Validation date: 30 04 2015
Updated on: Never
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53°20′58″N 000°27′23″W
Runway: 01/19 - 2000yds - concrete
Runway: 08/26 - 1400yds - concrete
Runway: 13/31 - 1400yds - concrete
Faldingworth airfield (RAF Faldingworth, formerly also known as Toft Grange decoy airfield and also known as PAF Station Faldingworth) was an airfield 200 kilometers north of London.
Initially, Faldingworth was a decoy airfield for RAF Lindholme, at which time it was known as Toft Grange. Construction of the airfield by Tarmac Ltd and J.Cryer & Sons Ltd for a total amount of £810.000 began in July 1942. By October 1943, it had become a satellite airfield for RAF Lindholme, featuring 36 aircraft parkings ('loop' type), two T2 and a B1 hangar. Dispersed camp sites allowed for accomodation for 1957 men and 281 women. The first unit to arrive was 1667 HCU (Heavy Conversion Unit) who moved in from Lindholme in August 1943 and stayed until February 1944. The airfield then became home to the Lancasters of 300 (Polish) Sqn., who were in the process of converting from Wellingtons. They came from RAF Ingham and remained at Faldingworth until November 1946. In January 1945 the base was officially handed over to the Polish Air Force, which meant it became PAF Station Faldingworth. The last operation 300Sqn took part in was Operation Manna, dropping supplies to the people of Rotterdam until 7 May 1945. After the German surrender they flew POWs back to Britain during operation Exodus.
Aerial photo of Faldingworth just after construction had started in the Summer of 1942 (RAF, via Faldingworthmemorials).
In October 1946, 305 (Polish) Squadron arrived at Faldingworth, flying its Mosquito's in from the Continent prior to dispersal. The last recorded flying by aircraft of the Polish Air Force in Lincolnshire was carried out by 300 Squadron on 26 November 1946. Following the decision to disband all Polish Air Force units serving in Britain, 300 Squadron was officially disbanded on 2 January 1947, while 305 Sqn was disbanded on 6 January 1947,
Faldingworth was placed on care and maintenance briefly in October 1948. It was used by 92 MU and 93 MU, both parented by Wickenby from 1949. 
RAF Faldingworth in 1948 (RAF, via Faldingworthmemorials)
In 1950 the requirements of Bomber Command were reassessed under 'Plan Galloper' and it was decided to rationalise the ammunition supply situation by replacing the present large number of airfield sites with a maximum of seven units which would be called Permanent Ammunition Depots (PADs). An initial recommendation was that a new construction would cost in the region of £1M. By September, after a large number of airfields had been investigated, Faldingworth was proposed as one of an initial two sites. One month later Faldingworth was confirmed as being suitable for development as a PAD to serve Binbrook, Coningsby, Waddington, Scampton and Hemswell.
By 1953 the plan had been confirmed and the site had to be operational by 1956. However there were still many reservations. It was intended that each depot would store 50 kilotons of high explosive, but there was strong evidence that the units would also be required to store 'special weapons' such as "Blue Danube" (Britain's first nuclear bomb), in which case the quantities of conventional explosives would have to be dramatically reduced. The possibility of constructing a third depot at Kingscliffe airfield was considered, but the overall feeling was that storing all ones 'eggs' in two (or three) baskets was impractical. The final decision was to drop the third site and to retain a significant number of conventional 'disused' airfield ammunition depots.
Although the original estimate was £1M each for the PADs, Faldingworth eventually cost £3.5M when it was completed in 1957. Noteworthy is also that many of the operational stations (e.g. Scampton and Waddington) were soon to be equipped with their own very high security weapon stores.
Between 1957 and 1972 the west side of Faldingworth was used to store nuclear weapons, for which a secure compound was constucted. When the UK nuclear deterrent role was transferred to ballistic missile submarines, the base was run down from 1968.
After the base closed in 1972, the secure site was taken over by Oerlikon subsidiary BMARC, an armaments manufacturer associated with Royal Ordnance. They used the site for secure armament storage and experimentation until 1996.
In 1988 it became apparent that the huge storage facilities at Faldingworth were commissioned to store illegal arms and explosives coming into the UK from companies in Holland, France, Italy, Spain and Yugoslavia for onward transportation, under fake end-user certificates, supplied by the MOD/DTI to Allivane International Limited, to Iran and Iraq. In 1991 BMARC owner Astra Holdings went into receivership and the Faldingworth complex was sold to Royal Ordnance, a subsidiary of British Aerospace. In 1996 it was sold to a secure storage company, with Royal Ordnance remaining as tennant.
The major area of the airfield, some 470 acres including large part of the main runway, was sold for agricultural use in 1998. Royal Ordnance continued to secure the storage site until the site was sold off again in 2003, although Royal Ordnance still remained in residence. Other buildings are now leased to various companies for secure storage. it is also used for a range of other purposes, including firing range and explosive testing, research and development, and film production. The site is manned, heavily guarded and patrolled 24 hours a day and remains in a very well maintained condition with all grass revetments being regularly mown. However, even today it still continues to play an important part in testing and developing military equipment.
In March 1994 AirfieldInformationExchange user Ossington shot this photo during a flyby of the airfield (AirfieldInformationExchange).
A number of post war Air Ministry houses and other buildings remain to the northeast of the site, though they re now in private ownership. In 1980 one of the Welbeck Estate Group companies First State Holdings acquired the entire estate of 140 post-war NCO married quarters at RAF Faldingworth Toft Newton from Defence Estates. As the company were also developing housing at that time opposite The Pentagon in Virginia Washington USA they renamed the FALDINGWORTH MQ estate the 'Virginia Estate' and all the roads were renamed after locations around Washington such as Washington Drive, Prince William Road, Fairfax Road. Half a kilometer to the west lies a group of RAF buildings used as an industrial estate.
2007 aerial photo of Faldingworth and the former married quarters to the northeast (Google Earth).
In April 2014, it was announced that Faldingworth was to become the site of the largest solar power farm in the UK. The solar farm is expected to generate 50MW of electricity, enough to power the equivalent of 12,000 homes.
Faldingworth 
Faldingworth