BLYTON
Blyton airfield was situated between the villages of Blyton and Northorpe,
bordered by the B1205 in the south and the A159 through the camp sites
on the west side. Built in 1942, the main runway was 03-21 at 2,030
yards, the 14-32 runway at 1,400 yards and 11-29 at 1,430 yards. The
usual 36 pan hard standings were provided off the concrete perimeter
track although one was lost on the east side to a T2 hangar erected
north of Cold Harbour Farm. A B1 hangar was positioned south of Cold
Harbour and a second T2 on the technical site situated southwest of
the runway heads 03 and 11. Bomb stores were located in fields between
runway heads 14 and 21. Six domestic, two WAAF, two communal and sick
quarters sites were dispersed among fields north of Blyton village
on either side of the A159. Total accommodation provided for 1,966
males and 389 females.
Allocated to No. 1 Group, Blyton was first used for flying in the
spring of 1942 when `B' Flight of No. 18 (Polish) Operational Training
Unit brought in Wellingtons from Bramcote. Remaining until February
1943. No. 199 Squadron was reformed at Blyton in early November 1942
and equipped with Wellingtons, the squadron undertaking its first
operation on the night of December 6/7 when six aircraft were sent
to bomb Mannheim. After four weeks of operations the squadron received
orders to transfer to Ingham, leaving Blyton on February 1, 1943,
having flown 119 sorties with only one aircraft lost (on the night
of December 11/12) with but a single fatality among its crew. The
reason for the move was the need for an airfield with long hard runways
to take fourengined heavies - Lancaster's and Halifaxes - of No. 1662
Heavy Conversion Unit. (Ingham was a grass field unsuitable for heavy
bombers.)
Although No. 1 Group was to be an all Lancaster formation, production
could not keep up with the increasing demand and towards the end of
1943 all the Lancs were withdrawn from Blyton and No. 1662 HCU was
left with some 30 Halifaxcs. This remained the situation for a year
until the station was transferred from No. 1 to No. 7 (Training Group)
in November 1944 when Lancaster production finally allowed the Halifaxes
to be retired. No. 1662 HCU resided al Blyton for 26 months losing
over 50 aircraft in crashes. By the end of March 1945, the demand
for specialized operational training was being more than met and the
unit disbanded early in April.
From late 1943 the runways and taxiways at Blyton had often needed
repair and by the spring of 1945 these surfaces were generally in
a poor state. As a result no further RAF flying units were based on
the airfield, which, after a period of care and maintenance, was left
to decay. In the fifties it appeared that the Cold War would give
the station a new lease of life as it was allocated to the USAF for
refurbishment as a reserve airfield. However, no renovation is known
to have been carried out and the USAF party soon withdrew. The following
two decades brought sale of the hangars and land and the inevitable
removal of runway concrete for hard core.
