Royal Air Force Station Hemswell or more simply RAF Hemswell is a former Royal Air Force station located 7.8 miles (12.6 km) east of Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, England.
Located close to the village of Hemswell in Lincolnshire, England the disestablished airfield is now in full use as a civilian industrial and retail trading estate, forming part of the newly created parish of Hemswell Cliff along with the station's married quarters and RAF built primary school that are now in non-military ownership.
The airfield used by RAF Bomber Command for 20 years between 1937 and 1957 and saw most of its operational life during the Second World War. Later used by RAF Fighter Command as a nuclear ballistic missile base during the Cold War it closed to military use in 1967.
On 19 March 1940 RAF Hemswell-based Handley Page Hampdens of No. 61 Squadron RAF were the first Bomber Command aircraft to drop bombs on German soil during the Second World War. The target was the Hörnum seaplane base on the northern Germany coast.
RAF Hemswell was immortalised on film when it was used as a substitute for RAF Scampton in all the ground based filming of the 1954 war film The Dambusters.
Read more about RAF Hemswell: First World War, Second World War, Cold War, In Popular Culture, Squadrons and Units Based At RAF Hemswell, After Closure, See Also