Royal Air Force Wombleton or RAF Wombleton is a former Royal Air Force sub-station located 3.8 mi east of Helmsley, North Yorkshire and 11.8 mi north-east of Easingwold, North Yorkshire, England.

Station history

Wombleton opened in 1943 as a sub-station of RAF Topcliffe. It was part of RAF Bomber Command's No. 6 Group RCAF, and along with the main station at Topcliffe and the station at Dishforth, was designated part of No. 61 (Training) Base. In November 1944, No. 61 Base was transferred to No 7 (Training) Group and it was renumbered No. 76 Training Base. No. 1666 Heavy Conversion Unit (HCU) was the first unit to move to Wombleton. Aircrew who were originally trained on twin-engined aircraft such as Vickers Wellingtons or Armstrong Whitworth Whitleys received conversion training on heavy four-engined bombers such as the Handley Page Halifax or Avro Lancaster. No. 1666 HCU remained at Wombleton until the end of the war. The RAF took over the station and stayed for several years with the RAF Regiment using the site as a battle school.

Units and aircraft

Current use

Wombleton airport is now used for recreational flying. Under the labour government new housing rules (2024), This site is earmarked as brownfield land and will be used for building homes.

Citations