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RAF Cammeringham, in Lincolnshire, belongs to the dense wartime airfield landscape that made the county synonymous with Bomber Command. The station is often discussed in connection with RAF Ingham, reflecting wartime naming and administrative changes in the area. Like many Lincolnshire bomber bases, it emerged from the rapid expansion that followed the early-war recognition that a sustained air offensive required a huge physical and organisational infrastructure: runways, dispersal sites, accommodation, storage, repair facilities, and the trained people to run them.
Airfields in this region were designed for night operations. Perimeter tracks and hardstandings allowed aircraft to disperse away from the runway, reducing vulnerability and keeping traffic flowing. Technical areas housed hangars, workshops and refuelling points, while domestic sites provided accommodation, messes and briefing rooms. The daily rhythm was shaped by the bomber cycle: crews briefed in late afternoon or evening, aircraft launched into darkness, ground crews worked through the night to recover and service returning machines, and the station rebuilt itself for the next wave.
Cammeringham/Ingham’s wartime identity is strongly linked to Polish-manned bomber operations under RAF command. Polish squadrons within Bomber Command carried an especially heavy emotional and political burden: crews flew for the Allied cause while their homeland remained occupied, and each operation combined operational necessity with a personal sense of purpose. From Lincolnshire stations like this, Polish and RAF aircrew flew raids against industrial targets, transport hubs, ports and military installations across occupied Europe and Germany. They also undertook mine-laying (‘Gardening’) operations, which were particularly hazardous because they often required lower altitudes over defended coastal waters and tight navigation to precise release points.
The aircraft types and equipment associated with the station evolved with the wider bomber war. Twin-engined bombers such as the Vickers Wellington were common in the early and mid-war period, with crews depending on navigation skill, radio aids and disciplined formation tactics in bomber streams. As the conflict progressed, heavier aircraft increased payload and range, but they also brought new maintenance demands – more engines, heavier systems, more complex electrical and radio installations, and a greater burden on armourers and ground staff. The technical workforce was the hidden engine of the station: fitters, riggers, instrument mechanics, radio specialists and armourers kept aircraft ready for operations and fought a constant battle against weather, wear and battle damage.
The key events associated with bomber stations are often expressed in operational phases rather than single dramatic moments: periods of intense activity during major campaigns, high-loss nights against heavily defended targets, and the steady evolution of tactics and countermeasures. Crews faced flak, night fighters, icing, navigation errors and mechanical failure – risks that turned every sortie into a test of endurance and skill. Stations like Cammeringham became communities under pressure, where loss was frequent and routine could be shattered by a single aircraft missing from the dawn roll-call.
After victory in 1945, the airfield’s operational purpose ended quickly as Bomber Command stood down and demobilisation began. Like many Lincolnshire wartime stations, it passed into closure and later civilian reuse, with fragments of concrete, earthworks and surviving buildings offering the main physical link to its wartime story. RAF Cammeringham’s history is a window into the broader bomber war: international crews, night operations, mine-laying, relentless maintenance effort and the human cost that underpinned the RAF’s strategic campaign.