More information : A military airfield, constructed as a fighter base in the late 1930s: it was the base for several famous fighter squadrons during World War II. War-time photography shows the run-way camouflage and fighter revetment pens (E-pens) on the south and east perimeter. During the Cold War, runways were extended and Operation Readiness Platforms built. Retained after the war by the RAF and used as a base for a Flying Training School. Air shows have been held there in recent years: the resulting marks left by the stalls and rides, and areas of visitor car-parking can be seen on 1992 photography. (1-4).
RAF Church Fenton History is described in detail in a website covering the pre-war, WWII, post-war and current development of the base. It was constructed as a fighter base as part of the RAF's pre-war expansion scheme. It opened in 1937 whilst construction work was still being carried out. To begin with it only had grass landing surfaces but by the end of 1939 concrete runways had been laid. Its main role was to protect the industrial cities of Leeds, Bradford, Sheffield and Humberside from enemy air attack. During the Battle of Britain it was used by hard hit squadrons from the main battle area further south to recoup and work back to operational strength. It was also used later in the war by Operational Training Units (54 OTU) particularly for night fighters. As the allies went on the offensive the base was used for attacks on Germany. After the war it was used by Jet Meteor aircraft and later by a RAF Flying Training School. (5)
Church Fenton airfield, SE 531 378. The Willis and Hollis’s gazetteer provides a statistical profile of the base as it was in December 1944. (6)
RAF Church Fenton was a sector airfield for 12 Group RAF Fighter Command during the Battle of Britain, as such it was provided with a Sector Operations Room and staff. The following Squadrons were stationed there during the battle: No. 87 Squadron from 26th May 1940, No. 73 Squadron from 18th June 1940, No. 249 Squadron from 8th July 1940, No. 85 Squadron from 5th September 1940. (7)
Landscape and Settlement Context:
RAF Church Fenton was laid out about 1km to the northeast of Church Fenton village in the angle of two lanes, Busk Lane leading to the north and Moor Lane leading to the east. Prior to the arrival of the airfield the land it occupies was a post-medieval landscape of sub-rectangular enclosure fields on the flood plain of the River Wharf. The airfield has largely overwritten this earlier agricultural landscape and some of the few features that have been retained are a series of drains leading from west and carried in a culvert
beneath Skelf Street to re-emerge as open drains. Skelf Street also follows the line of the track to the now lost Hagg Farm. To the west of Busk Lane the parcel of land occupied by the officers’ mess and housing was defined by pre-existing drains and hedge rows. The loss of two farms and their associated enclosure fields has created a place dominated and defined by the airfield.
History and description of the site:
History
In response to Germany’s evident intent to rebuild her air force in July 1934 the British Cabinet approved a scheme to expand the Royal Air Force to 75 squadrons. The initial expansion phase was known as Scheme A and was originally intended to be complete by 1939. RAF Church Fenton was part of this first scheme and one of twelve new airfields constructed as part of this programme. Its main role was as an air defence fighter station to protect the industrial cities of Leeds, Humberside and Sheffield, as well as the Humber Estuary. At first the airfield was known as Sherburn in Elmet, and may imply the original intention was to reoccupy the First World War airfield to its south. The purchase of the land at Church Fenton was completed by 1935 and a staged construction programme ran until 1938. Initial works were sufficiently
advanced to allow the airfield to open on 16 April 1937 while construction work continued. The first squadrons of Gladiator and Gauntlet bi-planes arrived on 1 June and 1 July 1937 (Dobinson 1997, 79-84, 236). Church Fenton was also a Sector Operations Centres and on the opposite side of the road to the main gate was a protected operations building, now demolished.
During the war many units and aircraft types rotated through the station. From November 1940 it took on the role of training station for night fighter pilots until December 1943 when it once again became home to operational units. Post-war it remained as a fighter station with a mixture of Mosquitoes and Meteor jet fighters, and in 1951 became an all jet station. This function survived until June 1959 when the station was transferred to Flying Training Command and it continued with a training role until 1974 when the station was put onto care and maintenance. In 1978, it was reactivated as a training station with Jet Provost and later Shorts Tucano aircraft. In 1992, its future was once more uncertain and it was listed for closure and again reprieved. It then became a Reserve Landing Ground for RAF Linton-on-Ouse and later
home to Elementary Flying Training School, the Yorkshire University Air Squadron, and No.9 Air Experience Flight serving local air cadets (McLelland 2012, 74-76). Military flying finally ceased on Friday 20th December 2014.
Description
Typical of expansion period airfields the technical and communal areas exhibit a strong, ordered and rectilinear layout. To meet contemporary concerns about the intrusion of airfields into the countryside expansion period airfields were well-designed with single and double storey brick buildings under plain and pan-tiled roofs, and linked by relatively wide tree-lined roads. Characteristic of the permanent expansion period airfields the buildings are relatively tightly packed and the technical buildings are closely associated with the accommodation areas. The airfield is split into two uneven parts by Busk Lane, to its west in a pre-existing land parcel was the officers’ mess and housing aligned on a north to south axis. While the main airfield was to the east of the lane with the majority of the site aligned on a roughly southwest to northeast axis. This was with the exception of the estate of married quarters to the north aligned west to east on the line of former drain beneath Skelf Street.
The entrance
The airfield is entered through a fine set of original wrought-iron gates, with ornamental trees to either side and to the rear a central grassed turning circle. To the right is the Guardroom, brickbuilt with a five-arched colonnade beneath a hipped tile roof. To either side are annexes that may have originally housed the Fire Party. Facing the main entrance is the station headquarters, brick-built in plain Neo-Georgian style comprising a central double storey block with a flat roof, with single-storey annexes with hipped, tiled roofs to either side (Dobinson 1997, 130-131).
The airfield and technical area
At first it was served by a grass flying field, but by the end of 1939 this had been replaced by permanent runways and taxiways. The main runway, aligned approximately southwest to north east is 1846m in length and the secondary runway aligned approximately southeast to northwest is 1668m long. Both are constructed of concrete and asphalt (Dobinson 1997, 207). To the south of the technical area and facing onto the airfield are two shortened CType hangars. They are a protected type with lower brick walls and windows above with six sliding doors to either end. Both have squadron offices facing onto the flying field and in those of the western hangar are various aircraft murals. Between the hangars was the original control tower, or Watch Office, the so-called ‘Fort Type’ (1959/34). This was probably demolished shortly after the end of the war when the present night fighter station Watch Office was built to the east. It was probably during the post-war period that the T2
hangar between the two C-Types was added. A Bellman hangar, since demolished, was also erected to the northeast of the eastern C-Type. In addition to these hangars were 10 extraover Blister hangars on the dispersal areas, these have all been removed. To the rear of the later control tower are two pyrotechnic magazines protected by earthen banks. To the west of the tower is probably an early post-war Seco hut, this has been considerably reduced and only a short section remains. To the rear of the hangars was the technical area, there have been losses in this section, surviving buildings, between the hangers include the 5-bay Petrol tanker Shed, the 3-bay Crash
Tender Shed, and the Trailer Shelter. To the rear, and to the west, is the main stores building, to its east a number of buildings have been lost including the main workshops (Dobinson 1997, 136), and to its east is the Motor Transport Section. To the north is a brick-built under a pantile roof combined Mechanical Transport Office and Shed, comprising a taller central maintenance bay with a hipped roof and lower offices and garages to either side with gabled roofs. Opposite, and to the south, is a six-bay brick-built garage with a gabled roof. To the east are two more recent garages. To the north of the airfield centred at SE 5263 3829 were four rectangular buildings separated by two earthwork banks. To their south was a larger rectangular building of which a corrugated
shed survives, this was connected to the taxiways by a loop road. These were probably ammunition storage buildings. Given the functions of the units based here they probably held machine gun and aircraft cannon ammunition, which was perhaps prepared and belted in the building to the south. One of the latest features on the airfield is a fuel facility at its northern end. It is constructed from concrete and painted light green. It is a type of structure typical of the 1970s and 1980s NATO hardening programmes. It may have replaced an earlier fuel facility to the east at SE 5306 3836, where a number of features protected by earthworks are shown on Ordnance Survey maps.
Airfield defences
Given Church Fenton’s relative proximity to the East Coast it was originally well defended against air and ground attack. For defence purposes it was designated as a Class IIa airfield; a location that would both be a main target for German attack and vital for repelling any seaborne invasion Dobinson1998, 22, 74) If the airfield came under attack its defence would
be co-ordinated from a Battle Headquarters. The first was to the north of Pines Farm at SE 5289 3864, and is scheduled. After the airfield expanded northwards it was moved southwards to SE 5333 3780, which is now the northwest corner of the scheduled aircraft south eastern fighter pens. It has been levelled and is not included in the monument, although there is possibility that subsurface remains survive. The airfield was originally efended by 11 pillboxes, 6 machine gun posts, 16 gun posts, 3 sleep shelters and 12 fighter pens (Francis 1999, 24). Eight of the fighter pens survive along the airfield’s southern perimeter, all are E-shaped earthworks. Only one pillbox remains on the southwest corner of the airfield; a brick-shuttered
Type 24. Two gun posts survive, one sits on top of the mound at the centre of the south eastern fighter pens. It has a keyhole shaped plan and is brick-built. The gun was mounted in the circular western section and some of its fittings remain, to the east is a small ammunition store and crew room. The other gun post is to north at SE 5252 3830, and is a square brickbuilt construction with a central, circular gun pit, again retaining some fittings.
Communal and domestic areas
To the rear of the technical area was the communal area; this area has been sold and is no longer part of the military estate and was not entered. It is dominated by the station’s water tower and other buildings in this area include airmen’s quarters and communal buildings. To the east of the water tower is a large protected building with earthwork revetments that may be a decontamination centre. To the north-east is a single, double-storey, H-shaped airmen’s barrack block that remained in RAF use. It is brick built with recent upvc windows and beneath a hipped tiled roof. To its rear is a freestanding, brick-built air-raid or sleeping shelter. To the north and west of the technical area are former service housing estates and typically comprise a variety of housing types that were allocated according to rank. At the southern end of the area to the west of Busk Lane was the officers’ mess, which was demolished in 1998 (Dobinson 1997, 128). To its south, and against the lane was a protected operations block protected by an earthwork bund; this too has been demolished. Immediately to the north of the officers’ mess was a series of long, probably single storey huts, that have also been cleared and to their north an estate of officers’ housing. (8)
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