Spanhoe Airfield 2nd March 1944

Built in 1943 with the original name of Wakerley, Spanhoe Airfield is located between the villages of Harringworth and Laxton. Local people also knew the airfield as Harringworth as part of the site lay in that Parish.

Spanhoe had a main runway of 6,000 ft. The technical site was located close to the Harringworth to Laxton road with two T2 hangars about a quarter of a mile apart. There were 7 domestic sites built in and around Spanhoe wood across the road from the airfield, where there was sleeping accommodation for 2,404 personnel. The control tower was situated fairly close to the technical site and some considerable distance from the main runway. Possibly one of the first landings made at Spanhoe was on 1st December 1943 by a Boeing B17G of the 401st Bomb Group returning from a mission which landed at Spanhoe instead of its base at Deenethorpe.

Spanhoe Airfield was officially opened on 1st January 1944 and with it already chosen for US Troop Carrier use, a station complement squadron moved in to prepare the base between 4th and 7th January.

9th Troop Carrier Command
315th Group - 34th (NM), 43rd (UA), 309th (M6) & 310th (4A) Squadrons
493 Station - Spanhoe

315th Troop Carrier (TCG) emblem - ADVENIAM (I will arrive)

The 315th Troop Carrier Group was assigned to Spanhoe, which became Station 493. On 7th February 1944 the Headquarters of the Group moved into Spanhoe but with reduced strength. Most of the Group were still in North Africa having been sent there on detachment in May 1943 to provide air support for the invasion of Sicily. On 7th February the first aircraft arrived at Spanhoe; six C47's and C53's together with their Waco CG4A gliders. 11th March saw a further 26 aircraft arrive and the gradual build up continued so that by 2nd April the Group had 61 C47's, 30 CG4A gliders and 5 Airspeed Horsas.

C47's of the 315th Troop Carrier Group at RAF Spanhoe, England, 1944

The entire month of April was devoted to an extensive training programme, though badly hampered by bad weather, extensive formation flying and glider towing was carried out with night flying at a premium. 26th April saw the arrival of two new units, 309th and 310th Squadrons, so giving the 315th TCG its full complement of men and aircraft.

The first paratroop drop made by the 315th in the UK was on the evening of 6th May and involved the 82nd Airborne Division who were based all around Leicester. Various exercises followed throughout the month of May and with these came the sad loss of two crews when two aircraft collided.

Operation Overlord - D-Day

C47's of the 315th Troop Carrier Group at RAF Spanhoe, England, 1944

C47's of the 315th Troop Carrier Group at RAF Spanhoe, England, 1944

On 3rd June 864 paratroops arrived at Spanhoe from the 505th Paratroop Infantry Regiment. On 5th June all personnel were issued with escape kits and received their last meal at Spanhoe before taking part in one of the greatest aerial armadas ever seen. The flight of aircraft was to consist of 48 C47's, each one carrying 19 to 20 paratroops and five or six para-packs of equipment which were fastened with shackles under the wings of each aircraft. At 2250 hrs the operation commenced with the lead aircraft taking off from Spanhoe, followed at 5 second intervals by the other aircraft. At 0440 hrs on 6th June, 45 aircraft had landed safely back at Spanhoe with two having been diverted to other airfields.

8th July saw the 315th TCG involved in a training mission with the Polish First Independent Parachute Brigade to a drop zone at RAF Wittering. However the mission was marred by a bad accident in the 309th Squadron, two aircraft colliding in mid air and 26 paratroops and 8 crew members were killed. The 315th Group casualties were taken to the Military Cemetary at Cambridge for burial and the Polish casualties were taken to the Polish Cemetary at Newark.

Operation Market Garden

An aerial view of a C47 Dakota as it tows off a CG4A Waco glider from a British airfield en route for Holland 17th September 1944.

Sunday September 17th was a bright sunny morning and all over England special church services were being held to commemorate the Battle of Britain pilots and their ground crews some four years before in the Battle of Britain. In the sky above them in the East Midlands, East Anglia and southern England, the greatest air armada ever seen was winging its way to Holland. 2,023 troop-carrying aircraft, gliders and their tugs took off from 0945 hours from some 24 airfields. It was estimated that the vast armada of aircraft, together with the gliders, was at least 10 miles wide and 100 miles long as they flew to their destination - Arnhem and Nijmegen.

The 315th TCG lifted off from Spanhoe the first C47 out of a total of 45 at 1039 hours. They were carrying paratroopers from the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, a total of 1,240 plus 473 para-packs. Their drop zone was 'O' which was some three miles south west of Nijmegen and about one and a half miles north of the River Maas.

The Group suffered their first loss on the mission when C47 #308 piloted by Captain R E Bohannen was hit by flak just after reaching the Dutch coast. The crew chief managed to bail out of the stricken aircraft together with 15 paratroops, several of them wounded. They were all captured.

As the formation were approaching the drop zone they were met by heavy flak concentrations and several of the 315th aircraft were hit. 78 of the Group's aircraft dropped their paratroops close to the target, but some landed some 500 to 1,200 yards short of the zone. In spite of this the paratroops were able to capture their objectives within 3 to 4 hours of landing. Immediately the C47's returned to Spanhoe, the engineers set to changing the parapack equipment from American to British - the next day would see the Group carrying British paratroops.

18th September saw two serials of 27 aircraft each with paratroops from the British 4th Parachute Brigade on board to be dropped on drop zone 'Y' north west of Arnhem. The 315th lost two aircraft before reaching the drop zone due to flak and on their return to Spanhoe, 11 C47's had received minor damage from flak and small arms fire.

The next operation involving the 315th TCG was to drop the 1st Polish Parachute Brigade to a drop zone north east of the town of Driel, two miles south west of Arnhem. 700 Polish paratroops had arrived at Spanhoe on 18 September. On 21st September the first serial of 27 aircraft left Spanhoe carrying 361 Polish paratroops and 141 para-packs. The weather at Spanhoe was atrocious but every effort was made to reach the battleground due to the seriousness of the conflict.

26th September saw the final phase of Operation Market Garden with a mass air landing of US and British personnel and equipment on to a landing strip located two and a half miles west of the town of Grave.

The Rhine Crossing

C47 transport planes release hundreds of paratroops and their supplies over the Rees-Wesel area to the east of the Rhine. This was the greatest airborne operation of the war. Some 40,000 paratroops were dropped by 1,500 troop-carrying planes and glider. 24th March 1945.

With the Ardennes offensive in full swing the 315th TCG were taking off in atrocious weather when 74 Group left Spanhoe on 24th December for an airfield south of Rheims and Laon with troops and equipment for the US forces in the Bastogne area. A further mission to Laon was completed on 28th December when 18 C47's took 282 airborne personnel and equipment to supply the beleaguered troops at Bastogne.

The advent of 1945 saw the training of newly arrived aircrew as and when the weather would allow but it was curtailed by heavy snowfalls and severe cold conditions. Training continued and it was obvious that something big was looming in the near future. On 14th March an advance party from the 315th went to Boreham in essex where the Group would participate in Operation Varsity which was to land all the airborne troops in one lift instead of a serious of drops as in Operation Market Garden. D Day for Operation Varsity was 24th March 1945 with a proposed take off of 0700 hours. 81 C47's were ready and the vast armada of troop carrying aircraft was estimated at 420 miles long. The lessons learnt from the previous operations in Holland and France meant that the airborne divisions would benefit on this drop, and also the vast amounts of war material of every kind that was now available. The losses of the US 1X Troop Carrier Command on Operation Varsity were as follows: 58 aircraft shot down with 352 damaged and casualties were 8 dead with 108 missing. Operation Varsity was the most costly mission carried out by the 315th TCG with 19 aircraft destroyed or beyond repair and 36 with battle damage out of the force of 81 participating.

With the end of hostilities in sight in Europe it was another move for the 315th when orders were received in early April for moving to France. Their new base was to be Amiens-Glisy.

Spanhoe would be sadly missed by the GI's station there and as and when they could there would be regular visits on the nightly 'Pash Waggons' to Kettering, Leicester, Nottingham and other nearby towns. The advance party left Spanhoe on 6th April and the remaining elements moved between 7th and 11th April. With VE day fast approaching Spanhoe was declared non-operational for flying.

Spanhoe Airfield 1944 - 1945
The squadrons of 315th Troop Carrier Group U.S. Army Air Forces flew from this site on Airborne missions to Normandy, Arnhem and the Rhine for the liberation of Western Europe and the defense of freedom. Erected by the W.W.II 315th Troop Carrier Association 1983.

All text and photos graphs courtesy of Mr. John Smith & Graham Simons of the Airfield Focus publications. Airfield Focus are a series of books detailing the Airfields used during World War II and will be available at the event.