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RAF Grimsby
Waltham Grange Aerodrome was a small civil airfield near Grimsby which opened on the 12th June, 1933. In 1938 the airfield was chosen by the Air Ministry to be an Elementary and Reserve Flying Training School, and in July 1939 opened to the public as Grimsby Munisipal Airport. The airfield was requisitioned by the Air Ministry in May 1940 and during the winter of 1940-41 it was expanded to support a bomber squadron. The airfield was named RAF Waltham and operated as an extension of nearby RAF Binbrook. It was exceptionally well equipped with the first concrete runways in Lincolnshire, well insulated wooden accommodation and paved walkways between buildings.
The first resident Squadron in November 1941 was no.142 equipped with Wellingtons. The runways were extended and Lancasters of 100 Squadron arrived in December 1942. The base was renamed RAF Grimsby in September 1943.
Lancasters bombers moved out in April 1945 as the runways were in a poor state, and it was not considered that they were worthy of repair. The RAF station and airfield finally closed in 1950.
15th September 1943 Airbase renamed
20th October 1943 Lancaster lost
25th November 1943 New Squadron formed
17th December 1943 Collision
18th December 1943 Flights
24th December 1943 Lancasters lost
2nd January 1944 100 Squadron Lancaster lost
31st January 1944 Three Lancasters lost
25th February 1944 Lost at sea
25th March 1944 Lost over Berlin
28th Apr 1944 100 Squadron Lancaster lost
12th September 1944 Daylight bombing
2nd January 1945 Accident during practice
5th January 1945 100+ missions
3rd February 1945 Oil refineries bombed
16th March 1945 Operation Thunderclap
2nd of April 1945 Relocated
If you can provide any additional information, please add it here.
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Those known to have served at RAF Grimsby during the Second World War 1939-1945. - Bush Stanley Charles. F/O.
- Cooper Charles John. (d.16th March 1945)
- Curle Richard Alexander. F/Lt. (d.4th March 1943)
- Paget Alfred Henry. F/O. (d.28th August 1942)
- Roots Leslie Charles. Flt. Sgt. (d.18/19th July 1944)
- Willey R. W.. Sgt.
- Woollard Edwin Cuthbert. Sgt. (d.25th October 1942)
The names on this list have been submitted by relatives, friends, neighbours and others who wish to remember them, if you have any names to add or any recollections or photos of those listed,
please
Add a Name to this List
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Want to know more about RAF Grimsby? There are:18 items tagged RAF Grimsby available in our Library
These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Second World War. |
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Sgt. R. W. Willey 100 Squadron Sgt. (Navigator) R.W. Willey served with 100 Squadron at Grimsby during WWII. Any memories?
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Flt. Sgt. Leslie Charles "Jimmy" Roots 100 Squadron (d.18/19th July 1944) My uncle, Leslie Charles Roots, trained as a Navigator at Air School 44 in Grahamstown, South Africa and passed out as a Flight Sergeant navigator in May 1943. He returned to the UK and was stationed in Lincolnshire at various RAF stations with the RAF Volunteer 100 Squadron. He was part of a Lancaster crew and flew on several bombing missions. His final flight was on the night of 18th/19th July 1944 in Lancaster LM620 which left RAF Grimsby to drop bombs on the Synthetic Oil Plants at Scholven. His plane was shot down at 0140 hours and all the crew were reported as missing presumed dead. Their remains were buried initially at Hassel near Gelderskirchen but later moved to the cemetery at Reichswald.He was born in 1921 and was just 22 years old when he died. If anyone has any further information in respect of my uncle, I would dearly love to make contact.
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F/Lt. Richard Alexander Curle A Flight 100 Squadron (d.4th March 1943) Richard Curle was a very close friend of my father. He trained in Canada and returned to fly operations over Germany in first Wellingtons and then in Lancasters with No. 100 Squadron based at RAF Grimsby.
It was on 100 Squadron's first operational sortie (as a bomber squadron) on 4th of March 1943 that Richard and his crew failed to return. They had been sent to the Gironde Estuary in western France to drop sea mines.
A month later Richard's body was recovered from the sea but no trace of the Lancaster or the rest of the crew was located. He is buried in a small cemetery on the island of D'Oleron.
To learn more about Richard and his crew see www.lancaster-ed559.co.uk
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F/O. Stanley Charles Bush Stanley Bush (my father) joined the RAFVR in August 1940. He had been an amateur flyer before the war. He initially trained on Halifax's as a navigator, but was grounded for medical reasons and went into air traffic control, mission planning (he worked on the Dresden raid) and 'special projects' (including the FIDO experiments). He was promoted to Flying Officer in 1943. During his time in the RAF he served at Bawtry, Grimsby and Kirmington. He was discharged in 1945 and returned to his job in the National Provincial Bank.
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Sgt. Edwin Cuthbert Woollard 142 Squadron (d.25th October 1942) Sergeant (Wireless Op./Air Gunner) Edwin Woollard was the son of Izaac and Madeline Woollard, husband of Florence Maud Woollard of Coulsdon, Surrey.
He was 29 when he died and is buried in the Monster General Cemetery, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands
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F/O. Alfred Henry Paget 142 Squadron (d.28th August 1942) My cousin, Alfred Paget was the pilot of Wellington bomber Z1338 which took off from RAF Grimsby on 27th of August 1942 to bomb the town of Kassel in Germany. After bombing the target the aircraft was later caught by search lights and shot down in flames crashing in Kalk approximately four miles east of Cologne, at 0129 hours on the 28th August. My cousin and three other crew members were killed.
The Rear Gunner a Sgt. F C Weighill (RCAF) baled out and was captured. He spent the remainder of the war in camp Stalag 344, in Lamsdorf, Poland. He returned to Canada in 1945.
The crew were:
- Sgt. Bellinger.J. RAFVR.
- Sgt.Tupholme.E. RAFVR,
- and Sgt. Weighill.FC. RCAF.
The four airmen that died are buried in Rhineberg Military Cemetery, Germany.
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Charles John Cooper 100 Squadron (d.16th March 1945) Charles Cooper as pilot, flew Lancaster PB117, HW-D on 16th of March 1945 from Grimsby on night flight to Nuremberg Germany but was shot down 30 miles south of destination crashing into forest near Eysolden, Bavaria. There were no survivors from the crew who are all buried in Durnbach War Cemetery south of Munich.
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