History
The aerodrome was officially opened on 29 September 1929, although flying in Thornaby dates back to 1912 when Gustav Hamel used the Vale Farm for a flying display. Subsequently the Royal Flying Corps used the same fields as a staging post between Catterick and Marske aerodromes between 1914 and 1918.
The first squadron to occupy the new airfield were No. 608, who were formed here as No. 608 County of York (North Riding) squadron on 17 March 1930, under the command of a Flying Instructor, Squadron Leader William Howard-Davies, and operating Westland Wapitis and Avro 504Ns. No 608 squadron were the first of the three Yorkshire based auxiliary flying units to be formed, the others being 609 (West Riding) squadron at Yeadon and 616 (South Yorkshire) squadron at Doncaster.
Between March 1936 and July 1937 Thornaby became the home of No. 9 Flying Training School, the stations first regular Royal Air Force unit, the Squadron Commander was Squadron Leader David D'Arcy Alexander Greig (1900-1986) who had been a pilot with the RAF's High Speed Flight and took part in the 1929 Schneider Trophy. On 14 January 1937 No. 608 were re-equipped with Hawker Demon two seat interceptors and transferred into No. 12 (Fighter) Group. Thornaby became an RAF station proper when a Station Head Quarters was established on 1 June 1937 under the command of Wing Commander John Leacroft MC (1888-1971).
233 (General Reconnaissance) squadron equipped with Avro Ansons arrived in May 1937, in June 1937 the station was transferred to Coastal Command and 224 (GR) squadron also equipped with Ansons arrived in July. The late 1930s saw the station alternating between Coastal and Bomber Commands, with 608 being a designated fighter squadron. From 1 September 1938 No. 233 and 224 squadrons were replaced by Bomber Command 106 and 185 squadrons equipped initially with Fairey Battles before re-equipping with Handley Page Hampdens.
Ansons of 269 squadron and Vickers Vildebeests of 42 (torpedo bomber) squadron relocated here during the Munich crisis while 106 and 185 moved temporarily to Cottesmore before moving back to Thornaby after the crisis. Thornaby was one of only ten airfields in the country known to have had paved runways before the war started, although runways were under construction at eight fighter stations due to an Air Ministry conference on 28 April 1939, but only two of these were completed by 3 September 1939.
Read more about this topic: RAF Thornaby
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