RAF Melton Mowbray | |||||||||||||||||||
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Summary | |||||||||||||||||||
Airport type | Royal Air Force station | ||||||||||||||||||
Owner | Air Ministry | ||||||||||||||||||
Operator | Royal Air Force | ||||||||||||||||||
Location | Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire | ||||||||||||||||||
Built | 1941 (1941) | ||||||||||||||||||
In use | 1942-1964 (1964) | ||||||||||||||||||
Elevation AMSL | 374 ft / 114 m | ||||||||||||||||||
Coordinates | 52°44′01″N 000°53′47″W / 52.73361°N 0.89639°W / 52.73361; -0.89639 | ||||||||||||||||||
Map | |||||||||||||||||||
Location in Leicestershire | |||||||||||||||||||
Runways | |||||||||||||||||||
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Royal Air Force Melton Mowbray or more simply RAF Melton Mowbray is a former Royal Air Force station located 2.3 miles (3.7 km) south of the centre of Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire and 13.6 miles (21.9 km) south east of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England.
The Class A airfield was originally intended for aircraft maintenance but was taken over by RAF Transport Command. Many types of aircraft were flown from the airfield, including Supermarine Spitfire, de Havilland Mosquito, Vought F4U Corsair, Vultee A-31 Vengeance, Grumman F6F Hellcat, Douglas C-47 Dakota and Handley Page Halifax aircraft, plus Airspeed Horsa and Waco Hadrian gliders.[citation needed]
Between 1946 and 1958 the site was used as a Polish Resettlement Corps camp housing Polish Air Force personnel and their relations.[2]
Melton Mowbray served as a Thor Strategic missile site between 1959 and 1963, when 254(SM) Squadron[3] operated a flight of three missiles from the base.[4]
The airfield now houses a small industrial estate including padstore self storage, terminal 1, lounds pallets and JCR commercial Ltd. Little of the original infrastructure has Survived (2 Runways, 3 Access Road and A Small Brick House)
A YouTube video published in 2019 shows the current use of the runway.[citation needed]
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