RAF Riccall

RAF Riccall Airfield

Only ever seen 1 post of this place on here, it's only a couple of minutes from my second home so decided to take the mini explorers for a walk.

Will be returning for a 2nd explore and hope the water has dried up a bit as I am going in. As for the mini explorers they couldn't go in so they went over.

The runway.
DSCN0940 by andiea1973, on Flickr

DSCN0947 by andiea1973, on Flickr

DSCN0948 by andiea1973, on Flickr

Can anyone shed any light on what these are??
DSCN0949 by andiea1973, on Flickr

Found it
DSCN0954 by andiea1973, on Flickr

Disappointment
DSCN0955 by andiea1973, on Flickr

DSCN0958 by andiea1973, on Flickr

Mini explorers going over
DSCN0956 by andiea1973, on Flickr

Horses everywhere
DSCN0970 by andiea1973, on Flickr

Thanks for looking.

great pix,s!

What an interesting location. Must have been a hive of activity back in the 1940's. I think it had 3 runways originally, but would need to do some more research. Lovely photos, what fun for the kinders.

Almost all wartime era airfields had three runways so that planes could always land whichever way the wind was blowing. There are odd exceptions that only have two though.

Should have put the history on first lol, going back next weekend to find the bomb storage site and memorial.

Riccall air field (RAF Riccall, also known as Skipwith Common airfield) was an airfield 265 kilometers north-northwest of London.
The airfield was built in 1942 and opened in December that year as a satellite to RAF Marston Moor. It consisted of three concrete and asphalt runways, six T2 and one B1 hangers. Although offically opened in December 1942 the Halifax conversion units of 76 Sqn. and 78 Sqn. moved into Riccall 3 months prior in September. In October they formally merged to form 1658 Heavy Conversion Unit (HCU) and in November they were joined by 158 Conversion Unit which formed 'C' Flight 1658, bringing the unit up to 32 Halifax aircraft. The unit prepared thousands of aircrew for service on Halifax squadrons. They paid a high price with loss of 72 aircraft during their time at Riccall.
The HCU was disbanded just before the end of the war. Riccall then became home to 1332 Transport Conversion Unit flying Avro Yorks and Short Stirlings converted to a transport role. 1332TCU stopped using the airfield on 7 November 1945 and it was then put on care and maintenance. Various Maintenance Units used it as a sub site for storage until February 1957.
Since the sale of the airfield, much was converted back into farmland. Although several buildings still exist (especially at the former bomb storage site), most of them were demolished. Several taxi tracks and parkings can still be recognised if you know what to look for. From aerial photography it is possible to make out the location of the main runway, but the other two runways are much harder to spot. A memorial to all who served at Riccall was unveiled on Friday 14th May 2010.

Nicely Done, Good to see the kids getting some history on the hoof, keep them safe, Thanks

Great pics. At a guess I'd say those metal rings in the concrete would be either aircraft tie down points or possibly barrage balloon anchor points?

Great pictures, those rings in the ground are for tieing down aircraft, there should be a shelter at the back of the concrete area, and there should be 2 sets closer to the shelter, further out will be 4 evenly spaced apart
Hawkers finest