1. The History
The village of Ossington is located in the county of Nottinghamshire, seven miles north of Newark-on-Trent. When World War II broke out in 1939, a large Royal Air Force base known as RAF Ossington was constructed, with work beginning in 1941, with the base opening for active duty in January 1942. It was constructed along the standard A-shaped bomber airfield template including three hard runways, the longest being just over 1.5 km long. The airfield was under jurisdiction of No. 5 Group, RAF Bomber Command, operating as an RAF Flying Training Command station flying Airspeed Oxfords.
After May 1943, the airfield returned to the control of Bomber Command, No. 93 Group, and become a satellite station for nearby RAF Gamston and from June 1943, the home of Vickers Wellingtons of No. 82 Operational Training Unit (OTU). The arrival of the Wellingtons wasn’t without incident. wasn’t without incident. On 9th August 1943, a Wellington lost an engine, and in the resulting crash, all five crew members perished. Then on 21st August 1943 a Wellington hit some trees on its landing approach, although on this occasion two of the crew survived.
Training aircraft on the runways at RAF Ossington during the Second World War:
Photographer: unknown
In June 1944, the OTU were joined briefly by the Curtiss Tomahawks of No. 1685 (Bomber) Defence Training Flight. No. 82 OTU then remained at the airfield until January 1945, when they were disbanded. RAF Ossington was then transferred to RAF Transport Command, with pilots trained to fly Avro Lancasters and Lancastrians on the London to New Zealand route. Flying ceased at Ossington in 1946, the base was decommissioned and the runways were broken up to provide materials for the construction of the A1
2. The Explore
Hadn’t done an RAF base for some time and really missed that. So, after doing a bit of a search, much to my surprise, found some pictures of RAF Ossington. There looked enough there to merit a trip over there so off I popped. After seeing some of the site, further research revealed there was more to see, meriting a further trip.
Overall, it is a lovely site and much does still remain if you are prepared to put the leg-work in, albeit dispersed over a wide area, meaning large amounts of walking, There’s none of the big sites like the watch tower or hangers, nor the concentration of buildings you get at the large bases. But if you look carefully, you can find communal blast shelters, the Battle HQ, sewage works, an M&E plinth, Nissan huts, Stanton shelter and other buildings, making it all well worth the effort. There’s even the former cinema, gymnasium and chancel.
3. The Photographs
This is the first thing I saw from the road:
The first large hut:
Now used by the farmer for storing stuff:
The second large hut:
Further up the track you come to a series of blast trenches:
Then two pyro stores, both with two doors:
Each with two back windows:
And reinforced glass:
Not too sure what this block was used for:
Storage area still used by the farmer:
Heading to the west and down a track we come to this long and pretty battered Stanton shelter:
And then on to the first of two old Nissan huts:
And the other:
We then double back. This unidentified building is in the distance:
The village of Ossington is located in the county of Nottinghamshire, seven miles north of Newark-on-Trent. When World War II broke out in 1939, a large Royal Air Force base known as RAF Ossington was constructed, with work beginning in 1941, with the base opening for active duty in January 1942. It was constructed along the standard A-shaped bomber airfield template including three hard runways, the longest being just over 1.5 km long. The airfield was under jurisdiction of No. 5 Group, RAF Bomber Command, operating as an RAF Flying Training Command station flying Airspeed Oxfords.
After May 1943, the airfield returned to the control of Bomber Command, No. 93 Group, and become a satellite station for nearby RAF Gamston and from June 1943, the home of Vickers Wellingtons of No. 82 Operational Training Unit (OTU). The arrival of the Wellingtons wasn’t without incident. wasn’t without incident. On 9th August 1943, a Wellington lost an engine, and in the resulting crash, all five crew members perished. Then on 21st August 1943 a Wellington hit some trees on its landing approach, although on this occasion two of the crew survived.
Training aircraft on the runways at RAF Ossington during the Second World War:
Photographer: unknown
In June 1944, the OTU were joined briefly by the Curtiss Tomahawks of No. 1685 (Bomber) Defence Training Flight. No. 82 OTU then remained at the airfield until January 1945, when they were disbanded. RAF Ossington was then transferred to RAF Transport Command, with pilots trained to fly Avro Lancasters and Lancastrians on the London to New Zealand route. Flying ceased at Ossington in 1946, the base was decommissioned and the runways were broken up to provide materials for the construction of the A1
2. The Explore
Hadn’t done an RAF base for some time and really missed that. So, after doing a bit of a search, much to my surprise, found some pictures of RAF Ossington. There looked enough there to merit a trip over there so off I popped. After seeing some of the site, further research revealed there was more to see, meriting a further trip.
Overall, it is a lovely site and much does still remain if you are prepared to put the leg-work in, albeit dispersed over a wide area, meaning large amounts of walking, There’s none of the big sites like the watch tower or hangers, nor the concentration of buildings you get at the large bases. But if you look carefully, you can find communal blast shelters, the Battle HQ, sewage works, an M&E plinth, Nissan huts, Stanton shelter and other buildings, making it all well worth the effort. There’s even the former cinema, gymnasium and chancel.
3. The Photographs
This is the first thing I saw from the road:
The first large hut:
Now used by the farmer for storing stuff:
The second large hut:
Further up the track you come to a series of blast trenches:
Then two pyro stores, both with two doors:
Each with two back windows:
And reinforced glass:
Not too sure what this block was used for:
Storage area still used by the farmer:
Heading to the west and down a track we come to this long and pretty battered Stanton shelter:
And then on to the first of two old Nissan huts:
And the other:
We then double back. This unidentified building is in the distance:
