RAF Финнингли: от аэродрома Первой мировой до закрытого аэропорта Донкастер Шеффилд

Royal Air Force base in Yorkshire, England

Royal Air Force Finningley or RAF Finningley was a Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force station at Finningley, in the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The station straddled the historic county boundaries of both Nottinghamshire and the West Riding of Yorkshire. The station was used as a bomber base during World War II, then in the early 1950s it had fighters allocated to it. From the late 1950s to the 1970s it was one of the home airfields of the V bomber force, before becoming a Support Command base and housing the HQ of the Search and Rescue Force. RAF Finningley was decommissioned in 1996. The airfield was developed into an international airport named Doncaster Sheffield Airport, which opened on 28 April 2005. The closure of the airport was announced in September 2022 with the final passenger flight arriving on 4 November 2022.

During the refurbishment of the Royal Flying Corps station at Doncaster in 1915 a decision was taken to move operations temporarily to an air strip at Brancroft Farm south of the Finningley site. This flight of aircraft is thought to have consisted of Royal Aircraft Factory BE.2c fighters of No. 33 Squadron RAF. These fighters were used to intercept Zeppelin bombers approaching Yorkshire cities from the East Coast, in this instance, the heavily industrialised City of Sheffield. Brancroft Farm became a Royal Flying Corps landing ground in 1916.

From 1946 to 1954 a number of different training units were stationed at Finningley with a variety of aircraft types. No. 616 Squadron RAF was re formed at Finningley on 31 July 1946 equipped with de Havilland Mosquito NF XXX night fighters which were replaced with Gloster Meteor F.3 day fighters a few months later. On the Monday 11 August 1952, a Meteor F.4 serial number RA376, located at RAF Finningley, and was one of the aircraft used by No. 215 Advanced Flying School RAF (AFS) had just taken off from the airfield for an exercise when it crashed close to Firbeck Hall in Nottinghamshire, approximately 8 mile (13 km) from the runway. A number of units withdrew in 1954 (including No. 215 ATS) leaving only the Meteors of No. 616 Squadron, Royal Auxiliary Air Force, manned largely by part time personnel, but their days at Finningley were numbered for in May 1955 the squadron moved to RAF Worksop. The reason was that Finningley was about to be given a new lease of life as a V bomber station.

During the next two years work was carried out to re lay and extend the main runway to approximately Unit stores for atomic weapons were also constructed to house Green Grass in Yellow Sun, Violet Club and Blue Steel weapons. The airfield became known as the home of the 'V' Bomber after Avro Vulcans, Handley Page Victors and Vickers Valiants had all been stationed at the base. Finningley re opened in the spring of 1957, No. 101 Squadron was re formed in October that year to operate Vulcan bombers. A year later No. 18 Squadron RAF with ECM Vickers Valiants was also established at Finningley. In 1961, No. 101 Squadron RAF took its Vulcans to RAF Waddington changing places with the Vulcan training organisation, No. 230 Operational Conversion Unit RAF. It was two years from 101 Sqn leaving that in 1961, the Valiant having seen its day, No. 18 Squadron was disbanded. The Vulcan OCU stayed with RAF Finningley from June 1961 until December 1969. In 1970 there was an arson attack on Number 2 Hangar by a serving RAF member. After the hangar was locked and secured at 17:00 he lit a fire under an aircraft with catastrophic results. The hangar was badly damaged, and the perpetrator charged and imprisoned. Handley Page Victor bombers were added to the Finningley scene in later years before RAF Strike Command (the amalgamation of Bomber Command and Fighter Command on 30 April 1968) moved its units out and Training Command took over the station in May 1970. In January 1976, the headquarters of No. 22 Squadron were based at Finningley, with flights detached permanently at Brawdy, Coltishall, Leconfield, Leuchars and Valley. Whilst at Finningley, the HQ was awarded a new standard reflecting its 4,500 human rescues and its 93 peacetime gallantry awards since the end of the Second World War. On 14 January 1992, a new Air Navigation School building was opened, built at a cost of £5.2m. Arguably the most famous of the Finningley's Avro Vulcan Bombers was aircraft XH558. On 1 July 1960 XH558 was the first Vulcan B.2 to enter RAF service and was immediately transferred to No. 230 Operational Conversion Unit at RAF Finningley before continuing its career. XH558 was restored to flight by the Vulcan to the Sky Trust and the aircraft was displayed during airshows until the end of 2015. On 29 March 2011 XH558 returned to Doncaster airport and Finningley, and she was once again at her original home. XH558 still resides there now, she remains in operating condition but without a permit to fly. Unfortunately, the three expert companies who were supporting the Vulcan in remaining airborne – BAE Systems, Marshall Aerospace and Defence Group and Rolls Royce, collectively known as the 'technical authorities' – decided to cease their support at the end of the 2015 flying season. Without their support, under Civil Aviation Authority regulations, XH558 is prohibited from flying. Since moving to Doncaster, the Vulcan and Canberra WK163 have been removed from the hangar and have been left outside. Doncaster Council approved construction of a special built hangar for XH558 and WK163 in 2018, but the project was cancelled completely in February 2022 as not enough money had been raised to meet the £2.2 million cost.

During the 1970s all RAF navigators passed through the Air Navigation School (ANS) of No. 6 Flying Training School (FTS) at RAF Finningley, when the BAe Dominie T.1 s of No. 1 ANS from RAF Stradishall and the Varsities of No. 2 ANS from RAF Gaydon moved there. In 1970, a Varsity aircraft caught fire in one of Hangars and subsequently destroyed 2 other aircraft by setting them ablaze. Low level navigation training took place on the BAC Jet Provost, eventually using the T.5A variant. The Vickers Varsity was phased out in 1976 making No. 6 FTS an all jet school. RAF Finningley also played host to multi engine training and operational navigation training again via 6 FTS was responsible for training all the Royal Air Force multi engine pilots using twin turboprop Handley Page Jetstream T.1 aircraft. Later the Jet Provost T.5A aircraft were replaced on 14 August 1993 by the British Aerospace Hawk T.1 aircraft which joined on 10 September 1992 and the Short Tucano T.1 from 6 April 1992. The school operated two new wings from October 1992, these being the Basic Navigation Wing and the Advanced Navigation Wing. During April 1995, the Tucano Element moved to RAF Topcliffe. RAF Finningley was also home to all initial airman aircrew training (Air Electronics, Engineer & Loadmaster School RAF). Finningley was also home to the Yorkshire Universities Air Squadron, that flew the Scottish Aviation Bulldog at the time, as well as Chipmunk T.10s of No. 9 Air Experience Flight. In its last years as an RAF station, Finningley was home to 100 Squadron which had moved from RAF Wyton. The squadron's main tasks were as a target facilities flight providing airborne targets for surface based radar and missile sites, and as a provider of small and agile 'aggressor' aircraft for Dissimilar air combat training (DACT) for UK based operational aircraft.

The RAF Search and Rescue Wing was first formed at RAF Finningley in 1976, when two squadrons, No. 22 Squadron and No. 202 Squadron, came together from RAF Thorney Island and RAF Leconfield. Finningley became the administrative home of the two squadrons with their bright yellow painted Westland Whirlwind HAR.10, Westland Sea King HAR.3 and Westland Wessex HAR.2 helicopters. All major engineering work was carried out by the Engineering Squadron in Hangar 1. The wing was disbanded on 1 December 1992.

The first air display at Finningley was held in September 1945. For two decades RAF Finningley was home to the Battle of Britain Air Display which was the largest one day airshow event in the country, and a similar show was held in Scotland at RAF Leuchars in Fife on the same day as that at Finningley each year. The aerobatic airshow and the display of military capabilities, such as an Avro Vulcan bomber scramble, became so well known nationally that the show attracted huge crowds and eventually became televised on national TV. In 1977, the Queen's Silver Jubilee Air Show was held at RAF Finningley, replacing for that year the Battle of Britain Air Show.

In 1994 the Ministry of Defence announced the imminent closure of RAF Finningley as part of the Front Line First defence cuts. It closed in 1996, being earmarked for a new prison; however, this plan was dropped and three years later Peel Holdings, a property and transport company, bought the land and transformed it into Robin Hood Airport Doncaster Sheffield.

Finningley has made at least one momentary appearance in fiction in the BBC film Threads, before the base is destroyed by a Soviet nuclear warhead.