St Vincents (Grantham)
Location:
a private residence off St Vincents
Road, Grantham.
Bomber Command Head Quarters
USAAF Air Force’s 9th Troop
Carrier Command
Located at the foot of
Spittlegate Hill, St Vincents
Hall in Grantham was built
in 1865 as the home
of local industrialist
Richard Hornsby,
founder of the engine
and machinery
manufacturer
company
Units Commemorated:
Richard
RAF HQ – 23 & 5 Group;
Hornsby
USAAF 9th TCG HQ; RAF 7
& Sons.
Group; former Council offices
The Möhne dam
- breached in the
Dambusters raid
38
The property was
purchased by the Air Ministry
in 1923, but not occupied until
August 1926 when 23 Group
moved in and used the hall as
their headquarters to control
various flying training units
until 1937. Two years later
5 Group Bomber Command
moved to St Vincents from
RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk.
It was during this period
of usage that possibly the
most famous operation in
British aviation history was
co-ordinated from St Vincents
- ‘Operation Chastise’.
This was an attack on
German dams carried out
on 16th /17th May 1943 by
617 Squadron, subsequently
known as the “Dam Busters
Raid” and immortalised on the
big screen.
On the night of the raid
Air Chief Marshal ‘Bomber’