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RAF North Coates
Airfield Code: ? Google Earth Co-ordinates: 53°29'59.29"N 0° 3'57.70"E Wartime Runways: 07/25 = 4260ft x 150ft NW/SE = 4380ft x 150ft (grass) Current Runways: 05/23 = 660m x 22m (grass) North Coates Fitties opened in 1914 as an army camp although its association with military flying followed shortly after. A BE2c landed here on 4th August 1914, the first recorded landing. North Coates airfield did not formally open, until mid-1918, as one of 14 RFC landing grounds in Lincolnshire. In May 1915 the successful attacks by raiding German Zeppelins against Humberside and Teeside led to some land being requisitioned at North Cotes village. Whilst the village name has varied in spelling the airfield has retained the "a" in Coates. Fitties is a Lincolnshire word which means foreshore saltings. The requirement for local air defence was reinforced by the March 1916 Zeppelin attack which killed 29 soldiers of the 3rd Manchester Regiment at nearby Cleethorpes. The airfield's purpose was to save BE12 aircraft wasting time returning to their flight stations to refuel after conducting Zeppelin intercepts. North Coates was the most easterly airfield occupying an important refuelling position. Permanent residents were here from at least mid-1918, as recorded in the 1918 Air Force list dated 1st December. No.404 Flight and No.248 Squadron had arrived from RAF Killingholme by 1st December 1918 having re-equipped from seaplanes to the DH6. It was tasked to deliver anti-submarine patrols in support of coastal convoys. North Coates Fitties was used to concentrate some coastal land plane units of No.18 Group, Coastal Command, prior to their disbandment in June 1919. With the aircraft gone there was no requirement for the 88 acre landing ground next to the army camp and it reverted to agricultural use by the end of 1919. The North Coates airfield was established in 1926 to accompany the formation of an Armament Practice Camp (APC) but not ready for aircraft use until February 1927. Initial tented accommodation and the four wooden huts inherited from the army were used as messes, HQ and armoury. They were gradually replaced in the 1930s by Bessoneau and then permanent hangars, admin buildings and also hosted an air observers school. From 1927, two bomber Squadrons would deploy to the airfield for 4 weeks at a time for range practice on nearby Theddlethorpe Range and RAF Donna Nook Range. The Station Flight was equipped with 3 Gordon and a Moth used for towing flags or drogue targets for air to air gunnery. On 1st January 1932, North Coates became No.2 Armament Training Camp (ATC). No 1 was at RAF Catfoss and No.3 at RAF Sutton Bridge. A Station HQ was stood up on 1st October 1935, to command the increasing activity on Station and its now subordinate units at RAF Theddlethorpe and Donna Nook. By now many RAuxAF and Fleet Air Arm units were among the many visitors as the prospect of war in Europe loomed. The Air Observers School set up in January 1936, began to train squadron personnel selected for part-time observer duties in the disciplines of bomb aiming and gunnery. By October 1936, a new No.2 ATC was stoop up at RAF Aldergrove and North Coates was redesignated a Temporary ATC. Within the year, on 1st November 1937, No.2 Air Armament School (AAS) was formed to incorporate all the resident units except the Temporary ATC. No.2 AAS was soon renamed No.1 AOS. On the outbreak of World War II, all flying units were evacuated from North Coates as part of the general invasion scare. In February 1940 Coastal Command reoccupied the station, dropping the Fitties part of the name, with three Blenheim-equipped squadrons No.248, No.235 and No.236 Squadrons conducting long range North Sea patrolling and low-altitude shipping attacks. These departed in May 1940 and North Coates assumed the anti surface unit/shipping warfare role which it maintained until the end of the war. Strike power was originally provided by the Fleet Air Arm from May 1940 with ageing Swordfish while a Hudson-equipped Canadian formation arrived in 1941 for anti-submarine and anti-surface unit warfare. Coastal Command squadrons No.42, No.53, No.224, No.233 and No.248 Squadrons also formed here, passed through here or sent detachments. Overcrowding of North Coates was heightened through the Strike Wing and consequently RAF Donna Nook, home to a decoy airfield and bombing range, was pressed into service to provide an an overspill runway. At the end of 1941 it became necessary to build a concrete runway to guarantee the generation of air sorties during wet weather and RAF Donna Nook's relief landing ground was very busy during this period. In additional to Coastal Command duties, North Coates also served as a forward landing ground for RAF Digby-based fighter Squadrons including No.611 Squadron. No.278 Squadron sent a detached flight to North Coates in November 1941 to carry our air-sea rescue operations, equipped with Lysander it operated in conjunction with No.22 MCU at Grimsby Dock. At the end of 1942, No.143 Squadron arrived and converted to Blenheim, the start of the formation of Coastal Command's first Strike Wing. The obsolescence of Beaufort and Hampden prompted the planning of several Strike wings of up to 3 Beaufighter Squadrons. North Coates Strike Wing made its first combat sortie on 20th November 1942, but its failure led to the Wing being withdrawn for more intensive training. It went on to prove the Strike Wing concept on 18th April 1943, when it attacked a convoy with 21 aircraft without loss. By August 1943, the Strike Wing had a strength of 60 aircraft but lacked organic air defence. By 1942 there was also a Fleet Air Arm presence. No.812 Squadron with Swordfish biplanes, later re-numbered No.816 Squadron. Preparations for D-Day in 1944 and the requirements of Operation OVERLORD led to many detachments for anti-shipping operations in the south and this was perhaps the start of the reduction in the North Coates Strike Wing. No.236 and No.256 Squadrons flew their Beaufighter’s in the anti-shipping role under No.16 Group as part of the Coastal Command effort in Operation NEPTUNE (supporting the D Day landings). By October 1944 the North Coates Wing was the only one still at its original home and had been reduced to 2 Squadrons, No.236 and No.254 Squadrons. The Wing flew its last combat sortie into the Kattegat on 3rd May 1945. No.143, No.236 and No.254 Squadron, which formed the Strike Wing, comprised on average 20 aircraft per Squadron, with a pilot and navigator to each, and 9-15 aircraft serviceable at one time. The Coastal Command RAF North Coates Strike Wing operated as the largest anti-shipping force of World War II accounting for 150,000 tons of shipping and 117 vessels for a loss of 120 Beaufighter and 241 aircrew. This was half the total tonnage sunk by all strike wings from 1942-45. Missions covered almost the entire European littoral from Norway to the Bay of Biscay and Squadrons were therefore detached to airfields from Tain to Thorney Island. After the end of hostilities, North Coates was placed on Care and Maintenance and transferred to Maintenance Command as a sub-site for No.25 MU. No.25 MU was succeeded by No.61 MU in October 1945. This was not to last, and in December 1946 Flying Training Command took over the site in preparation for the establishment of No 1 Initial Training School on 1st January 1947. This too did not stay long and departed for South Cerney in October 1947. A few months later the Station had another phase of life as a technical training centre, but this ended abruptly following year in the 1953 January floods. Between 1945 and RAF withdrawal in 1990, North Coates hosted maintenance units, a Sycamore helicopter Squadron, and Britain's first Bloodhound surface-to-air missile site. On 1st October 1963, No.25 Sqn reformed at North Coates as the first operational Bloodhound unit in the RAF, responsible for the defence of the V-bomber bases and for the training of all personnel employed on the missile. In 1999 RAF North Coates and its flying squadrons were commemorated in a bronze statue on Cleethorpes seafront, and a roll of honour can be found in entrance hall of Cleethorpes Town Hall. The main gates from North Coates can be found on display, along with some other pieces, at the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre at East Kirkby. Today the airfield is used for private flying only. Aircraft & Squadrons
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