| Better known these days as St George’s Army Barracks, former RAF North Luffenham is located about 5 miles South-West of Stamford, adjacent to the village of Edith Weston on the Leicestershire side of Rutland.
The station, which took its name from a village to the south, opened in 1940 as a flying training school and originally had only grass runways. However its usage changed mid war in 1943 to a bomber airfield and so concrete runways were built to accommodate the heavier aircraft. Post war, the station remained active and had numerous roles over the years, being used as a glider college, a bomber training unit, a Canadian fighter base and even as a Thor missile wing. In later years, the station was also used by the RAF school of medicine, the Joint Services Language school and a succession of ground signals organisations. However, in 1997 the decision was made to relocate these to other stations and the site closed to RAF use later that year. The station was then transferred to the Army and became St Georges Barracks, and is currently occupied by their Royal Artillery division. The entire technical site still remains, including the control tower, hangers and barrack blocks, which are now in army use. As is the former officers mess and service personnel housing. Parts of the old airfield are currently used by the army for munitions tests and training exercises and numerous old aircraft and military vehicles can be found strewn around the old field for Explosive Ordnance Disposal Training. The rest of the airfield is now largely in agricultural use. A haulage firm currently uses the old hangers for storage and part of the airfield has also been turned into a golf course. An aero model club also use part of the Eastern end of the field at weekends. A memorial to the airfield can be found in the beer garden at the Wheatsheaf pub in Edith Weston village. Please note! Whilst it is possible to walk round the airfield at weekends, it is advisable to steer clear during the week due to army activities there. This visit took place in August 2009 with several other members of the Airfield research group! |
Some of the old sign posts still say "North Luffenham". 800x570 |
St George's Barracks, the new designation. 700x525 |
Main entrance, West of site. 700x525 |
Rear of Station HQ, next to main entrance. 700x525 |
Pedestrian entrance, North of site. Note, water towers in background. 700x525 |
Barrack blocks. 700x470 |
Communications mast, next to T2 hanger. 700x525 |
The old control tower, with fire tender shed and ancillary buildings, with J hanger in back. 700x525 |
Control tower, buildings and hanger. A clearer view. 700x525 |
Long distance shot showing the 2 J hangers behind tower. 700x525 |
Old T2 hanger tucked behind the second J hanger. 700x525 |
Airifeld entrance. 700x525 |
Looking East along the Northern peri-track. 700x525 |
Former hangers, now used as warehousing. 700x525 |
Walking South along the old N-S runway. 700x525 |
Access road to the rear of the army camp. 1024x768 |
Looking South-East down the NW-SE runway. 700x525 |
Anti aircraft plinth at the intersection of the N-S & NE-SW runways. 700x525 |
Intersection of the old N-S & SW-NE runways. 700x525 |
Strolling South-West down the old NE-SW runway. 700x525 |
Looking NE up the old NE-SW runway. 700x525 |
View South down the continuation of the N-S runway. 700x525 |
Southern peri-track, at the foot of the old N-S runway, looking West. 700x525 |
These buildings at the foot of the old N-S runway apparently used to belong to a radar firm. 700x525 |
