RAF Yeadon

The airfield at Yeadon was opened in 1931 at a height of 669 feet (204 m)^{[note 1]} above sea level, and is 7 miles (11 km) north-west of Leeds, and 6 miles (9.7 km) north-east of Bradford.^[4][1] At first the site was a grassed field that covered 60 acres (24 ha) and had minimal facilities.^[5] The first significant RAF presence came in the form of No. 609 Squadron RAuxAF, which formed at Yeadon on 10 February 1936, with temporary hangars at the north-western corner of the airfield.^[6][7] Originally, 609 Squadron formed as a light bomber unit, and so was assigned to Bomber Command, but by December 1938, the squadron had transferred to Fighter Command.^[8] The outbreak of war saw a curtailment of civilian aircraft flights and most aerodromes and airfields were requisitioned for military flying, which included Yeadon.^[9] The base was allocated to No. 13 Group by the Royal Air Force, and was then later moved into No. 12 Group until 1941 under Fighter Command.^[10][11]

No. 51 Group Communications moved their headquarters to RAF Yeadon in August 1939, having formed at Hendon some three months earlier.^[12] By 1940, the RAF footprint had increased exponentially with the intention of building five Bellman hangars, and new accommodation huts had been erected. A watchtower was built in 1940, which had a good overall sight of the airfield area.^[9] The site was predominantly used as a scatter airfield for Whitley Armstrong aircraft of No.s 51 and 58 Squadrons, based at RAF Driffield and RAF Linton-on-Ouse respectively.^[9][13] No. 4 Bomber Group Central Maintenance Organisation formed at Yeadon on 6 October 1940 to carry out repairs and overhauls on the Whitleys belonging to No. 4 Group of Bomber Command.^[14]

Fighter Command had found that the site was too far north to be of any use during the first year of the war, so by early 1941, it was turned over to Flying Training Command and came under the responsibility of No. 51 Group Flying Training Command.^[9][15] With the completion of the aircraft factory, the site was handed over to the Ministry of Aircraft Production, with the flying training activities becoming a lodger unit.^{[9][note 2]} No. 20 Elementary Flying Training School (EFTS) formed at Yeadon in 1941, with Tiger Moths being sent in from No. 12 EFTS at Prestwick which had been disbanded.^[18] Training of pilots carried on until January 1942, when No. 20 EFTS was disbanded. The EFTS had trained over 250 pilots during its tenure, and responsibility for the airfield and the environs, was handed over to Blackburn Aircraft Factory, who had a presence with the aircraft factory at the northern end of the site.^[19]

In January 1947, the base was handed over to the Ministry of Civil Aviation who resumed club flying and domestic airlines, initially to the Isle of Man.^[20] The final RAF involvement was No. 1964 Flight of 664 Squadron, which departed in March 1957.^[21]

No badge was issued for RAF Yeadon, but there are two memorials inside the terminal building that commemorate the time period that No. 609 Squadron spent at the site.^[22][23][24]

In 1940, the Ministry of Aircraft Production (MAP) built a shadow factory just to the north of the airfield and set about forming the site to be a launch airfield for new aircraft.^[9] Extensive effort was made into keeping the site of the factory a secret from aerial observation; grassed banks were built up on all sides at a 45 degree angle, a duck pond and fake animals were placed upon the roof (which were moved from time to time), the pattern of the fields before the factory's construction was painted out on the roof, and the hedges and trees were foliated or de-foliated depending upon the time of year.^[25] The factory had a floorspace of 1,514,190 square feet (140,673 m²), and was thought to be the largest factory under a single roof and free-standing structure in Europe.^[26][27] A 30-foot (9.1 m) roadway was built connecting the factory with the airfield so that aircraft could be towed onto the runway and flown out of the base directly.^[26] Even with a large number of outgoing flights, the base never had a Ferry Pool flight assigned to it,^[28] with flying duties falling to No. 7 Ferry Pilots Pool based at RAF Sherburn-in-Elmet.^[29]

The factory was producing 130 Ansons a month, and it total over the course of the war, it had produced over 4,000 Ansons with enough spares for 900 more.^[30][31] The factory also produced 668 Lancasters, and an additional small number of Yorks and Lincolns.^[28] Work at the factory ceased in August 1946, with the last aircraft being delivered on the 16th of that month.^[29]

The following military units were based at RAF Yeadon: