RAF Bottesford

Place
Airfield
Aerial photo of Bottesford airfield in May 1945
Aerial photograph of Bottesford airfield looking east, the technical site with seven T2 hangars, control tower and airfield code are top left, 30 May 1945. Photograph taken by No. 544 Squadron, sortie number RAF/106G/LA/203. (English Heritage [RAF Photography], via American Air Museum in Britain).
C-47 aircraft and Horsa gliders lined up at Bottesford in 1944

C-47 Skytrains and Horsa gliders line up at Bottesford for take off on a practice mission in 1944. The C-47s belong to either the 436th or 440th Troop Carrier Group. (American Air Museum in Britain, FRE3358)

Bottesford airfield lies partly in Leicestershire and partly in the South Kesteven District of Lincolnshire.  

The airfield opened in autumn 1941 as a station in 5 Group, RAF Bomber Command.  In November 1941, 207 Squadron arrived with its Manchester twin-engined bombers.  It re-equipped with Lancasters in March 1942 and stayed at Bottesford until September 1942, when it moved to Langar.  

In November 1942, No 467 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force, brought its Lancasters to Bottesford.  It carried out operations for a year before moving to Waddington Waddington in November 1943.

RAF Bottesford was taken over by US IX Troop Carrier Command in November 1943.  The first unit to move in was the Headquarters of the 50th Troop Carrier Wing, which set up Bottesford as a reception centre for Troop Carrier Groups (TCGs) whose C-47 aircraft were arriving in the UK from the United States.  

The first TCG to arrive was the 436th TCG in January 1944.  Also in January, a school was set up at Bottesford to train American navigators in the use of the British GEE navigational aid, which was being fitted to US C-47 aircraft.  In March 1944, the 436th moved to Membury in Wiltshire and the 440th TCG arrived at Bottesford immediately afterwards and soon began training with paratroopers of the US 82nd Airborne Division, who were based in the East Midlands.  In April 1944, the 440th moved south to Exeter as part of the general move by units of the 50th Troop Carrier Wing to airfields in the south, to be nearer to bases of the 101st Airborne Division, with which they were going to train and carry into action.

In July 1944, the airfield was returned to the RAF and it was used by No 1668 Heavy Conversion Unit for heavy bomber training until August 1945, when it moved to Cottesmore.  The RAF used the airfield for the storage of explosives until 1959, when it was closed and the land was returned to agricultural use.