RAF Waddington

RAF Waddington stands beside the village of Waddington, four miles south of Lincoln in Lincolnshire. Opened in 1916 as a Royal Flying Corps training aerodrome, it became a Royal Air Force station when the service formed in April 1918. During the First World War student pilots, including Americans, learned to fly there. Squadrons such as No. 82 and No. 97 formed at the airfield before moving overseas. After the war the station closed in 1920 and went into care and maintenance. The airfield reopened in March 1937 as a heavy bomber base. No. 50 Squadron arrived with Hawker Hinds and later Hampdens, while No. 44 Squadron flew Blenheims before switching to Lancasters. On the first day of the war in September 1939 Waddington crews attacked German naval targets at Kiel. In November 1940 it became the first station to receive the Avro Manchester heavy bomber. No. 44 Squadron flew the first operational Lancaster sortie from Waddington in March 1942. Today RAF Waddington is the RAF’s Intelligence Surveillance Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance hub. It houses Beechcraft Shadow R1, Boeing RC-135W Rivet Joint and MQ-9 Reaper remotely piloted aircraft. Since October 2022 the Red Arrows aerobatic team have been based there. The station retains its wartime hangars and runways beside the village. Visitors can view aircraft on the apron and see the memorials to squadrons that served from the airfield.