Harlaxton Manor was requisitioned
by the RAF for use as the Officer’s
Mess and also used as temporary
accommodation of the 1st Airborne
Division during the preparations for
Operation Overlord (D-Day). This
role is commemorated by a Pegasus
badge, displayed in the grounds of
Harlaxton Manor, now the British
Campus of the the University of
Evansville, Indiana, USA.
The airfield reopened in April 1945
until 1947 as a RLG for 17 FTS from
RAF Spitalgate. Part of the site on
some wooden buildings were replaced
by brick buildings with a small control
tower. Harlaxton became a satellite
base to RAF Grantham housing 12
(AFU) and eight small hangars were
built to house Battles, Ansons, Oxfords
and later Blenhiems.
the north-eastern edge was used
to establish the Grantham ROC post
and later an ROC nuclear reporting
bunker, which eventually closed in
1991. Most of the site was returned
to private use in 1958.
Some building structures survive
but they are all on private land
and not freely accessible. The
surface features and hatches to the
Grantham ROC post are just visible
through dense undergrowth from
the roadside.
Grass runways at the base were an
Emergency Landing Ground (ELG)
and In some cases accommodated
Stirlings and Wellingtons. Damage from
emergency landings started to affect
the training role, however this stopped.
World War I fighters in a hangar at Harlaxton.
W J Taylor Collection
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