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 Wellingore was a small but busy Lincolnshire landing ground whose wartime importance lay in its role as a flexible ‘spare runway’ for nearby fighter and training stations. The site first saw military flying in late 1917, when it operated under the Royal Naval Air Service as Wellingore Heath. Like many early fields it closed after the First World War, only to be revived in the re-armament years and re-opened in 1935 as a Relief Landing Ground (RLG) supporting RAF Cranwell. As the European situation deteriorated, Wellingore was expanded with a perimeter track, hangars and dispersed parking pens so that it could absorb aircraft at short notice and keep operational stations flowing.
Once war began, Wellingore’s task evolved. It became closely tied to RAF Digby, the Lincolnshire fighter station, and also acted as a safety valve for other units operating in the East Midlands. Because the airfield was grass, pilots needed sound judgement in bad weather, yet its layout and dispersals meant it could host sizeable detachments. That ‘detachment’ pattern is the key to understanding Wellingore: it was not primarily a long-term home to one squadron, but a place where squadrons could operate, land, refuel, disperse or recover while remaining under the control of their parent sector.
Several notable squadrons passed through. No. 29 Squadron arrived in mid-1940, initially with Bristol Blenheim night fighters and later Bristol Beaufighters, a period that reflects the early scramble to strengthen home defence and night interception. Canadian squadrons also featured prominently: No. 402 (RCAF) operated Hawker Hurricanes in 1941 and later returned with Supermarine Spitfires in early 1944; No. 412 (RCAF) flew Spitfires from late 1941 into 1942. Other brief postings included No. 54 Squadron RAF and Spitfire units such as No. 81 Squadron RAF and No. 154 (Motor Industries) Squadron. The mix of Hurricanes, Spitfires, Blenheims and Beaufighters illustrates the airfield’s ‘utility’ role across different phases of the air war.
Operationally, Wellingore’s day-to-day rhythm would have been defined by rapid turnarounds, dispersal discipline and constant readiness. Relief airfields reduced congestion and mitigated risk: if an enemy raid cratered a main runway or weather shut a station down, squadrons could divert to Wellingore, regroup and fly again. The presence of night-fighter aircraft also hints at the wider defensive network across Lincolnshire, where radar, sector control and local airfields combined to protect industrial centres and the bomber bases that were increasingly dominating the county’s landscape.
Today, the story of RAF Wellingore helps visitors understand that wartime aviation was not only about famous front-line bases. The system relied on supporting airfields that provided resilience. Wellingore’s scattered units, varied aircraft types and ‘always ready’ nature are exactly what made it valuable in the years when Lincolnshire earned its nickname as ‘Bomber County’ and every usable strip of grass mattered.
Although little survives above ground, maps and aerial imagery still hint at the wartime perimeter track and dispersed layout. When visiting the area, look for subtle changes in field boundaries and tracks – quiet traces of a field that repeatedly hosted Spitfires, Hurricanes, Blenheims and Beaufighters when the wider air defence system needed breathing space.