Harlaxton
Location:
to the rear of Harlaxton Manor, off road
between Hungerton and Spittlegate Level,
Grantham
Dates of Operation:
1939 to 1947 – Satellite base to RAF
Grantham / Spitalgate & Emergency
Landing Ground
Late 1940s to 1991 – Royal Observer
Corps post / bunker
1916 to 1920 – Training base
1930s – Relief Landing Ground
Harlaxton aerodrome
opened as a Royal Flying
Corps (RFC) training base
in 1916 with 44 Training
Squadron its first unit.
It was expanded with
26 and 54 Training
Squadrons. 68
(Australian)
Squadrons / Units:
Squadron RFC
44, 26 & 54 Training Squadrons
was formed
68 Squadron
there in
98 Squadron
January
1917 by
20 & 53 Training
Squadrons (40 TDS)
Australian
12 Pilot Advanced Flying Unit
17 Flying Training School (FTS)
Royal Observer Corps (ROC)
26
Remains of a wartime air raid
shelter on the former RAF
Harlaxton site.
personnel and the unit worked
up to become a fighter
squadron and moved to France
the following September.
In August 1917 88 Squadron
was formed there from the
training squadrons, and it
developed into a day bomber
squadron. The original training
squadrons moved on and 20
and 53 Training Squadrons
moved to Harlaxton in 1918
and became 40 Training Depot
Station (TDS), training pilots in
the fighter and reconnaissance
roles. Operations at Harlaxton
were gradually run-down until
closure in 1920.
Permanent buildings
remained until the early 1930’s
but were then moved - just
before the site reopened as a
Relief Landing Ground (RLG)
in the mid-1930s.
The site was enlarged at the
outbreak of World War II and