Full WW2 control tower details and photos for this wartime airfield are coming soon. Please check back later as this is work progress. If you would like to contribute information or photos please get in touch.
RAF Gamston, near Retford in Nottinghamshire, began as a pre-war civil aerodrome and was quickly absorbed into wartime planning once Britain began expanding its airfield network. Its position in the East Midlands put it within reach of major training and operational stations, yet far enough inland to reduce the risk of frequent coastal attack. That geography suited the role it came to play: a flexible ‘support’ field that could be used for training, relief landings, dispersal and communications flying as needed.
During the war the RAF increasingly relied on satellite and relief airfields to keep training pipelines moving. Parent stations handling large numbers of trainee sorties could become congested or temporarily unusable due to weather and runway wear, so nearby fields such as Gamston provided extra circuit capacity and alternative landing options. In practical terms, this meant a steady rhythm of training flights: repeated take-offs and landings, instrument practice, navigation exercises over the Midlands, and formation drills that could be carried out away from a crowded main base.
Gamston’s wartime landscape reflected this supporting role. The emphasis was on functional infrastructure rather than permanent ‘showpiece’ buildings: operations and signals spaces, fuel facilities, hardstandings and dispersals to keep aircraft separated, and accommodation that could expand or contract depending on the number of personnel on station. A small airfield still required a disciplined ground organisation – air traffic control, meteorology, maintenance, refuelling, fire and crash response – because the accident risk in training was real and constant.
Like many inland support stations, Gamston also contributed to wartime resilience. Aircraft returning from operations or training could divert to a safer runway if their intended base was fogged-in or damaged. During periods of alert, dispersal to smaller fields reduced the concentration of aircraft and limited the effect of any single attack or accident. That dispersal logic was a key feature of wartime RAF planning and helps explain why so many ‘secondary’ fields existed even when they were not generating headline combat sorties.
- Primary wartime role: relief, satellite and support flying for nearby stations, especially training circuits and navigation practice.
- Typical activity: repeated landing practice, instrument flying training, communications and ferry movements, and diversion landings in poor weather.
- Why it mattered: provided capacity, redundancy and safety in a high-tempo training and operational environment.
Gamston’s post-war history continued to reflect its strengths: accessible location, usable runway space, and suitability for civil flying. That continuity is part of its historical value. RAF Gamston is an example of the wartime ‘web’ behind the front line – an airfield whose contribution was measured not by a single famous battle, but by the steady, repeatable training and support that kept the RAF’s larger system functioning.
A useful way to read Gamston’s history is to see it as an ‘airfield of options’. When larger stations were saturated with sorties, Gamston took the overflow. When weather closed one runway, Gamston offered an alternative. When dispersal was required, it provided space. That combination of capacity and flexibility is why the RAF invested in smaller fields and why they deserve attention alongside the better-known bomber and fighter bases.