RAF Rufforth, Yorkshire
RAF Rufforth, Yorkshire was a wartime operational bomber station and Heavy Conversion Unit (HCU).
Opened in 1942 & closed totally in 1974.
2 x T2 Hangars.
1 x B1 Hangar.
36 x Flying pan dispersals,
1,531 Airmen.
251 WAAF's.
I do not have a plan.
My pictures of the Halifax crew all came from International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive, a brilliant piece of work and well worth looking at ,
RAF Rufforth, Yorkshire
RAF Rufforth, Yorkshire
Control tower.
I have added a set of lovely pictures from a Canadian crew. It gives a feel of what happened here and at many airfields in and around Yorkshire.
RAF Rufforth, Yorkshire
White : Accommodation Site?
Red: Bomb store.
PIA : Petrol instillation aviation.
CT : control tower.
Yellow: Bomb store.
GC : Gliding club.
RAF Rufforth, Yorkshire
Bomber Satellite Watch Office, 7345/41, 13079/41.
RAF Rufforth, Yorkshire
Bomber Satellite Watch Office, 7345/41, 13079/41.
Ground and first floor plan of a 13079/41 watch office.
RAF Rufforth, Yorkshire
From Robert Truman's old Control Tower website. I have managed to recover most of it and a link is above.
RAF Rufforth, Yorkshire
A nice picture of 125 (Cheltenham) Squadron ATC summer camp, thats right, its raining..
This was before the
ATC (Air Traffic Control) was added..
125Sqn ATC.
ATC (Air Traffic Control).
RAF Rufforth, Yorkshire
A picture I was given, but I feel its a Paul Francis picture, probably taken around 1981. This would be a few years after the RAF left.
RAF Rufforth, Yorkshire
Night Flying Equipment Store 12411/41.
NFES 12411/41ARG.
Goose neck flair.
Goose neck flair.
RAF Rufforth, Yorkshire
Night Flying Equipment Store 12411/41.
Two air mechanics checking the engine.
Plan of the stones to protect the open doors from young Erk drivers.
RAF Rufforth, Yorkshire
Night Flying Equipment Store 12411/41 leading onto the airfield.
Erks (airmen) finished all their checks and the planes 700 form filled in and ready to go.
Plan.
700 form.
RAF Rufforth, Yorkshire
Hangar T2
RAF Rufforth, Yorkshire
Mark III Series 1A of No. 1663 HCU.
A bomber station in 4 Group, Bomber Command. Became an HCU (Heavy Conversion Unit) in March 1943. RAF Rufforth and RAF Riccall were satellite stations to RAF Marston Moor. The first unit to move in was 158Sqn.
1943 saw 1663 HCU with Halifax II.
Rufforth was then transfered to 7 Group (Operational Training).
RAF Rufforth, Yorkshire
His and hers.
RAF Rufforth, Yorkshire
Post-war Rufforth was retained by the RAF for use as a gliding school. A motor racing track was built on the site opening for racing on the 28th March 1959. It closed in 1977. Rufforth was used by No. 60 Maintenance Unit for storage before the RAF finally departed in November 1974 and the airfield was sold in July 1981.
Crew in a briefing room for the flight.
RAF Rufforth, Yorkshire
Stanton air raid shelter.
Crew buses to take the crews out to their planes.
Stanton air raid shelter.
RAF Rufforth, Yorkshire
Perimeter track.
Crew arrive at their plane.
Perimeter track.
Dispersal.
RAF Rufforth, Yorkshire
NE/SW runway threshold.
Loading up.
Plan.
RAF Rufforth, Yorkshire
Technical site with the control tower to the left and the only T2 hangar on the right. There was also a B1 repair hangar, now removed.
Pilot.
T2 hangar.
B1 hangar.
RAF Rufforth, Yorkshire
Yellow : petrol installation (aviation)
Red : butts.
Red arrow : perimeter track.
Green : I think this could have been a frying pan aircraft dispersal.
9846/41 type fuel pump house, the type that probably was there.
Pump house plan.
Re fueling heavy bombers.
RAF Rufforth, Yorkshire
The back wall of the 127/41 25yd MG range.
Navigator.
Plan.
127/41 25yd MG range.
Shooting butt.
RAF Rufforth, Yorkshire
Runway & perimeter track..
Heading off.
RAF Rufforth, Yorkshire
Bomb store area.
Bomb aimer.
RAF Rufforth, Yorkshire
Perimeter viewing the fuzing point hut.
Rear gunner or 'Tail End Charley'.
Plan..
Bomb train.
Bomb train.
RAF Rufforth, Yorkshire
Fuzing point hut.
Possibly a Fuzing Point Building UH - 24ft N (Nissen) - 7900/42.
UH = Ultra Heavy.
Fuzing point Nissen hut,
Fuzing point.
RAF Rufforth, Yorkshire
Fuzing point hut.
Possibly a Fuzing Point Building UH - 24ft N (Nissen) - 7900/42.
UH = Ultra Heavy.
Fuzing point Nissen hut,
Fuzing point check list.
RAF Rufforth, Yorkshire
Latrine hut and double entry Stanton air raid shelter.
Plan latrine 16330/41.
RAF Rufforth, Yorkshire
Double entry Stanton shelter.
Plan.
Elevation.
RAF Rufforth, Yorkshire
Standard hut, probably a bomb store crew hut and tool shed.
RAF Rufforth, Yorkshire
Bomb store.
Returning home.
RAF Rufforth, Yorkshire
Bomb store
Possibly a set of three Incendiary Bomb and Pyrotechnics Store 18185/40.
Food at last after a long flight.
RAF Rufforth, Yorkshire
Bomb store
Possibly a set of three Incendiary Bomb and Pyrotechnics Store 18185/40.
Entrance through the earth blast wall.
RAF Rufforth, Yorkshire
Bomb store
Possibly a set of three Incendiary Bomb and Pyrotechnics Store 18185/40.
Inside showing the several air vents and there would have been a thin steel blast door.
Incendiary bomblet.
Boxes of incendiary bombs.
RAF Rufforth, Yorkshire
Screw picket to hold up the barbed around the site.
Barbed wire.
Screw picket.
RAF Rufforth, Yorkshire
Bomb store
Possibly a set of three Incendiary Bomb and Pyrotechnics Store 18185/40.
RAF Rufforth, Yorkshire
Bomb store
Possibly a set of three Incendiary Bomb and Pyrotechnics Store 18185/40.
The Handley Page production line at Cricklewood.
The production line for Handley Page Halifax bombers at the factory in Cricklewood, London. The Handley Page Halifax formed a significant part of the RAF’s strategic Bomber Command during the Second World War. Conceived in the 1930s as what the British Air Ministry described as a ‘worldwide use’ bomber. (Planehistory)
RAF Rufforth, Yorkshire
Bridge of the bomb store road, there would have been another somewhere behind for the return road. There was a one way system and the bomb trains and the delivery loads all went the same way.
RAF Rufforth, Yorkshire
Another Stanton air raid shelter.
RAF Rufforth, Yorkshire
Roadway to the main heavy bomb store.
There were four 50ton stores in an 'A' class bomb store. To the right of this picture is a Fuzed and Spare Bomb Store.
50ton bomb store.
RAF Rufforth, Yorkshire
Fuzed and Spare Bomb Store possibly type 9416/40.
9416/40 type
RAF Rufforth, Yorkshire
Bomb train roadway.
50ton bomb store.
Unloading and loading of bombs through the store.
Unloading ramp.
RAF Rufforth, Yorkshire
Roadway to fuzing point.
Bomb fuzes.
Fuzing.
RAF Rufforth, Yorkshire
Beck to the perimeter track.
RAF Rufforth, Yorkshire