The base located almost central to Lincolnshire, started as plans for an airfield in 1937 and work started two years later and later opened during WW2 in November 1940 but was soon realised to be no good for bomber planes and closed late 1942 for almost a year so that paved runways could be created.
Dambusters
Various ‘Lancaster Bomber’ squadrons carried out operations from RAF Coningsby. 617, 619, 61,83 and 97. After the war, the base became home to de Havilland Mosquito and the infamous Boeing B-29 Superfortress
The age of the JET
Taking us to almost a decade after the war, jets like the Canberra, the unfortunate Meteor became the first jets to fly from Coningsby. Only a few years later the beast of a plane, the Vulcan was transferred to another base from there.
Later on through the decades saw the likes of the Phantom, the Tornado and Jaguars which brings us beyond the 2000’s and closer to nowadays frequent activity from the Eurofighter Typhoon.
You can find out much more history about the base in the links below :
RAF Coningsby | Royal Air Force
RAF Coningsby | WIkipedia
RAF Coningsby | Facebook
RAF Coningsby | Twitter
RAF Coningsby | Instagram
