Desolate Humber airbase visited by a US president and key to protecting Hull
RAF GOXHILL WAS ONCE A BUSTLING AIRBASE HOUSING FEARLESS FIGHTER PILOTS
IN a little corner of North East Lincolnshire is a desolate looking site that was once home to fighter pilots who were key to protecting Hull during the Second World War.
Wedged between the Humber Bridge and Immingham Docks is the site of Goxhill Airbase. Once upon a time endless fighter planes would take off and land on one of its three runways.
In the corrugated iron huts and prefab buildings, RAF pilots and then American servicemen would bustle about, carrying out missions which would help in the defeat of the Nazis while protecting Hull and the surrounding areas.
Now, the runways are surrounded by farmland and are covered in overgrown bushes. One section is now home to a timber company and it is all a far cry from the scenes 80 years ago.
Work started on Goxhill airfield in October, 1940. It was the most northerly of the airfields built for bomber command in Lincolnshire.
The runways were made of a chalk foundation with a slag covering brought from Scunthorpe steel mills and a quarry at Burnham. A top layer of tarmacadam was applied over the slag to “seal” the surface.
There were two runways of 1,100 yards by 50 yards and a third of 1,600 yards by 50 yds. In addition to the runways a number of hangers were also built and a two-storey brick control tower.
The building on the eastern side of the airfield included an armoury, briefing room, cine and gun camera workshops, equipment stores, meteorological section, operations block and the photographic section. There was also accommodation for the personnel with mess facilities.
On September 18, 1941 No 1 Group Bomber Command posted its target training flight of nine Lysanders to RAF Goxhill but that was shortlived and, in December that yea, the station was transferred to No 12 Group Fighter Command. It was used by the Spitfires of the Kirton Lindsey Sector during January 1942.
With the Americans entering the European war, many airfields were allocated to them, allowing them to build up their forces. Goxhill was numbered “Station 345” and June 10, 1942 saw the first American unit arriving directly from the States.
The transfer ceremony was attended by General Dwight D Eisenhower – who 11 years later would become the 34th President of the United States.
Goxhill was to be the training base for pilots in all aspects and operating procedures in Europe. The formal handover of the station from the RAF to the USAAF took place in August, 1942. The airbase saw a number of US squadrons and different types of fighter planes use Goxhill.
In December 1943, the 496th Fighter Training Group, consisting of two squadrons, was set up as a combat crew replacement centre to serve both the 8th and the 9th Air Forces.
A heavy training programme was carried out by these two Squadrons and it is recorded that by late October 1944, there had been 118 accidents inwhich 53 aircraft had been written off and 22 pilots killed.
In reality Goxhill was a Staging Base. The airmen trained with their aircraft, gunnery and got to know the English people and their customs before moving on to the combat airfields of East Anglia.
The airfield was transferred back to the RAF Fighter Command on January 20, 1945. A care and maintenance staff occupied the station until May 27, 1945 when maintenance command took over. The airfield was used for bomb storage until December 1953 when the site was declared “inactive”.
The Ministry of Supply retained the hangars as a home office supply depot until 1977 when they finally relinquished the site. During this period the hangars had been used for the storage of the “Green Goddess” fire engines and sandbags for emergency use.
On June 21, 1998 a plaque was dedicated to honour the “Fighting Scouts of the Eighth Air Force” who trained at Goxhill. It was unveiled by William E Schofield, a former Scout who trained at Goxhill. In 1999, plaques were added to the Memorial to honour the 78th Fighter Group and 353rd Fighter Group.
In 2008, the Military Aviation Museum in Virginia Beach, Virginia, acquired what remained of the derelict control tower from the former RAF Goxhill airfield. The
Control Tower – referred to as a “Watch Office” by the RAF – has been rebuilt in the US city.