RAF Tholthorpe
Easingwold,North Yorkshire in England
Old huts at the site of RAF Tholthorpe
Site information
Type	Royal Air Force satellite station
Owner	Air Ministry
Operator	Royal Air Force Royal Canadian Air Force
Controlled by	RAF Bomber Command
Location
RAF Tholthorpe Shown within North Yorkshire Show map of North Yorkshire RAF Tholthorpe RAF Tholthorpe (the United Kingdom) Show map of the United Kingdom
Coordinates	54°06′15″N001°15′30″W / 54.10417°N 1.25833°W /54.10417; -1.25833
Site history
Built	1940 (1940)
In use	1940 - 1945 (1945)
Battles/wars	European theatre of World War II
Airfield information
Runways Direction Length and surface 06/24  Concrete 10/28  Concrete 16/34  Concrete

Royal Air Force Tholthorpe' or more simplyRAF Tholthorpe is a formerRoyal Air Forcesatellite station located nearEasingwold,North Yorkshire, England. It was operational during theSecond World War; having been opened during the 1930s as a grass airfield. It was controlled byRAF Bomber Command, as a sub-station ofRAF Linton-on-Ouse.

From August 1940 to December 1940, Tholthorpe was a landing field forArmstrong Whitworth Whitley bombers ofNo. 58 Squadron RAF andNo. 51 Squadron RAF based at Linton.

From January 1941 to June 1943, Tholthorpe underwent maintenance to upgrade to Class A standards, with three intersecting concrete runways designated main 10-28 at 2,000 yards, 06-24 at 1,430 yards and 16-34 at 1,400 yards.

Tholthorpe was assigned toNo. 6 Group RCAF in June 1943.RCAF squadrons stationed here includedNo. 434 Squadron "Bluenose",431 Squadron "Iroquois",420 Squadron "Snowy Owl", and425 Squadron "Alouette".

No. 434 Squadron, flying Halifax bombers, was formed and headquartered at Tholthorpe airfield from June 1943 until the squadron was moved toCroft. In July 1943, 431 Squadron moved to Tholthorpe airfield fromBurn. It was later moved to Croft airfield as well. Not only were the operational squadrons quartered here, also their service echelons, -respectively Nos. 9431 and 9434 Service Echelon^[1]- which were formed from the ground crew of nos. 431 and 434 Squadron on 3 November 1943 and who moved with their squadrons on to Croft in December 1943.

In December 1943 No. 420 and No. 425 Squadrons (together with their service echelons, nos. 9420 and 9425 Service Echelon^[1]) were moved to Tholthorpe airfield fromDalton andDishforth respectively. These squadrons had returned from service withVickers Wellingtons in North Africa, and it took them several weeks to work up on the newly acquired Halifax bombers. They were therefore unable to fly their first raids from Tholthorpe until mid-February 1944. No. 420 Squadron flew 160 operations from Tholthorpe airfield and lost 25 Halifaxes. No. 425 Squadron flew 162 operations from Tholthorpe airfield and lost 28 Halifaxes. In all, 119 Halifax bombers were lost from Tholthorpe.^[2] In April and May 1945 Nos. 420 and 425 Squadron converted toAvro Lancasters, which they took with them when they left forRCAF Debert,Nova Scotia,Canada in June 1945.^[3]

The station closed in June 1945.

In the 1980s the airfield was used for a short time for private flying. Within a decade, most of the buildings were abandoned and the runways became farm roads. The control tower has been turned into a family residence.

A monument of Canadian granite, and the avenue of oaks and maples between this village and the airfield, honour the fallen airmen who served in the Royal Canadian Air Force squadrons and the citizens of the community who supported them.

• List of former Royal Air Force stations

Wikimedia Commons has media related toRAF Tholthorpe.

• Crash Landing 16 March 1944 Story of crash landing of plane from RCAF 425 Squadron, which was for a time based at Tholthorpe.
• Air of Authority - A History of RAF Organisation 434 (Bluenose) Squadron was formed at Tholthorpe on 13 June 1943 as a bomber unit within No 6 (RCAF) Group
• Photos of Tholthorpe airfield Control towers
• No. 6 (Royal Canadian Air Force) Group Royal Air Force Bomber Command 60th Anniversary
• Photo of Memorial Plaque Memorial Plaque, Tholthorpe Village Green, Tholthorpe, dedicated to 420, 425, 431, and 434 Squadrons
• No. 434 (Bluenose) Squadron information from RCAF.com

• Royal Air Force stations in Yorkshire
• Royal Air Force stations of World War II in the United Kingdom
• History of North Yorkshire
• Military units and formations disestablished in 1945
• Military history of North Yorkshire

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• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from November 2017
• Use British English from November 2017
• Coordinates on Wikidata
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• Commons category link is on Wikidata