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 Metheringham, in Lincolnshire south-east of Lincoln, is a classic Bomber Command ‘Class A’ station whose wartime identity is closely tied to Lancaster operations. Built in 1942 and becoming operational in 1943, it was designed for heavy bomber work: long concrete runways, extensive dispersal hardstandings and a perimeter track that allowed aircraft to be serviced away from the main technical area. In Lincolnshire – often called ‘Bomber County’ – Metheringham formed part of the dense network of airfields that sustained Britain’s main offensive tool for years.
The station is most strongly associated with No. 106 Squadron RAF, which operated Avro Lancasters from Metheringham. Like many Lancaster units, the squadron flew a relentless programme of night operations against targets across occupied Europe and Germany, working within the evolving Bomber Command system of route planning, navigation aids and marking techniques. The Lancaster’s payload and range made it a central platform for the night offensive, but success depended on more than aircraft performance. It depended on station routine: correct bomb loading, disciplined maintenance, and precise flying control to get aircraft safely airborne and back in darkness and poor weather.
Life at Metheringham would have revolved around the operational cycle. Briefings combined intelligence, routes and weather. Aircraft were prepared and armed on dispersals. Departures were timed to join the wider bomber stream. Returns brought the unpredictable: battle damage, fuel-critical emergencies, injuries and, too often, loss. The station’s crash and fire services, medical teams, and engineering trades had to respond instantly. Ground crews then worked through the night and into the next day repairing damage, changing engines and preparing aircraft for the next sortie – because the tempo of the war demanded continuous output.
Bomber stations also carried a strong local and human imprint. The war was present in noise, lights, convoys and constant movement. Local communities saw the bomber force’s costs directly through accidents, funerals and missing aircraft. Within the station, the emotional labour of sustained operations was immense: crews lived with fear and fatigue, while ground staff carried the physical burden of preparing and recovering aircraft in all seasons.
- Key unit: No. 106 Squadron RAF (Lancaster operations).
- Primary wartime role: Bomber Command night offensive, generating sustained heavy bomber sorties.
- Why it mattered: contributed to the long strategic campaign that pressured German industry, transport and morale, especially as Allied operations intensified in 1944-45.
Metheringham’s significance is therefore both operational and representative. It shows how the Lancaster war was fought: through disciplined routine, repeated risk and the unglamorous but decisive work of keeping aircraft serviceable and crews trained. It stands as a memorial landscape to the endurance of Bomber Command and the communities that supported it.
Bomber bases also acted as schools in themselves. New crews learned station routines from experienced hands, and lessons from incidents were fed back into procedures. Over time, that learning reduced avoidable mistakes and improved effectiveness. Metheringham’s long operational use makes it representative of that institutional maturation within Bomber Command.