| RAF North Witham USAAF Station AAF-479   | |
|---|---|
| North Witham,Lincolnshire, in England | |
 North Witham airfield, 19 March 1944. Note the cluster of hangars in the technical site, to the northwest of the airfield, and the dispersed T-2 hangar, on the southeast side of the airfield. | |
| Site information | |
| Type | Military airfield |
| Code | NW |
| Operator | Royal Air Force United States Army Air Forces |
| Controlled by | Ninth Air Force RAF Maintenance Command |
| Location | |
  Shown within Lincolnshire | |
| Coordinates | 52°47′35″N000°35′53″W / 52.79306°N 0.59806°W /52.79306; -0.59806 |
| Site history | |
| Built | 1942 |
| In use | 1943-1956 |
| Battles/wars | European Theatre of World War II Air Offensive, Europe July 1942 - May 1945 |
| Garrison information | |
| Occupants | 1st Tactical Air Depot IX Troop Carrier Pathfinder Group (Provisional) |
Royal Air Force North Witham or more simplyRAF North Witham is a formerRoyal Air Force station located inTwyford Wood, off the A1 between Stamford and Grantham,Lincolnshire, England about 104 miles (167 km) north-northwest ofLondon.
The site opened in 1943 during theSecond World War and used both theRoyal Air Force andUnited States Army Air Forces, initially as transport airfield then for miscellaneous uses, before closing in 1956. Today the remains of the airfield are mostly woodland maintained by the Forestry Commission with the old concrete runways still accessible.
North Witham was known asUSAAF Station AAF-479 for security reasons by the USAAF during the war, and by which it was referred to instead of location. Its USAAF Station Code was "NW".
North Witham was allocated to the USAAF Troop Carrier Command in August 1943. Its immediate task was to distribute transport aircraft and the means of maintaining them to operational groups of the USAAF. USAAFDouglas C-47 Skytrain maintenance repair activities continued at North Witham until May 1945, albeit on a reducing scale.
On 1 June 1945 the station was handed over to No. 40 Group,RAF Maintenance Command.
The site was originally partially wooded and some of this remained to the northeast of the runways throughout the military period, but after closure theForestry Commission planted most of the airfield withoak (Quercus robur) andconifers. Part of it is now areserve forbutterflies and theconcrete is slowly being broken up and removed. Ghostly outlines of large numbers of loop dispersal hardstands can be seen inaerial photography, with the perimeter track being reduced to a single lane road. The runway pattern can clearly be seen, some still remaining at full width, other parts being now at half width or less. All of the remaining runway sections are in a very deteriorated condition.
However, the southern end of the airfield is now something of anindustrial estate. In 1957 Conder Seeds Limited (a subsidiary of Twyford Seeds Limited, the Adderbury-based seed specialists) was located on the site and after the closure of Conder Seeds Limited in 1969, Humber Warehousing/Humber Mc Veigh occupied the Conder Seeds Site. The industrial estate has developed considerably with large numbers of grain silos, belonging to Openfield Agriculture Ltd, and highway trailers being parked. In addition, on the part of the site formerly occupied by Conder Seeds Limited/Humber Warehousing/Humber McVeigh there appears to be a very large graveyard of exMinistry of Defence (MoD) equipment (now operated by Witham Specialist Vehicles Limited who dispose of surplus UK MoD equipment), where C-47s andWaco CG-4 Gliders once were parked prior to the invasion ofContinental Europe.
The airfield's proximity to ajunction of theA1 road means that development is pressing against the wood from the north-west. Nonetheless, the derelictcontrol tower remains and on a warmsummer's day, on the runway, in the quiet of the trees, it is a very atmospheric place.
This article incorporatespublic domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency
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