquartered at RAF Bawtry. It was the highest bomber airfield in England at 428 feet (130 m) above sea level, and cost £803,000.

No. 101 Squadron RAF arrived on 15 June 1943 from RAF Holme-on-Spalding Moor and was declared operational three days later on 18 June. The squadron remained the primary occupants during the Second World War.

Ludford Magna was the first airfield in 1 Group to be equipped with the experimental FIDO dispersal system, first used on 10 March 1944, as one of only fifteen RAF stations to be equipped with the pyrotechnic fog landing system in the UK. Six T2 and one B1 hangars were eventually erected on the airfield. There were three concrete runways, one north-south main at 2,000 yards (1,830 m) and two 1,400-yard (1,300 m) runways in a standard triangular layout.