WWII RAF Bomber Command base Woolfox Lodge

The need for a satellite airfield for Cottesmore resulted in the selection of an area of large grazing meadows four miles away on the eastern side of the A1 trunk road five miles north of Stamford. The site lay mostly in the parish of Pickworth but due to the requisition of the nearby country mansion, Woolfox Lodge, for aircrew accommodation, this was the name by which the satellite became known.

No more than a landing ground when first used by the Hampdens of No. 14 OTU in 1940, it was soon developed into an independent airfield with the necessary fuel and bomb stores (in woodland to the north), two T2 hangars and, later, a B1 on the main technical site alongside the A1. A hard taxiway, 24 pan aircraft standings were added besides the three concrete runways. Construction was carried out by John Mowlem & Son Ltd, at a cost of £644,000 for the ground work. No. 5 Group then acquired Woolfox Lodge as a satellite for North Luffenham and brought in No. 61 Squadron from there in October 1941. The squadron had just converted to the Manchester and it spent a dismal winter on the airfield endeavouring to master this beast which was to produce the highest loss per sortie ratio of any other type used by Bomber Command. While at Woolfox Lodge, No. 61 lost 12 Manchesters and another four in crashes out of some 180 sorties. Lancasters started to arrive as replacements in April 1942 but the squadron still had a dozen Manchesters when it moved to Syerston in May.