Goxhill

53°40'40"N 000°18'56"W

runway: 05/23 - 1600x..yds - tarmac
runway: 10/28 - 1100x..yds - tarmac
runway: 17/35 - 1100x..yds - tarmac

Goxhill air field (RAF Goxhill, also known as USAAF Station 345 and nicknamed RAF Goathill) was an airfield 240 kilometers north of London.
During World War I a Royal Flying Corps landing ground existed near Goxhill. It was abandoned immediately after the war however.

At the beginning of World War II, the site was used by a barrage balloon unit to protect the port of Hull. In 1940 the Air Ministry returned to survey the land once again for its suitability as an airfield. That same year, the site was transferred to Bomber Command, intended to be rebuilt as a Class-A bomber airfield. Several hangars were built; two T-2's, one J-Type and four blisters, as well as parkings for 50 aircraft. Accomodation was provided for over 1700 personnel. The airfield soon proved to be too close to the air defenses of Hull, however. It therefore became an airfield for 1 Group on 26 June 1941, providing towing practice targets with Lysander from 25 October 1941. Between December 1941 and May 1942, the airfield was a Fighter Command airfield, operating Spitfires from 616 Sqn.


Oblique aerial view of RAF Goxhill, Lincolnshire, from the south-east, while under construction in 1941 (© IWM (HU 64560))

Between May and August 1942, the airfield served as a satellite airfield to RAF Kirmington (todays Humberside Airport). It was then transferred to the United States Army Air Force, in a ceremony attended by Dwight D. Eisenhower, as it was the first such handover.
Facilities at Goxhill left a lot to be desired. Its wooden barracks were supplemented by a number of metal fabricated buildings (nicknamed 'tin cans') for living quarters. It were the USAAF units that began calling the airfield "GoatHill'. The USAAF used Goxhill as a training airfield though the balance of the war. Several squadrons used it after their initial deployment to the UK and then moved on to their permanent facility for operational missions. Both the USAAF 8th and 9th Air Force utilized Goxhill.
Units known to have trained at Goxhill were:
1 Fighter Group (P-38 Lightnings) between 10 June 1942 and 24 August 1942.
52 Fighter Group (P-39 Airacobras) between 26 August and 9 November 1942.
78 Fighter Group (P-38 Lightnings and P-47 Thunderbolts) between 1 December 1942 and 6 April 1943 (The group lost its P-38s and most of its pilots in February 1943 when they were assigned to Twelfth Air Force for service in the North African campaign).
353 Fighter Group (P-47 Thunderbolts) between 7 June 1943 and 3 August 1943.
356 Fighter Group (P-47 Thunderbolts) between 27 August and 5 October 1943.
358 Fighter Group (P-47 Thunderbolts) between 20 October 1943 and 29 November 1943.
496 Fighter Training Group (P38 Lightning and P-51 Mustang) from 25 December 1943 until 15 February 1945.
The 496th Fighter Training Group was the only group formed at Goxhill and served as a Combat Crew Replacement Center for 8th and 9th USAAF units. It consisted of the 554th Fighter Squadron with P-38s and the 555th Fighter Squadron with P-51s. The group trained over 2,400 fighter pilots during its existence.
On 20 January 1945, the USAAF returned Goxhill to RAF control, which assigned it as a satellite to RAF Kirton In Lindsey. 


Aerial photograph of RAF Goxhill, Goxhill, Lincolnshire, England, taken on 21 September 1946 (Royal Air Force/Royal Ordianiance Survey, via Wikimedia).


The control tower in 1949 (ControlTowers).

On 27 May 1945 it was assigned to RAF Maintenance Command for storage of excess munitions. RAF Goxhill remained a storage depot until it was deactivated on 14 December 1953. Although it was leased to farmers for agricultural use, it remained a Ministry of Defence property, until it was sold on 29 January 1962. The Technical Site and the aircraft hangars, however, were retained by the Ministry of Supply for storage of "Green Goddess" fire engines. They were not sold until July 1977, to private owners for agricultural use.

Goxhill is still largely intact. Most of the buildings in the Technical Site, including three large hangars, are still standing, albeit in a state of disrepair.
In the second half of the 1990s, several ponds were dug in the 05/23 and 17/35 runways, making them, until then in a near perfect condition, permanently unusable. They are used by a fishery company.
The exception is the control tower, which was deconstructed, alledgedly over the owner's objection, in February 2003. It was subsequently shipped to the U.S.A. to be rebuilt at the Military Aviation Museum in Virginia.
The taxitrack and several aircraft parkings can still be found. 
A memorial to those who served at the site can be found at the Horsegate Field Road boundary. It incorporates the propeller of a Lockheed P-38 Lightning that crashed at the site in 1944, killing the pilot - Second Lieutenant Lane Ferrara.


Goxhill, 4 May 1991, when the airfield was arguably the most complete World War II USAAF airfield (AirfieldInformationExchange).


Goxhill on 1 April 1995. Scraping on the intersection between the 05/23 and 17/35 runways suggests the 'construction' of the fishing ponds began around this time (AirfieldInformationExchange).


The control tower in 2002, briefly before it was torn down in February 2003 (ControlTowers).


The remains of the airfield in 2007. Two perfectly good runways were destroyed to make room for fishing ponds and the debris was scattered on the remaining runways and taxitracks (Google Earth).