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Thornaby Aerodrome came into being in 1930, although the area had been used for flying since 1919. The Auxiliary Airforce 608 Bomber squadron was formed at Thornaby on 17 March 1930, flying Wapitis.
The station transferred to RAF Coastal Command in the early years of the war.
It was a Lockheed Hudson Aircraft flying from Thornaby, that discovered the German Prison Ship Altmark off Norway, its position was radioed to the Navy, and the Altmark was captured and all the prisoners released.
Later in the war the runways were extended with a view to flying heavy bombers from the site. This idea was abandoned due to the high number of fogbound days. (The ICI plant less than 5 miles away was equipped with fog producing equipment to aid industrial camouflage)
In the later war years Thornaby served as an Operational Training Unit, with Hudsons taking part in the 1000 bomber raids over Germany.
The "Thornaby Bag", an early development for dropping supplies to ditched aircrew was named after RAF Thornaby where it was developed. It consisted of a container of food and first aid supplies
The aerodrome finally closed in 1958 with most of the land being sold for redevelopment in 1963. For a short time the site was used as a motor racing circuit, with the delightful names of Hudson straight, Anson straight, Hawker hairpin, Hurricane corner, Gladiator bends, and Defiant corner.
Today, many of the station buildings survive but the runways have vanished beneath the new Town Centre and housing developments.
Squadrons stationed at Thornaby during the Second World War:
- 106 Squadron Oct 1938 to Sep 1939
- 220 Squadron
- 608 Squadron
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My father in uniform, taken probably around 1949/50 which someone might recognise.
My father was Ernest Hector Watts from Scarborough. He was a member of the North Riding Squadron of the Royal Auxiliary Airforce at Thornaby until 1957 - I have a pewter tankard of his inscribed: to Hector from the Officers & Aircrew March 1957. It also bears the squadron crest. He also flew in Burma towards the end of WWII but I'm not sure in which squadron. He died in 1990.
I am researching the loss of Bristol Blenheim IV V6022 and her crew from 114 Squadron. They took of from Thornaby at 18.00hrs on the 28th of April 1941 on escort duty for Convoy FN 59 with a crew of:
- Flying Officer John George Keith Long Pilot
- Pilot Officer Norman Frederick Dawson Nav
- Sergeant Norman Frank Taylor Air Gunner
The aircraft crashed 2 miles from the airfields flare path at 23.14 hrs returning from the op. Any information that anybody could provide regarding the crew, the aircraft or the actual crash would be gratefully accepted as I am trying to put something together regarding the background to the crash and the crew involved.
A Wapiti of 608 Squadron
Billet at Thornaby, JWP Reader at back in doorway.
LAC Reader.
The Shooting Team
Tug of War Team
My father, John William Peart Reader, served at Thornaby 1932 to 1935 with 608 Squadron. At this time he was a Leading Aircraftsman rigger. He was trained at RAF Halton as an Aircraft Apprentice in the 14th Entry of 1926-1929. Whilst at Thornaby he was on the shooting team and the Tug-of-War team. I have photos of both and of a group outside a barrack hut also of a 608 Wapiti. After a tour overseas he was back in 608 from 1936 to early 1938. I was born at Thornaby in 1937.
My father was one of those RAF technician who were attached to Number 815 Squadron of the Fleet Air Arm and served on board H.M.S. Kent, a County Class cruiser, before the war on its tour to the Far East. He serviced the Walrus amphibians which were launched by catapult from the ship.
In 1939 John William Peart READER as a Sergeant was transferred from H.M.S. Kent back to the Royal Air Force and Number 205 Squadron at Royal Air Force Kai Tak at Singapore. There he serviced Short Singapore and Catalina Flying Boats and was to leave Singapore on one of the last ships before the Japanese arrived in 1941
Once back in England, in 1941 he was selected for officer training and sent to the Officer Training Unit at RAF Finningley, near Doncaster in Yorkshire.
Training was carried out using Vickers Wellington bombers. For the remainder of 1941 and 1942 he worked on various aircraft at Number 20 Maintenance Unit, RAF Chipping Warden, Oxfordshire.
On completion of the course on 25th November 1942 he was commissioned as an Acting Pilot Officer, Technical Branch.
He was posted to Number 156 Squadron in 1942 and in 1943 at RAF Warboys. The Operations Book for RAF Warboys (AIR 28/887) shows Flight Lieutenant J.W.P. Reader being posted to RAF Warboys from 156 Squadron on the 11th of November 1943 and on the 10th of December 1943 to RAF Upwood but on the same date attached to RAF Warboys.
He was a technical officer in charge of servicing Pathfinder aircraft from several squadrons.
Brian Reader.
My father George Flounders, served at Thornaby from around 1938 to 41, at which time I was born. From there he was posted to Balley Kelly Northern Ireland. We returned to Thornaby about 1944. I remember very little of this time, but I will always remember the first time I went up in a plane. Dad had arranged to take me for a flight in a Mosquito, but that went u/s at the last minute and we went in a Airspeed Oxford instead. I sat on dads lap in the right hand seat and all went well until we ran into heavy rain with a bit of hail thrown in, this made a tremendous din! by now we were over the Tees Bridge and I was screaming take me back! take me back! I created such a fuss that we had to return to Thornaby. The pilot, bless his heart was not amused went I went quiet and enjoyed the return home happy as Larry once we were out of the rain! I joined the RAF myself many years later as an a/f mech and flew many hours through rough weather in Hastings, Valletta's, Varsity's and Pembroke's. Happy memories, Peter Flounders
My father, Sgt. Robert (Bob) Fawcett, W/OP or T/Gun. with 220 Squadron, based at Thornaby,1940/41, was reported missing June '41, flying out of Wick. My mother Margaret Dixon, and was originally from Halton, Lancs. I was born after Bob was lost, and would love to hear from anyone who may have come into contact with him during his service.
This photograph of my late father Flt. Lt. J E "Bart" Bartholomew and company taken on New Year's Eve 1943. (Dad is second from the left, back row in full uniform).Dad served in Coastal Command in 547 Sqdn. 281 Sqdrn. and 279 Sqdrn. He was an Australian and a navigator in RAF Coastal Command based in England, Scotland, Iceland and the Shetlands during WW2. He twice crashed in the sea and received the Air Force Cross for service and gallantry.
Regards Blair Bartholomew
Photographs
VJ party at Thornaby Aerodrome. Stewart Featherstone.
Station Headquarters and the NAAFI.
The one remaining C-Type Hanger and a wartime photograph of the Control Tower.
608 Squadron Band, at Thornaby 1937. (Note the Wapitis in the back ground.)
608 Squadron Band, at Thornaby in 1941
R.M Peden stands by his Hudson of No6 (C)OTU, 1942
No6 (C)OTU in front of the Officers Mess, 1942
Blackburn Bothas of 608sqd at Thornaby, 1940
Final resting place for airmen of many nationalities, Thornaby.
Thornaby on Tees, Yorkshire was the home of 608 squadron. Being 11 years old when war was declared, not many memories of pre war, only Bi planes [2 wings] being flown from there. I remember the night that the drome got bombed ,no information about that [there's a war on ] Sgt Harold Aughty was mentioned in dispatches for his part during the raid. He was from the Bradford area and a family friend. Dad was an old soldier from the 14/18 war and if he saw R A F men in the local fish shop [Lanehouse Road] He brought them round for supper.
608 Squadron was a Coastal Command SQ, a Lockheed Hudson spotted the Altmark [supply ship for sea raiders ] in a Norwegian fiord and this resulted in the release of a good number of Allied Merchant Seamen being taken to a German P O W camp. Living near to the drome meant that we saw the planes going out on patrol and often coming back with pieces torn out of them. Thornaby Cemetery was used for the Burial of Airmen ,both Allied and German [ R I P ] We often saw the corteges passing our school.
Regards to All, both Men and Women who served in the forces during the war
Tom Carlin
I arrived at Thornaby about March 1944 and it was bitterly cold with several inches of snow. We were in a long wooden hut without any kind of insulation from the cold and I don't even remember the usual coal-burning stove. We went to bed wearing several layers of clothing in order to keep warm and on top of the bed was piled things like greatcoat, towels, spare uniform, etc. and anything else one could find. In fact, we had a saying that, "in the morning we crept out of bed, took off a few clothes, and then we were dressed!"
Our unit was known as ASRTU which stood for Air Sea Rescue Training Unit. We were equipped with Vickers Warwick aircraft, a development of the famous Wellington bomber. It looked very similar to the Wellington but was even larger and our particular ones were made to carry a boat under their belly. These were dropped into the sea and used three parachutes to support them on their way down.They were dropped alongside aircrews that had come down in the water and our unit was responsible for training people to drop them correctly.
On arrival at Thornaby I had just completed my flight mechanic's course at Blackpool and it was the first time that I was ever to be let loose on a real aircraft. As an airframe mechanic, my job was to inspect 'my' particular aircraft everyday to ensure that it was airworthy and to sign to say that it was fit to fly, as far as the airframe was concerned. (The airframe was practically every bit that one can see, except the engines.) This was a rather daunting responsibility for any new 19-year-old flight mech. and so, on the first morning, when the flight sergeant told me to go and inspect C "Charlie", I was determined to do my very best.
It was just after nine o'clock when I left the crew room to do my inspection and, after looking at very nearly every rivet, etc., I returned about midday. I naturally felt very pleased with myself and walked proudly over to the flight office to sign for my aircraft. My joy was further increased to see the flight sergeant standing outside, looking keenly in my direction.
"Where the b . . . . . hell have you been, airman?" was his fiery greeting.
"Doing my daily inspection, flight sergeant."
"A likely story. You have been gone three hours and if you ever slope off like that again you'll be on a charge! I'll be watching you tomorrow, my lad". (I didn't realise that the popular time for doing the job was about 45 minutes, if everything was OK!.)
Another particular memory that I have of Thornaby was that our hut was just a few hundred yards off the end of the runway and when the training crews were on night flying exercises we used to lay in bed listening to the Warwicks thundering down the runway towards us and flying very low over our hut. One's overriding concern, of course, was . . . "I wonder if this is the one that won't make it?"
Many houses adjoined the airfield, of course, and I can share their dislike for night flying but, we were in the middle of a war. However, that didn't prevent some of the neighbours from complaining bitterly about it and their complaints were taken very seriously!
We had some good times in Stockton and Middlesboro' and I can remember the night I made a date with a local girl and to my horror she turned up in clogs. Coming from the far south of England I had never seen anything like that before, but the noise that they made walking through the empty streets was more than I could bear!
One night my mate and I called in to the first pub at the entrance to Stockton where a couple of regulars were playing darts. We were very poor players, really, but agreed to play the locals for a pint. By some strange fluke, we won the first two matches and towards the end of the third game I threw two darts into the treble 19 bed. "Three in a bed is game" shouted one of our opponents, knowing full well that we wouldn't achieve it.
I took careful aim without the slightest hope of ever getting it (I never had in the past) but to my astonishment it went straight in. Everyone was very impressed; we got our winning pints; but no one else would give us another game!
Eric Manton (Dorset)
Flt. Lt. D.F. Walker. I am writing a book about the Norfolk cricketer David Walker who was stationed at R.A.F. Thornaby in 1941 (OTU then 608 Squadron) Early the following year he and 608 were transferred to Wick. He died early in 1942 when his plane was shot down off the Norwegian coast. He is buried in Trondhiem. If you have any information about his time at Thornaby or Wick, I would be most grateful.
My Uncle, Flt/Sgt W. S. 'Jock' Marshall was posted to 608 'North Riding' Squadron R.A.F. Station Thornaby, Yorkshire on the 25th September 1940. Flying Duties, Coastal Command. According to Service Record at Thornaby until 7th December 1940 He was then moved to No.3 School of General Reconnaissance at R.A.F. 'Squires Gate' Lancashire. P/O William Stuart 'Jock' Marshall and his crew were lost over the Channel on 27th May 1942
Any more information would be welcomed.
His memory lives on with 608 Sqdn.
I did the last 18 months of my national service at RAF Thornaby. I remember I arrived at Thornaby station late in the day and it being my first experience of the north , I was struck how much colder it was to a soft southerner.
I had been trained as a telephonist and the switchboard was situated in a bunker type building on the left hand side as you proceeded from the main entrance and opposite a hard tennis court. I think there was four of us on the telephonist team and we worked shifts to cover the PBX for 24 hours a day. We also used the tannoy to broadcast messages to the whole station, although this was little used. The station when I was there was an auxiliary one and housed squadrons 608,2608,3608 using fighter jets.
The auxiliary airmen would attend at weekends usually Friday night to Sunday night. This meant that we full timers would always be on duty over the weekends and have Tuesday and Wednesday off. Although I have not been back to the area I believe the whole site is now a residential estate. I would hope that perhaps some of the permanent brick buildings would have been preserved. I am thinking in particular of NAAFI/Sergeants Mess which was the first building on the left as you came past the guardroom. Also opposite this was the admin block which housed the Station Commanders and Station Adjutants offices. Although not open to me I believe the officers mess was a building of note as were two dormitory blocks which were near the communications bunker.
I am afraid I can only offer two names from my time there one was Flight Lieutenant Blanks who was the Station Adjutant and the other was a civilian , a Mr Cruden who was in charge of the admin office. After a brief spell in the brick built dormitory blocks us ordinary "irks" were relegated to wooden huts near to the cookhouse, leaving the better accommodation for the weekend airmen.
I remember that Princess Margaret paid a visit after visiting the north east when she was flown back to London. For days before this event the general order was "anything not walking about was to be painted white" As you would expect our local town was Stockton and I recall the camp was served by the number 8 bus. as someone interested in the theatre we had a theatre in Stockton and two more in nearby Middlesbrough.
Derek Francis
List of those who served here.
- Ernest E Allen. RCAF pilot. 6 OTU Read his story
- Fl Sgt George Eric Bailey.
- LAC Atholl Barker. Air Gunner 220 SQD RAFRead his story
- Flt. Lt. J E "Bart" Bartholomew. 279 Sqd.
- Beatrice Lillian "Daisy" Bell. WAAF.
- Sgt Harold F Bleksley .Pilot 220 SQD RAF. (d. 11 Feb 1940 on Ops) Read his story
- Sgt Broomhead. pilot. 608 Sqd RAF (d. 2nd Aug 1941)
- Wing Commander Richard Bunker
- P/O Willis Wylie Coons. Navigator280 sqd RCAF d 13 Nov 1943) Read his story
- Sgt Christie. air gunner. 608 Sqd RAF (d. 2nd Aug 1941)
- F/Sgt William Vernon Crockett. W Opp / Air Gunner 280 sqd RCAFd 13 Nov 1943) Read his story
- Pilot Officer Norman Frederick Dawson. nav. 114 Sqd. Read his story
- Corporal John Nicholas Payne Downing. Wireless Operator Group 2
- Flt/Lt Downton 220 sqd
- Corp Norman R Drury. W/Op 220 SQD RAF Read his story
- P/O B Duncan 608 Sqd RAFRead his story
- Air Commodore Charles Henry Elliott-Smith. Officer Commanding, No 9 Flying Training School. Read his story
- Sgt. Robert "Bob" Fawcett. W/OP 220 Squadron Read his story
- George Flounders. Read his story
- Sgt Keith B Files Pilot 224 Sqd RAF (d. 11 Jan 1941) Read his story
- Sgt John Ferguson. pilot. R.A.F.V.R. (d. 10th Oct 1942 age 20) Read his story
- P/O Basil L P Fox. Navigator 224 Sqd RAAF (d. 11 Jan 1941) Read his story
- Sgt John Anthony Fox. bomb aimer R.A.F.V.R. (d. 10th Oct 1942) Read his story
- S/Ldr Edgar Andrew Good. Pilot 280 sqd RAAF (d 13 Nov 1943) Read his story
- Al Henry WOP/AG. 6 OTU
- LAC Kenneth Hobson. HE fitter Read his story
- Arnold Holt
- WAAF Diana Horner. Read her story
- Sgt Thomas Brian Kirk. No 608 Squadron (Aux) Read his story
- Sgt George Law. 608 Sqd RAF (d. 2nd Aug 1941) Read his story
- Flying Officer John George Keith Long. pilot. 114 Sqd. Read his story
- AC G E Lumley 608 Sqd RAF Read his story
- Sgt Robert George MacDonald. navigator R.A.F.V.R. (d. 10th Oct 1942 age 33) Read his story
- Don McLean, navigator 6 OTU
- F/O Tom MacKinlay Parker. Pilot 220 SQD RAF. (d. 11 Feb 1940 on Ops) Read his story
- Sgt Thomas J McHugh W Opp / Air Gunner 220 Sqd RAF (d. 6th Aug 1941)Read his story
- Eric Manton
- Sgt William Robert Martin. W Opp/Air Gunner 224 Sqd RAF (d. 11 Jan 1941) Read his story
- Flt/Sgt William Stuart 'Jock' Marshall. 608 sqd.
- Stg George Alexander Matthews. air gunr 220 Sqd (d. July 1940)
- Flt Sgt Matthew Miller Hamilton RNZAF air gnr. 114 Sqd
- Robert Milton. Pilot 220 sqd RAF (Crash-landed Hudson in France 1 April 1941 taken POW escaped and returned to RAF in England)
- Sgt William Parfitt W Opp / Air Gunner 220 Sdq RAFVR( d. 22 Jan 1941)Read his story
- F/Sgt Douglas Allen Payton. W Opp / Air Gunner 280 sqd RCAFd 13 Nov 1943) Read his story
- Sqd Ldr. Varley Allen "Jim" Pederson. Nz. 220 Sqd RAF
- Ernest Franklyn Publicover. 220 Sqd.
- Edgar George Radley.
- John William Peart Reader. 608 Sqd. Read his story
- Warr Off. Henry George Richardson. 280 sqd d 13 Nov 1943) Read his story
- Flt Sgt. Donald Roy Robertson w/op R.C.A.F.(d. 10th Oct 1942 age 21) Read his story
- Sgt Laurence B Scase. Pilot 220 Sqd RAFVR (d. 22 Jan 1941)Read his story
- Sgt O Shepherd 608 Sqd RAF Read his story
- C Smith Pilot 220 Sqd RAFRead his story
- Sgt. Bruce Harry Sparrow. rear gunnr. R.C.A.F. (d. 10th Oct 1942 age 20) Read his story
- Albert Stephenson. RAF Airframes fitter.
- F/O Dennis Morris Stewart. W Opp / Air Gunner 280 sqd RAFd 13 Nov 1943) Read his story
- Sergeant Norman Frank Taylor. Air Gunner. 114 Sqd. Read his story
- Sgt Thomas. navigator. 608 Sqd RAF (d. 2nd Aug 1941)
- F/O Henry Thwaite 220 sqd (d. 15 Apr 1940)
- William Clayton Walsh. navigator RCAF 6(C)OTU
- Flt. Lt. D.F. Walker. 608 sqd.
- Sgt Leslie B Walpole Pilot 608 Sqd RAFVR (d. 21th June 1940.)Read his story
- LAC Wilson. 220 sqd
- Lloyd Woods WOP/AG 6(C)OTU
- Henry Wright
- P/O John McDonald Scott Wylie. Air Gunner 224 Sqd RAF (d. 11 Jan 1941) Read his story
If you have any names to add to this list, or any recollections or photos of those listed, please get in touch.
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