MELBOURNE

Originally a grass airfield, Melbourne began life in 1940 on a very "temporary" basis with no permanent buildings. It became pretty obvious that to continue in use as a heavy bomber airfield, Melbourne had to be a bit more practical.

In 1942 the airfield was reconstructed to heavy bomber status, with concrete runways and more permanent buildings.

10 squadron became the residents for the duration of the war and was eventually transferred to Transport Command in 1945. 575 Squadron, from Broadwell, replaced No10 with Dakotas and were joined by 1552 Radio Aids Training Flight which formed at Melbourne.

Late 1945 saw 575 Squadron move to Blakehill Farm, the following year RAT Flight left and Melbourne closed.

Melbourne is now within a working farm and permission must be sought from the landowner to venture on. A lot of the buildings within the farm have been restored and are in use, praise must go to the landowner for the tremendous job of supporting the restoration of the control tower and erection of a memorial to the personnel of Melbourne.

Parts of the disused runways are now used for drag racing meets on weekends.

Location: Ordnance Survey Map 106 location SE765420
This button will take you back to the yorkshire airfields list.This link takes you to a view of part of what's left of the runway.This link takes you to the control tower page.This link will take you to a page about the runway.This is a link to a page showing one of the surviving buildings.This link takes you to a page showing the guard room and a mechanical transport shed or MT shed.This is a link to the airfield memorial page.This link takes you to a picture of a picket post, which was a small guard post to the accommodation area.

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