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RAF Coleby Grange

Military airbases closed in 1963Military airbases established in 1939Royal Air Force stations in LincolnshireRoyal Air Force stations of World War II in the United KingdomUse British English from November 2017
RAF Coleby control tower
RAF Coleby control tower

Royal Air Force Coleby Grange or more simply RAF Coleby Grange was a Royal Air Force satellite station situated alongside the western edge of the A15 on open heathland between the villages of Coleby and Nocton Heath and lying 7.4 mi (11.9 km) due south of the county town Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England. Opened in 1939 and operated as a fighter and night fighter airfield during the Second World War, occupied at various times by UK, US, Canadian and Polish fighter squadrons, the station briefly switched to a training role post-war before being placed on a care and maintenance basis. Reopened in 1959 as an RAF Bomber Command Intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) launch facility and placed on a high DEFCON 2 launch alert during the Cuban Missile Crisis, the station was finally closed and decommissioned in 1963. The site has been returned to agricultural use and now has little evidence of its former use, other than several lengths of perimeter track and the original air traffic control tower.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article RAF Coleby Grange (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

RAF Coleby Grange
Heath Lane, North Kesteven Boothby Graffoe

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Wikipedia: RAF Coleby GrangeContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 53.129722222222 ° E -0.49861111111111 °
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Address

Heath Lane
LN5 0AS North Kesteven, Boothby Graffoe
England, United Kingdom
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RAF Coleby control tower
RAF Coleby control tower
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Navenby
Navenby

Navenby is a village and civil parish in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. Lying 8 miles (13 km) south from Lincoln and 9 miles (14 km) north-northwest from Sleaford, Navenby had a population of 2,361 in the 2021 census. In March 2011, it was named as the 'Best Value Village' in England following a national survey. A Bronze Age cemetery and the remains of an Iron Age settlement have been uncovered in the village by Navenby Archaeologist Group and Allen Archaeology. Historians also believe Navenby was a significant staging point on the Roman Ermine Street, as the Romans are reported to have maintained a small base or garrison in the village due to close proximity to the village of Ancaster. Navenby became a market town after receiving a charter from Edward the Confessor in the 11th century. The charter was later renewed by William Rufus, Edward III and Richard II. When the market fell into disuse in the early 19th century, Navenby returned to being a village. The civil parish of Navenby is rural, covering more than 2,100 acres (850 ha). It straddles Ermine Street, a Roman road built between 45 and 75 AD, which runs between London and York. The Viking Way, a 147-mile (237 km) footpath between the Humber Bridge in North Lincolnshire and Oakham in Rutland, also cuts through the village. The Vikings exerted great influence over Lincolnshire in the 9th and 10th centuries, as can be seen in the many local place names ending in -by, such as Navenby. Names ending with -by meant homestead or village.