Bottesford
AirfieldIWM, English Heritage Collection
Built as an RAF bomber station during 1940-41 and improved in 1943, Bottesford eventually had three concrete runways, 26 pan and 21 loop hardstandings, and nine T2 plus one B1 hangars. The station was occupied by the RAF from November 1941 to November 1943 when it was allocated to IX Troop Carrier Command. It was used first for the HQ of the 50th Troop Carrier Wing from November 1943. It was occupied briefly by the 436th Troop Carrier Group (TCG), equipped with C-47s, from January to March 1944, followed by the 440th TCG, also equipped with C-47s, from March to April 1944. Returned to the RAF in July 1944, the station was used for bomber training until the airfield closed in 1945. Return to agriculture began by 1948 when the site was sold. The Newark Storage Company was established in the hangars and other wartime buildings in 1954 by John Rose, who purchased most of the airfield in 1962. The Roseland Group continues to operate the site as the Roseland Business Park with related woodland development. The restored Control Tower contains an office complex.
Connections
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People
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 436th Troop Carrier Group 81st Troop Carrier Squadron
- Service Numbers: 15062560
- Highest Rank: First Lieutenant
- Role/Job: troop carrier
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 436th Troop Carrier Group 79th Troop Carrier Squadron
- Service Numbers: O-?
- Highest Rank: First Lieutenant
- Role/Job: Co-pilot
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 436th Troop Carrier Group 79th Troop Carrier Squadron
- Highest Rank: Staff Sergeant
- Role/Job: Radio operator
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 436th Troop Carrier Group 79th Troop Carrier Squadron
- Highest Rank: Technical Sergeant
- Role/Job: Flight enginner
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 436th Troop Carrier Group 79th Troop Carrier Squadron
- Highest Rank: Captain
- Role/Job: Pilot
Aircraft
- Aircraft Type: C-47 Skytrain
- Nicknames: Night Fright
- Unit: 436th Troop Carrier Group 79th Troop Carrier Squadron
Revisions
Barry Anderson, Army Air Forces Stations (Alabama, 1985) / Roger Freeman, Airfields of the Ninth Then and Now (London, 1994)
Roger Freeman, Mighty Eighth War Manual (London, 2001)
Bruce Barrymore Halpenny, Action Stations 2: Military Airfields of Lincolnshire and the East Midlands (Cambridge, 1984)