RAF Pocklington - East Yorkshire
RAF Pocklington situated between Barmby Moor and the town of Pocklington
Pocklington WW2 aerial photo
Pocklington OS map
The airfield was situated in East Yorkshire between the village of Barmby Moor to the west and the market town on Pocklington to the east. It was bordered to the south my the A1079 main road from Hull to York and to the north by the B1246 road which ran from Barmby Moor to Pocklington
The airfield was named RAF Pocklington although no part of the site actually lay within the civil parish of Pocklington. The airfield, the associated technical area and most of the accommodation facilities were instead located within the parish of the host village of Barmby Moor with several hangars, hardstandings and the WAAF accommodation located to the south west of the main A1079 road in the neighbouring parish of Allerthorpe. Munitions were stored, serviced and prepared in a separate area on the north side of the B1246 road which was rather too close of the village of Barmby Moor for safety
Airfield construction started in late 1940 and was built on the standard design of 3 runways. Originally, the airfield was planned to have grass runways but the requirement for concrete runways and perimeter track to support heavier aircraft and bomb loads had already been introduced by the time work commenced.
Late into the building of the three runways it was realised that the runway 3 (07-25 of 1,300 yards) posed a threat to the nearby village of Barmby Moor, and so was abandoned in favour of a fourth runway (13–31 of 1,600 yards)
Three hangars were originally constructed and these were supplemented by the two additional hangars on the other side of the main A1079 road.
The first Squadron bases at Pocklington was 405 Squadron RCAF flying Wellington bombers from the 20 June 1941 to 7 August 1942 when they moved to RAF Topcliffe.
405 Vancouver Squadron RCAF Wellington with Merlin engines
405 Vancouver Squadron RCAF Wellington
They were replaced by 102 Squadron with the four engined Handley Page Halifax bombers who arrived from RAF Topcliffe. This Squadron flew numerous operations and sorties from the airfield with great distinction until the end of WW2 and remained at Pocklington till the airfield closed in September 1946.
Handley Page Halifax 102 Squadron
Handley Page Halifax BVI 102.Squadron
The Air Traffic Control Tower was originally situated to the south but was too near the runways for safety and relocated to the northern side of the airfield in mid 1944.
There were quite a few crashes on and around the airfield but only 2 civilian fatal casualties are recorded. On Xmas Eve 1944 an airborne launched V1 flying bomb flew over the airfield and came down in a gravel pit very close to the village of Barmby Moor. Fortunately there were no injuries but a number of properties were damaged.
The site is now occupied by a thriving business park both sides of the A1079. Some of the land has returning to agricultural use and the successful and popular Wolds Gliding Club use two of the remaining runways
Pocklington Hangar on present day business park
Airfield Memorial Wolds Gliding Club Pocklington
Compiled by David Fell with photos from my archive and WWP
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