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 Folkingham, in Lincolnshire near Sleaford and Bourne, opened in 1943 as a purpose-built station created for the transport and airborne role. It sat within a county famous for bomber bases, but Folkingham’s wartime identity was different: it was designed to move people and equipment, and to support the fast-growing airborne forces that would become critical to Allied operations in 1944-45.
The station became associated with American troop carrier activity, operating the Douglas C-47 Dakota (Skytrain). Troop carrier groups in Britain trained relentlessly: formation flying, low-level navigation, night operations, towing gliders, and executing parachute drops with precision. This was complex work. A successful airborne operation depended on timing measured in minutes, and on pilots being able to fly stable approaches at low altitude while under threat. The airfield environment therefore had to support not only take-offs and landings, but also marshalling areas for aircraft, loading points for troops and equipment, and the specialist packing and rigging processes required for parachutes and gliders.
During the build-up to D-Day, transport stations across England were part of a massive rehearsal machine. Crews practised drops over marked zones, learned to handle dispersal and radio discipline, and coordinated with Army airborne planners. Once the invasion began, troop carrier aircraft flew into hostile airspace at night, delivering paratroops and towing gliders that carried vehicles, artillery and supplies. Many stations also continued the transport role after the initial drops, moving replacements, resupply and evacuating casualties.
Folkingham’s location gave it practical advantages: clear approaches, space for dispersal, and proximity to other airborne and transport bases for mutual support. Transport aircraft had to be turned around quickly, with rigorous maintenance and careful planning for fuel and payload. Ground crews worked under intense deadlines, and station operations staffs coordinated departure streams so that large numbers of aircraft could be airborne on schedule. The culture of a troop carrier station was therefore part aviation and part logistics: a disciplined system built to deliver soldiers to the battlefield by air.
As Allied priorities shifted in late 1944 and early 1945, transport stations supported further airborne operations and the general movement of forces across Europe. Even after the major drops, transport aircraft remained essential for moving personnel and supplies in a theatre where roads and rail networks were heavily damaged.
After the war Folkingham’s flying role ended and the station passed into closure and civilian reuse. Its wartime significance, however, remains clear. RAF Folkingham represents the airborne and transport dimension of the air war: an airfield where success was measured not in bombs dropped, but in troops delivered, gliders towed, and logistics moved reliably at the moment they were most needed.
Airborne work also demanded close integration with Army planners, and transport stations became joint-service environments. Loads had to match drop plans, aircraft streams had to be timed, and last-minute intelligence could change routes and altitudes. That planning culture – precision under pressure – was the defining feature of troop carrier bases like Folkingham.