RAF Grantham/Spittlegate

Reference Name MLI34958

Name:
RAF Grantham/Spittlegate

Summary:
Former RAF airfield that opened in early 1917. It was taken over by the Army in 1975, and is now known as the Prince William of Gloucester Barracks.

Location:
LONDONTHORPE AND HARROWBY WITHOUT, SOUTH KESTEVEN, LINCOLNSHIRE

Description:
An airfield which was opened in 1917, during the First World War. It was taken over by the Army to be used as barracks in 1975. It is still in use [1996]. {1}

RAF Grantham was opened (as RFC Landing Ground Spittlegate) in early 1917. It was to play an important wartime training role. For the first eleven years it was known as RAF Spittlegate, was renamed RAF Grantham in 1928, and was renamed again in March 1944 as RAF Spitalgate. The Tiger Moth first went into service there in 1931, and the airfield then had a short spell as a 5 Group Bomber airfield before becoming the home of 12 Service Flying Training School in 1939. Its complement of 1000 personnel was quickly expanded following the outbreak of the Second World War, and eventually peaked in 1942 at around 2800, most of whom were accommodated in hastily erected Nissen huts. RAF training was to continue until 1975 when the airfield was handed over to the Army as a Royal Corps of Transport Territorial Army Depot. It was renamed by the army the Prince William of Gloucester Barracks. {2}{3}{4}

Sources:
1 Bibliographic Reference: T.N. Hancock. 1978. Bomber County. pp.117-8
2 Bibliographic Reference: Otter, P. 1996. Lincolnshire Airfields in the Second World War. pp.80-1
3 Bibliographic Reference: Ron N.E. Blake, Mike Hodgson and Bill J. Taylor. 1984. The Airfields of Lincolnshire Since 1912. pp.167-71
4 Digital Archive: Council for British Archaeology. 2006. Defence of Britain Archive. 4456