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 Clifton, also known during the war as RAF York or RAF Rawcliffe, began life in 1936 as York Municipal Aerodrome. On 1 September 1939 it was requisitioned for military use, reflecting how quickly civilian aviation sites were folded into wartime infrastructure. Its early military tasks included hosting bomber and support flights, but Clifton’s most distinctive Second World War identity became that of an Army Co-operation and tactical reconnaissance airfield, supporting the sort of low-level, information-driven flying that linked air power directly to ground operations.
One of the earliest wartime users was a detachment of No. 613 Squadron, while the most enduring presence was No. 4 Squadron. Initially equipped with the Westland Lysander, a slow but versatile aircraft designed for liaison, reconnaissance and artillery spotting, No. 4 Squadron operated from Clifton during a period when such work was vital to home defence and to the development of tactics for combined operations. As the war progressed and requirements changed, the unit introduced more capable fighters for tactical reconnaissance, including the Curtiss Tomahawk IIA and later the North American Mustang I. These aircraft offered higher speed and better survivability, allowing pilots to penetrate defended areas, photograph targets and return quickly with reports.
Clifton’s operational flying included training and low-level sorties over the north of England, and like many stations it also experienced wartime hazards at home. Accidents during approach or training flights could have serious consequences given the proximity of roads, villages and farmland around the airfield. The station also endured enemy action: bombing raids on northern targets occasionally reached inland airfields, and incidents recorded in local wartime documentation show that even support stations were not immune.
A major later chapter for RAF Clifton came with maintenance and aircraft handling. As Bomber Command and other formations expanded, the need for repair, overhaul and eventually disposal grew dramatically. Clifton became associated with work on aircraft such as the Handley Page Halifax, and in the immediate post-war period large numbers of bombers were ferried in for dismantling and scrapping. This was not glamorous work, but it was part of demobilisation on an industrial scale: aircraft that had survived combat were reduced to reusable material as the RAF contracted and budgets tightened.
- Primary wartime roles: Army Co-operation and tactical reconnaissance; later maintenance, overhaul and post-war disposal work.
- Key squadrons: No. 4 Squadron (Lysander, Tomahawk, Mustang I) and detachment activity by other units including No. 613 Squadron.
- Geography: close to York, serving northern defence and training needs.
After the war the site briefly returned to civilian flying before final closure in the 1950s. Today, much has been redeveloped, but the wartime story of RAF Clifton remains a vivid example of an airfield that shifted roles as the conflict evolved: from a municipal aerodrome to a reconnaissance and cooperation station, and finally to a place where the material remnants of war were processed back into peacetime reality.