RAF Memorial Photos
RAF Bawtry was a Royal Air Force station located at Bawtry Hall in Bawtry and was No. 1 Group RAF Bomber Command headquarters and administration unit during and following the Second World War.
Bawtry Hall itself, was erected around 1785 by a prosperous wool-merchant from Wakefield, Yorkshire. During the Second World War the RAF took it over and it became an RAF command centre. RAF Bawtry did not have its own airfield but instead took advantage of RAF Bircotes, which was located literally next-door. Here the station based a number of communications aircraft.
Bawtry Hall served the Royal Air Force from 1941 – 1984; first as HQ for No. 1 Group, Bomber Command during and after WWII, then as Strike Command HQ up to and including the later stages of the Cold War. The famous bombing of the airfield at Port Stanley by Vulcan bombers from RAF Finningley during the Falklands conflict was co-ordinated from the operations room at Bawtry Hall.
RAF Bawtry became the centre of the RAF Meteorological Service for many years and ceased military operations in 1986.
