GRIMSBY
A private flying club started by enthusiasts in the Grimsby area during the early 1930s was based on meadowland three miles from the town in the parish of Waltham. The Lincolnshire Aero Club had a clubhouse and two wooden hangars but a larger, more substantial hangar was built in 1937. In 1938, Waltham aerodrome was selected for establishing one of the Elementary and Reserve Flying Training Schools set up by the Air Ministry and run under civilian contracts to provide instruction for would-be RAF pilots. A variety of training aircraft types were used by the school during 14 months of activity but the principal type was the Tiger Moth. Apart from an occasional visitor, the airfield was devoid of flying tenants from September 1939 and late the following year was temporarily closed, the site having been surveyed and found suitable for development. Work began in the winter of 1940-41 to extend the flying field into the parish of Holton-le-Clay, taking in part of the A16 Louth to Grimsby road on the northeast side. The three runways were 18-36 at 1,200 yards, 06-24 at 1,400 and 12-30 at 1,100 yards. Pan hardstandings, 36 in number, were built off the encircling perimeter track. Two T2 and one B1 hangar were eventually provided.
Initially opened as a satellite for Binbrook in November 1941, the new station was officially named Grimsby although the local name Waltham persisted among locals and servicemen on the station. This may have led to some confusion elsewhere as there already was a White Waltham airfield near Maidenhead.
No.142 Squadron's Wellingtons arrived from Binbrook in November 1941 and carried out bombing operations from Grimsby until December 1942. With an urgent need for more night bombers to support the Torch invasion, No. 142 was split, half going to North Africa and the remainder moving to Kirmington where it was used as the basis to form another squadron in the New Year. With the break-up of No. 142 Squadron, No. 1 Group used Grimsby to add a new Lancaster unit to its strength and No. 100 Squadron (reformed in mid-December), commenced operations on the night of March 8/9, 1943. From early 1942, Gee, Walker & Slater Ltd were involved in extending runways 18-36 to 2,000 yards and 12-30 to 1,400 yards across the A16. During this work some 19 hard standings were lost and replaced with loops. Additional domestic sites gave a maximum of accommodation for 2,203 males and 254 females.
In November 1943, No. 100 Squadron's C, Flight became No. 550 Squadron but by mid-January its growth brought a move to North Killingholme. No. 100, however, made Grimsby its home until April 2, 1945 when, owing to deterioration of the runways, a move was made to Elsham Wolds. This marked the end of Bomber Command flying units at the station. Operations from Grimsby cost 164 bombers missing in action or crashing in the UK, 48 being Wellingtons and 116 Lancaster's.
In the immediate post-war years the hangars were used by No.35 MU for storage and the flying field reverted to agricultural use. In later years improvements to the A16, with a bypass for Holton-le-Clay, reclaimed part of the eastern side where a memorial to the men of No. 100 Squadron can be seen. At the end of the 1990s, many airfield buildings still survive for commercial use, including the B 1 and a T2 hangar.
