RAF Scorton  | |||||||||||
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| Scorton,North Yorkshire in England | |||||||||||
 Aerial photograph of RAF Scorton looking north, 26 June 1941. | |||||||||||
| Site information | |||||||||||
| Type | Royal Air Force Satellite Station | ||||||||||
| Code | SO/425 | ||||||||||
| Owner | Air Ministry | ||||||||||
| Operator | Royal Air Force | ||||||||||
| Controlled by | RAF Fighter Command RAF Balloon Command | ||||||||||
| Location | |||||||||||
.svg)  RAF Scorton Shown within North Yorkshire | |||||||||||
| Coordinates | 54°24′03″N001°37′30″W / 54.40083°N 1.62500°W /54.40083; -1.62500 | ||||||||||
| Site history | |||||||||||
| Built | 1939 (1939) | ||||||||||
| In use | October 1939 - 1952 (1952) | ||||||||||
| Battles/wars | European theatre of World War II | ||||||||||
| Airfield information | |||||||||||
| Elevation | 61 metres (200 ft)[1]AMSL | ||||||||||
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Royal Air Force Scorton or more simplyRAF Scorton is a formerRoyal Air Forcesatellite station located next to the village ofScorton inNorth Yorkshire, England. The base was opened in October 1939 as part of13 GroupRAF Fighter Command and a satellite station ofRAF Catterick.[2] It was used by theRoyal Air Force, theRoyal Canadian Air Force, and theUnited States Army Air ForcesNinth Air Force during the war.
The famousNo. 56 Squadron RAF flewSupermarine Spitfires from Scorton during theSecond World War. Also the USAAF 422d and 425th Night Fighter Squadrons were stationed at Scorton flying theNorthrop P-61 Black Widow fighter.[3]
After the war, it was kept for a while as a Maintenance Unit base, then disposed of in the 1950s. It is now a site of gravel extraction.
The location was chosen for its flat terrain and its situation close to the now disbandedEryholme-Richmond branch line that had a sub branch line toCatterick Garrison andRAF Catterick.[4] The first unit to use the airfield was a detachment ofBristol Blenheim aircraft fromNo. 219 (Mysore) Squadron, which had reformed at RAF Catterick in the same month that Scorton had opened.[5][6][7][8]
Although originally designated as a satellite station, in 1941, the site was extended into a 'full' RAF station with 12 hangars and three tarmac runways,[9] with the main east/west runway measuring 4,800 feet (1,500 m) compared to RAF Catterick's runway which was 3,300 feet (1,000 m). This was done because Catterick could not be extended as it was sandwiched between theGreat North Road and theRiver Swale.[10][11] At the same time, the decoy landing site atBirkby (to the east near toDanby Wiske, came under the command of Scorton, having previously been an asset of RAF Catterick.[12]
On its re-opening, the first squadron allocated to Scorton wasNo. 122 (Bombay), which was equipped withSpitfire Vs for convoy patrols over the North Sea.[13] No. 122 left forRAF Hornchurch in 1942, withNo. 406 Squadron RCAF and No. 219 Squadron later operating from the base. Initially, four aircraft from No. 406 Sqn were detached to Scorton fromRAF Drem in February 1942, with the rest of the squadron following in the same year.[14] Both 219 and 406 would later move out again and during 1943,No. 167 (Gold Coast) Squadron was reformed at Scorton, before moving toRAF Castletown.[15] Between the spring of 1943, and the spring of 1944, Scorton was host toNo. 604 (County of Middlesex) Squadron AAF who arrived fromRAF Ford inHampshire andNo. 56 Squadron fromRAF Martlesham Heath. The squadrons flewBeaufighters andTyphoons respectively.[16]
In May 1944, the USAAFNinth Air Force transferred twoNorthrop P-61 Black Widow night interceptor squadrons, No.s 422 and 425, to Scorton fromRAF Charmy Down near Bath inSomerset, to train and fly with the RAF night fighter Operational Training Unit assigned there.[3] Initially flyingde Havilland Mosquitoes, their first P-61 arrived at Scorton in May 1944 and their first assignment was to chase night-flyingV-1 "buzz bombs".[17] Scorton was known asUSAAF Station AAF-425 for security reasons by the USAAF during the war, and by which it was referred to instead of location.[18]
The Black Widows would be vectored to intercept approaching V-1s by ground control. Since the V-1 was a little faster than the P-61, the Black Widow had to approach the V-1 from behind and go into a slight dive in order to catch up with it.[19]
The first Black Widow V-1 "kill" took place on 16 July 1944, credited to pilot Herman Ernst and radar operator Edward Kopsel of the 422nd Night Fighter Squadron. One of the greatest dangers involved in killing V-1s was the possibility of getting too close to the flying bomb when one fired at it, running the risk of damage to their own plane if the bomb exploded when hit.
AfterD-Day, the USAAF Black Widows moved to Advanced Landing Grounds at Maupertus (A-15) (422d NFS) near Cherbourg and Vannes (A-33N) (425th NFS) in Brittany France to intercept German night fighters and bombers attacking Allied positions.[20]
After the two American squadrons vacated the base, it was quiet again for a period before the site was transferred from Fighter Command to Balloon Command who used the site for storage. At the end of the war, the airfield was surplus to requirements, but was used first by No. 224 Maintenance Unit, and then with No. 91 Maintenance Unit, who vacated the site in 1952.[17][12]
The following squadrons were here at some point:
The airfield was also home to the following units:[12]
The Aerodrome closed in 1945 and most of the concreted areas have been extensively quarried away for sand and gravel extraction.[17] Most of what was the airfield is now under a lake and a quarry.[23] There are a few military pre-fab buildings remaining in the area – they were dismantled after the war and moved to local farms to be used as agricultural buildings. The site does still have some remnants from the era, such as accommodation huts and brick-built pillboxes.[4] Some of the newer roads in Scorton have been named after Second World War Aircraft (Beaufighter Close, Typhoon Close and Spitfire Court).[24]
This article incorporatespublic domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency
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