WWII airfield. (1)

A site with phases as a military airfield and as a civilian airfield. In 1918 the airfield was opened as a Training Depot Station, to train pilots during the latter part of World War One. It was established on land formerly belonging to the Duke of Portland. After World War One the land was sold to a farmer but from the late 1920s was reopened as a civilian airfield for Nottingham Aero Club. In 1928 a unit of the special reserve also used the airfield. In World War Two, the airfield was once again militarized and was used for training, particularly of Polish units; it was also a base for the Rolls Royce Experimental Unit. After World War Two the airfield continued to be used for the development of aviation engineering: for example in 1954 the first vertical take-off engines were tested at Hucknall. (2) (3)

The World War Two airfield still consisted of grass landing surfaces. Blister and Bellman aicraft hangars supplemented the existing Belfast truss hangars (the last named noted in the Willis and Holliss gazetteer as "GS", the abbreviation for General Service Shed). Part of the airfield's accomodation was of a permanent nature. (4)

The site was expanded to the east in the early years of World war Two to provide more accomodation, most of this eastern domestic site was in temporary huts which have since been demolished. The Polish units here in World War Two were No 1 (Polish) Flying Training School (redesignated No 16 (Polish) FTS, 25 (Polish) Elementary Flying School. The source contains details of other units using the airfield during its history, and the types of aircraft flown. Because of the development of jet aircraft a long runway was laid in the 1950s. (5)

The 1983 Ordnance Survey 1:10000 map shows the airfield with the long runway added. (6)

RAF Hucknall Airfield is included on the Defence of Britain Database at Hucknall, Nottinghamshire. (7)

Historic England, 2021, National Record of Historic Environment (Digital archive). SNT5271.

<1> DOB database, 2005, DOB database (Published document). SNT1811.

<2> English Heritage, 2003, Survey of Military Aviation Sites and Structures Summary Report (Unpublished document). SNT6317.

<3> Bruce Barrymore Halpenny, 1981, Action Stations - 2: Military Airfields of Lincolnshire and the East Midlands, pp.80-84 (Published document). SNT6318.

<4> Steve Willis & Barry Holliss, 1987, Military Airfields in the British Isles 1939-1945, p.109 (Published document). SNT6319.

<5> Airfield Research Group, 1992, Airfield Review, pp.23-26 (Serial). SNT6320.

<6> OS, 1983, 1:10000 1983 (Map). SNT1004.

<7> Council for British Archaeology, 1995-2002, Defence of Britain Project Database (Digital archive). SNT6173.