Croft

54°27'24"N 001°33'22"W

Runway: 03/21 - ...meters/1400yds - tarmac
Runway: 09/27 - ...meters/2000yds - tarmac
Runway: 15/33 - ...meters/1400yds - tarmac

Croft airfield (RAF Croft, later renamed RAF Neasham, also known as Croft Aerodrome) was an airfield 340 kilometes north of London.
Construction began in 1940 and it opened in October 1941. Croft was originally intended as a satellite to RAF Middleton St.George (today better known as Durham Tees Valley Airport) and held 36 dispersed parkings ('pan' type) and three hangars. Its first squadron was 78 Sqn with Whitley bombers, from October 1941. 419 Sqn RCAF (Royal Canadian Air Force) arrived at the airfield a year later, in October 1942, and 427 Sqn (RCAF) formed at Croft a month after. After reequipping with Halifaxes, 419Sqn moved to RAF Middleton St. George.
RAF Croft transferred to the RCAF on 1 January 1943, but remained under control of RAF Middleton St.George. 427Sqn moved out to RAF Leeming with Halifax B.Vs in May 1943. RAF Croft was then briefly used as a conversion training base by 1664 HCU (Heavy Conversion Unit), which moved to RAF Dishforth in early December 1943.
431Sqn arrived at the base on 10 December 1943, followed a day later by 434Sqn. Both re-equipped with Halifax B.III in March (431) and May (434) and converted to Canadian-built Lancasters in December 1944.
When the war had ended, both squadrons flew their aircraft to Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, in June 1945.
After the departure of the RCAF units, Croft saw very little activity until it was called back into use in the autumn as a satellite for the Mosquitos of 13 Operational Traning Unit from RAF Middleton St.George. The station finally closed in the summer of 1946 and went into care and maintenance.


RAF Croft, ca 1944 (6GroupRCAF.com).


Croft bombers on D-Day 1944 (Canadian DND, via 6GroupRCAF.com).

The following year, businessman and councillor John Neasham acquired the lease to the land and formed the Darlington and District Aero Club. The club folded after only 5 years and subsequently the airfield fell into disuse as an airfield. It was still owned by the RAF however and in 1951 they changed the name of the airfield into RAF Neasham, using it as a Relief Landing Ground for 205 AFS at RAF Middleton St. George. At the time, the airfield was also occasionally being used for Motor Race Meetings by the Darlington & District Motor Club. On various layouts utilising the runways and perimeter roads as a circuit, they held races throughout the 1950s.
In 1962 Bruce Ropner and some fellow enthusiasts bought half the terrain at a public auction. They completed a racing track on the site in July 1964. Ever since the site has been regularly converted and upgraded to host autosports events. the former airfield staged major races such as the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC), Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain, UK Formula Renault, UK Formula BMW, SEAT Leon Cupra Championship and the British Superbike Championship.
To add to the naming confusion the airfield had always been known by the local inhabitants as 'RAF Dalton' (Dalton-on-Tees being the nearest village). This is incorrect however, as RAF Dalton is an entirely different airfield.



Undated, but believed to be 1960s map of the airfield


Aerial view of the airfield in 2001 (Google Earth)


Aerial view of the airfield during a racing day in 2006 (Google Earth)