| RAF Bottesford was open between 1941-1945 and is located just north of Bottesford village on the Normanton road, sitting on the borders of Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and Leicesteshire.
The main airfield, which encompases the technical site, was purchased from the MOD in the early 50's by the Roseland group and today is used as a buisiness/industrial park. All original hangers and buildings still exist and have been painstakingly renovated and preserved by the owners, re-clad in the original RAF green. Indeed, entering the site was rather like being on the set of "The Dambusters", and you could almost be fooled into thinking this was still an active WW2 RAF base, except that the hangers that once housed the mighty Lancaster and Halifax bombers are now home to haulage, storage and steelworking firms. Only a few buildings on the site waiting to to be restored remain unrenovated. Although most of the old accomodation blocks, which existed on dispersed sites outside of the airfield (not owned by the Roseland group), have since been demolished, though a few still exist as farm stores. Most of the pictures here were taken in 2004, since then the Roseland group have built a new set of offices in front of the old guardroom in the form of an Australian RAAF control tower. A return visit was made in 2006 in order to photograph this and I was also able at this time to get permission from the local farmer to photograph what remained of the old domestic site buildings. Please note that the buisiness park is private property and so is not generally open to the public. Entry is restricted to persons on official business only, so I would like to personally thank Claire from the Roseland group for making this visit possible and for showing me round. In addition, I must also stress that the former domestic site buildings are on private farmland which are not open to the public. I was only able to photograph them after seeking special permission from the land owners (which was NOT easy), so please do not try and gain entry onto these sites without asking first and don't expect permission to be automatic (if at all). |
Main entrance with guardroom in the background 535x400 |
The old Guard room, converted into a weighbridge and office. 535x400 |
The restored control tower, now the Roseland group head office. 535x400 |
Restored tower, with fire tender shed to the right (now a garage) 535x400 |
Picture of the control tower prior to restoration 535x400 |
Memorial plaque 535x400 |
The ORIGINAL station plan, found in the old tower during renovation 1024x768 |
View accross the old airfield 535x400 |
The old ops block, awaiting restoration 535x401 |
View inside the front door of the old Ops building. 535x400 |
Renovated buildings with re-clad T2 hanger in the background 535x400 |
Renovated buildings with T1 hanger to the right 535x400 |
One of the many re-clad T2 hangers 535x400 |
Re-clad T2 hangers 535x400 |
Hanger, outside the main airfield on the Normanton road 535x400 |
Hanger outside to the south of the main airfield on the Normanton road 535x400 |
Roseland groups new company offices, in the form of an RAAF control tower, built onto the guardroom by main entrance. 535x400 |
Pill box outside main airfield 535x400 |
Air raid shelter outside 535x400 |
Remains of former accomodation site as viewed from Roseland way (private farmland) 535x400 |
Remains of former accomodation site buildings, viewed from private access road (private farmland) 535x400 |
Former domestic site (private farmland) 535x400 |
Old entrance gate at rear of complex, looking South towards the main acces road (private farmland) 535x400 |
Derelict former accomodation site buildings with blast shelters in foreground (private farmland). 535x400 |
