Full WW2 control tower details and photos for this wartime airfield are coming soon. Please check back later as this is work progress. If you would like to contribute information or photos please get in touch.
RAF Strubby, in Lincolnshire near Alford, was a Bomber Command station within No. 5 Group’s ‘bomber county’ landscape. Opened in 1943, it quickly became part of the late-war expansion that sustained the strategic offensive. Like neighbouring stations, it followed the heavy bomber template: concrete runways, perimeter track, dispersed hardstands, and a technical site designed to service and launch aircraft at night in large numbers. Strubby’s WWII identity is anchored to the Avro Lancaster and to the two squadrons most associated with the airfield.
The station hosted Lancaster squadrons including No. 227 Squadron and No. 144 Squadron. Both units flew night operations across occupied Europe and Germany, contributing to the long Bomber Command campaign against industrial, transport and military targets. Under 5 Group, squadrons also became associated with evolving tactics, including improved target marking and more refined route planning and timing discipline. The Lancaster’s payload and range made it the central platform for these tasks, but success depended on the station’s ability to keep aircraft serviceable and crews trained and briefed.
Strubby’s operational cycle would have been recognisable across Bomber Command: afternoon briefings, bomb loading and fuze-setting by armourers under strict safety procedure, engine run-ups at dusk, and then a stream of heavy take-offs into the night. Returns brought battle damage, injuries and, too often, missing aircraft. The ground war continued through the night as engineers repaired flak damage, changed engines, serviced hydraulics and undercarriages, and prepared aircraft for the next operation. Flying control and meteorology played a large role because weather and congestion could create deadly risks on recovery.
Strubby also belonged to a wider administrative ‘base’ structure in Lincolnshire where neighbouring stations shared servicing and organisational responsibilities. That mattered because it increased resilience: when one airfield was blocked, another could accept diversions; when spares were scarce, maintenance organisations redistributed resources. The bomber offensive was an industrial process as much as a combat activity, and stations like Strubby were production sites for sorties.
- Primary wartime role: Bomber Command (No. 5 Group) Lancaster operations.
- Key squadrons associated with the station: No. 227 Squadron (Lancaster) and No. 144 Squadron (Lancaster) during the late-war period.
- Aircraft: Avro Lancaster (primary); associated station activity included heavy maintenance, battle-damage repair and continuation training.
RAF Strubby’s WWII significance lies in its late-war intensity. It represents how newly built airfields could rapidly become major operational stations, generating sustained Lancaster sorties and bearing the heavy human cost that accompanied Bomber Command’s night offensive.
This station also contributed by reducing bottlenecks and improving safety: spreading traffic across the network, providing diversion capacity, and sustaining training throughput when weather or congestion threatened to slow the wider system.
This station further contributed by reducing bottlenecks and improving safety: spreading traffic across the network, providing diversion capacity, and sustaining training throughput when weather or congestion threatened to slow the wider system.