Saltby
AirfieldIWM, Roger Freeman Collection
Initially a grass airfield satellite to RAF Cottesmore, Saltby opened in August 1941 as the home of No. 14 OTU, but closed for development in August 1943. When allocated to the Ninth Air Force in February 1944, it had three concrete runways, 33 loop and 17 pan hardstandings, and four T2 and plus one B1 hangars. The 314th Troop Carrier Group, equipped with C-47s and C-53s, occupied the station from February 1944 to March 1945, when it was handed back to the RAF. However, it was used briefly in May 1945 by a detachment of the 349th Troop Carrier Group, equipped with C-46s. The airfield closed in late 1945 & the station was used for storage until 1948. Sold in 1955, much of the site has since been demolished and returned to agriculture, but part remains active as Saltby Airfield, home to the Buckminster Gliding Club since 1971.
Connections
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People
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 314th Troop Carrier Group 32nd Troop Carrier Squadron
- Service Numbers: 33291763
- Role/Job: Radio operator
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 314th Troop Carrier Group 32nd Troop Carrier Squadron
- Service Numbers: 32176625 / O-750479
- Highest Rank: Second Lieutenant
- Role/Job: Co-Pilot
Aircraft
Revisions
Barry Anderson, Army Air Forces Stations (Alabama, 1985) / Roger Freeman, Airfields of the Ninth Then and Now (London, 1994)
Bruce Barrymore Halpenny, Action Stations 2: Military Airfields of Lincolnshire and the East Midlands (Cambridge, 1984)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Saltby