RAF Barkston Heath
NearGrantham,Lincolnshire in England
AGrob Prefect T1 based at Barkston Heath
Site information
Type	Relief Landing Ground
Owner	Ministry of Defence
Operator	Royal Air Force
Controlled by	No. 22 Group (Training)
Condition	Operational
Location
RAF Barkston Heath Shown within Lincolnshire
Coordinates	52°57′44″N000°33′42″W / 52.96222°N 0.56167°W /52.96222; -0.56167
Area	224 hectares (550 acres)[1]
Site history
Built	1938; 87 years ago (1938)
In use	1938–1943 (Royal Air Force) 1943–1945 (US Army Air Force) 1945 – present (Royal Air Force)
Garrison information
Occupants	57 Squadron
Airfield information
Identifiers	ICAO: EGYE
Elevation	111.8 metres (367 ft)AMSL
Runways Direction Length and surface 06/24 1,868 metres (6,129 ft) Asphalt 10/28 1,318 metres (4,324 ft) Asphalt 18/36 1,280 metres (4,199 ft) Asphalt
Source: UK MIL AIP Barkston Heath[2]

Royal Air Force Barkston Heath orRAF Barkston Heath (ICAO:EGYE) is aRoyal Air Force Relief Landing Ground under the command ofRAF Cranwell nearGrantham,Lincolnshire, England.

RAF Barkston Heath is the home of 57 Sqn's B Flight ofNo. 3 Flying Training School RAF (3 FTS). For a period between approximately 1995 and 2010, it operated theSlingsby T67M260 Firefly, followed by theGrob Tutor T.1 operated between 2010 and 2018.

No. 3 FTS currently provide elementary flying training for RAF and Royal Navy students on theGrob Prefect T.1. A secondary role of RAF Barkston Heath is as a Relief Landing Ground for the flying training activities atRAF Cranwell.

Barkston Heath was constructed in 1936 and was initially used as a satellite station forRAF Cranwell.^[3]

In late 1943, Barkston Heath was made available to theUnited States Army Air Force'sNinth Air Force. It was earmarked for basing troop carrier units scheduled to be transferred fromSicily to participate in the forthcoming cross-Channel invasion,Operation Overlord. During its time as a USAAF airfield, Barkston Heath was designated as USAAF station 483.^[3]

The first US personnel arrived on 13 February fromSciacca, Sicily, and most of theirDouglas C-47 Skytrains on the 17th and 18th, although not all aircraft were in place until a month later. These new occupants were the61st Troop Carrier Group.^[3]

The 61st TCG was part of the52nd Troop Carrier Wing,IX Troop Carrier Command. The headquarters of the 61st Troop Carrier Group moved to anAdvanced Landing Ground (ALG) atAbbeville (ALG B-92),France, on 13 March 1945, but its squadrons went toRAF Chipping Ongar from where they participated inOperation Varsity on 24 March carrying British paratroops who dropped nearWesel.^[4]

An increased demand for theatre air transport brought the349th TCG fromBaer Field,Indiana in late March 1945, with itsCurtiss C-46 Commando transports. Group headquarters was established at Barkston on 30 March, but the group only remained three weeks before moving toRove/Amy, France, on 18 April.^[3][5]

The USAAF returned control of the airfield to the Air Ministry in June 1945 when the war in Europe ended.^[3] From 1983 to 1989 Barkston was home to 'A' Flight25 Squadron (withBristol Bloodhound surface-to-air missiles) when they returned fromRAF Bruggen in Germany.^[3]

On 1 April 1995, theJoint Elementary Flying Training School (JEFTS), which provided training to RAF andFleet Air Arm (FAA) pilots, relocated to Barkston Heath fromRAF Topcliffe inNorth Yorkshire. The school was equipped with eighteen civilian registeredSlingsby T67M Firefly trainer aircraft.^[6]

In 1996 theArmy Air Corps (AAC) joined JEFTS and the school operated as a tri-service organisation until 2003 when the RAF decided to instead provide elementary flying training through its network ofUniversity Air Squadrons. JEFTS as a result was renamed theDefence Elementary Flying Training School in July 2003, with the FAA element re-establishing itself as703 Naval Air Squadron (703 NAS) and the AAC element asNo. 674 Squadron.^[7][8]

In November 2009 the Fireflies were retired and replaced with theGrob Tutor T.1.^[7]

674 Squadron AAC operated the Slingsby Firefly in the 1990s through to around 2007, the Grob 115 Tutor from around 2007 until acquisition of thePrefect T1 turboprop trainer in the late 2010s. Students from all three Services of the Armed Forces were trained during this time as well as a limited number of students from overseas, mainly from certain Gulf States. Training was delivered as part of theUK Military Flying Training System (UKMFTS) contract.^[9]The Squadron was temporarily stood down in April 2021^[10][11] before reforming atMiddle Wallop Flying Station and a transition to the flying grading role.^[12]

The squadron motto 'Nothing Is Impossible' was selected by the Regimental Committee of theArmy Air Corps in order to perpetuate the memory of theGlider Pilot Regiment which bore the same motto.

The squadron crest bears theSphinx of theRoyal Lincolnshire Regiment, chosen because of the squadron's initial location at Barkston Heath in Lincolnshire and the close association of the Chief of the Defence Staff with theArmy Air Corps (he was the Regimental Colonel) and theRoyal Anglian Regiment, the successor to theRoyal Lincolnshire Regiment.

The following units were also here at some point:^[13]

• No. 1 Elementary Flying Training School RAF
• No. 2 Central Flying School RAF
• No. 2 Flying Instructors School RAF
• No. 3 (Coastal) Operational Training Unit RAF
• No. 7 Equipment Disposal Depot RAF
• No. 85 Squadron RAF
• RAF College
• RAF College Flying Training School RAF
• RAF College Service Flying Training School RAF

The RAF Barkston Heath site extends to 224 hectares (550 acres).^[1] It has three runways, 06/24 which is 1,868 metres (6,129 ft) long, 10/28 which is 1,319 metres (4,327 ft) long and 18/36 which is 1,280 metres (4,199 ft) long, all constructed from asphalt.^[14]

The airfield has limited facilities and relies on its parent stationRAF Cranwell for support. The main building at Barkston Heath is the Operational Support Building which was re-opened in January 2018 after refurbishment as part of theUK Military Flying Training System (UKMFTS) programme. It was renamed the Esmonde Building in memory ofLieutenant CommanderEugene Esmonde, a distinguished Fleet Air Arm pilot who was a posthumous recipient of theVictoria Cross.^[15]

Out of six T2 type hangar and one B1 type constructed during the Second World War, only two T2 type remain on the site.^[16]

The airfield contains the decaying remains of anEnglish Electric Canberra at the northern edge of the airfield site.^[17]

RAF Barkston Heath is home to the Defence Elementary Flying Training School, comprising 57 Squadron RAF, operating theGrob Prefect T1 in the elementary flying training role. Aircraft and support are provided by a civilian contractor,Ascent Flight Training, as part of theUK Military Flying Training System contract. Ascent also provides a significant proportion of the instructional staff, the Air Traffic Control service is provided by NATS Solutions Ltd, Affinity provide engineering personnel and other Station support personnel are provided by NBC and the MoD.^[18]

Although the school trainsFleet Air Arm crews, it is under the command of the RAF'sNo. 3 Flying Training School, based at nearby RAF Cranwell.^[19]

703 NAS trains Fleet Air Arm pilots destined to fly both rotary (AgustaWestland Merlin andAgustaWestland Wildcat) and fixed wing aircraft (Lockheed Martin F-35B II Lightning andBAE Hawk). Helicopter students graduate toNo. 1 Flying Training School (1 FTS) atRAF Shawbury inShropshire, whereas fast jet students move ontoNo. 4 Flying Training School atRAF Valley inAnglesey.^[8]

Barkston Heath acts as a Relief Landing Ground for the flying training activities at RAF Cranwell, which is four minutes flying time away.^[19]

The following flying units are based at RAF Barkston Heath. The station is also regularly used as relief landing ground by aircraft based at nearbyRAF Cranwell.^[19]

No. 22 Group (Training) RAF

• No. 3 Flying Training School / Defence Elementary Flying Training School
  • No. 57 Squadron –Grob Prefect T.1

• List of Royal Air Force stations
• List of Army Air Corps aircraft units

 This article incorporatespublic domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency

• Bruce Barrymore HalpennyAction Stations: Wartime Military Airfields of Lincolnshire and the East Midlands v. 2 (ISBN 978-0850594843)
• Freeman, Roger A. (1994) UK Airfields of the Ninth: Then and Now 1994. After the BattleISBN 0-900913-80-0
• Freeman, Roger A. (1996) The Ninth Air Force in Colour: UK and the Continent-World War Two. After the BattleISBN 1-85409-272-3
• Maurer, Maurer (1983). Air Force Combat Units of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History.ISBN 0-89201-092-4.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toRAF Barkston Heath.

• Royal Navy – Elementary Flying Training
• UK Military Aeronautical Information Publication – Barkston Heath (EGYE)

• Royal Air Force stations in Lincolnshire
• Airports in England
• Airfields of the IX Troop Carrier Command in the United Kingdom
• South Kesteven District
• Airports in the East Midlands
• Military airbases established in 1938

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