RAF Coleby Grange

RAF Coleby Grange
Coleby, North Kesteven, Lincolnshire in England
The original airfield control tower at RAF Coleby Grange still stands
RAF Coleby Grange Shown within Lincolnshire Show map of Lincolnshire RAF Coleby Grange RAF Coleby Grange (the United Kingdom) Show map of the United Kingdom
Coordinates	53°07′47″N 000°29′55″W / 53.12972°N 0.49861°W / 53.12972; -0.49861
Type	Royal Air Force satellite station
Code	CG[1]
Site information
Owner	Ministry of Defence
Operator	Royal Air Force
Controlled by	RAF Flying Training Command RAF Fighter Command * No. 12 Group RAF[1] RAF Bomber Command
Site history
Built	1938 (1938)
In use	1939-1963 (1963)
Battles/wars	European theatre of World War II Cold War
Airfield information
Elevation	61 metres (200 ft)[1] AMSL
Runways Direction Length and surface NE/SW 1,800 metres (5,906 ft) Grass NW/SE 1,280 metres (4,199 ft) Grass W/E 880 metres (2,887 ft) Grass

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.