RAF Balderton

Infobox Military Structure
name= Royal Air Force Station Balderton
USAAF Station 482
location= Located Near Balderton, Nottinghamshire, England
coordinates=coord|53|02|28|N|000|47|09|W|


caption= Balderton airfield, 18 April 1944
type= Military airfield
code=BD ?
built=1941
builder=
materials=
height=
used=1941-1945
demolished=
condition=
ownership=
controlledby=Royal Air Force
United States Army Air Forces
garrison=RAF Bomber Command
Ninth Air Force
commanders=
occupants=No. 5 Group
437th, 439th Troop Carrier Groups
battles= European Theatre of World War II
Air Offensive, Europe July 1942 - May 1945 Location map|Nottinghamshire
caption= RAF Balderton, shown within Nottinghamshire
lat= 53.066667
long= -0.783333
width= 200

RAF Balderton was a World War II airfield in England. It is located two miles south of Newark-on-Trent, sandwiched between the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) London-York line and the A1 highway in Nottinghamshire.

During the war Balderton airfield was used by United States Army Air Force Ninth Air Force IX Troop Carrier Command as a Douglas C-47/C-54 Skytrain transport station. It was also used by Royal Air Force and Royal Canadian Air Force units.

The USAAF Station Code for Balderton was 482.

Overview

Balderton airfield started life in the spring of 1941 with a grass surface over stiff clay. The Canadian-manned No. 408 Squadron. with their twin engined Handley Page Hampden medium bombers arrived in December 1941. However, conditions were so spongy that the aircraft had to operate from another station until the field dried out in the early spring

The squadron stayed until the following October when preparations were put in hand to construct concrete runways. Messrs W. & C. French Ltd being the major contractor, completed the work by March 1943. The main runway was 6,110 ft aligned 08-26, with secondary runways of 4200 ft at 113-21. and 4211 ft at 15-33. Hardstands were 21 pan-type with 31 loop-type added later. A single blister hangar and two T-2s gave cover but in 1943 two additional T-2s were erected in connection with 32 Horsa gliders that were stored on the airfield. Accommodation on the utility hutted sites catered for 2,413 persons.

Initial RAF Bomber Command

The airfield was assigned to No. 5 Group and received No. 408 Squadron and its Handley Page Hampden from RAF Syerston in December 1941.

USAAF Use

The airfield was officially taken over by Ninth Air Force on New Year's Day 1944. Balderton was used as a reception center for C-47 troop carrier groups arriving from the United States that were subsequently located at other UK airfields.

437th Troop Carrier Group

The first USAAF transport unit to arrive was the 437th Troop Carrier Group during January 1944 from Baer Army Airfield, Indiana. The group's squadrons and fuselage codes were:

* 83d Troop Carrier Squadron (T2)
* 84th Troop Carrier Squadron (Z8)
* 85th Troop Carrier Squadron (90)
* 86th Troop Carrier Squadron (5K)

The 439th was a group of Ninth Air Force's 53d Troop Carrier Wing, IX Troop Carrier Command.

The first aircraft arrived on 21 January and the group hardly had time to settle in when, on 5/6 February 5 it was moved south to RAF Ramsbury in Wiltshire.

439th Troop Carrier Group

On 21 February, the 91st and 92d Troop Carrier Squadrons for the 439th Troop Carrier Group also arrived from Baer Army Airfield. Two other squadrons, the 93d and 94th TCS arrived on 6 March. The group's squadrons and fuselage codes were:

* 91st Troop Carrier Squadron (L4)
* 92d Troop Carrier Squadron (J8)
* 93d Troop Carrier Squadron (3B)
* 94th Troop Carrier Squadron (D8)

The 439th was a group of Ninth Air Force's 50th Troop Carrier Wing, IX Troop Carrier Command.

Intensive training with paratroops of the 82nd Airborne Division was conducted until the 439th was moved to RAF Upottery in Devon on 26 April, although all elements did not move until May.

Operation Market-Garden

Balderton was retained by IX Troop Carrier Command throughout the summer of 1944, and it was about to be released to the Royal Air Force when, in September, it was required as an advance base for Operation "Market".

Ground units moved in during the first week and the air echelon of the 439th TCG, which had been in the process of moving to France, returned to Balderton to airlift the ground forces into Holland.

On 17 September the 439th despatched two flights of aircraft. The first, with 30 C-47s carrying paratroops of the 82nd Airborne Division to Groesbeek near Nijmegen, successfully completed their mission. The 50 C-47s of the second flight towed CG-4A Waco gliders, losing one but no C-47s were lost.

The next day, 50 C-47s again towed gliders to Groesbeck. On D-plus 2, 25 C-47s took port in an unsuccessful re-supply mission. On D-plus 3, 15 C-47s of the goup carried out a re-supply drop to the 101st Airborne Division from RAF Greenham Common.

Subsequent RAF Use

Balderton was returned to No. 5 Group. RAF Bomber Command, at the end of September and the re-formed No. 227 Squadron with Avro Lancasters flew its first mission from the airfield on 11 October 1944. The squadron (code 9J-) was reassigned in April 1945.

Having no operational usefulness to the RAF, from June 1945, bombs were stored on the runways. Like many wartime airfields, it languished unused with a little demolition until gradually disposed of in the 1950s.A notice in the "Times" for 20 May 1957 lists the airfield as one of those no longer needed by the RAF. Balderton was then sold by the MOD.

Civil Use

With the facility released from military control, Balderton was returned to agriculture, the runway concrete disappearing as hardcore under the A1 road improvements of the 1960s. At that time, the developed Al was routed west of the original road, over the eastern perimeter track of the airfield, before coming back to the east to bypass Balderton village and Newark.

Gypsum open-pit mining has also taken its toll where quarrying has completely obliterated the western side of the airfield, however much still remains including the MT sheds and the Sergeants' Mess still complete with its brick fireplace.

ee also

* List of RAF stations
* USAAF Ninth Air Force - World War II
* 82nd Airborne Division
* 437th Airlift Wing
* 439th Airlift Wing

References

* Freeman, Roger A. (1994) UK Airfields of the Ninth: Then and Now 1994. After the Battle ISBN 0900913800
* Maurer, Maurer (1983). Air Force Combat Units Of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0892010924. ]
* [http://www.armyairforces.com/dbgroups.asp?Group=249] ArmyAirForces.com 437th Troop Carrier Group
* [http://www.armyairforces.com/dbgroups.asp?Group=251] ArmyAirForces.com 439th Troop Carrier Group

External links

* [http://www.multimap.com/map/photo.cgi?client=public&X=481500&Y=350000&width=700&height=400&gride=481500.999997475&gridn=350000.916634236&srec=0&coordsys=gb&db=grid&pc=&zm=0&scale=10000&out.x=3&out.y=7 Aerial Photo of RAF Balderton from Multimap.Com]