Airfield memorial next to the perimeter track at Saltby

Image: © Adrian S Pye Taken: 8 Jun 2020

Initially the airfield was a grass satellite airfield to RAF Cottesmore, RAF Saltby opened in August 1941 as the home of No. 14 OTU, (Operational Training Unit) but closed for improvements in August 1943. In February 1944 it was allocated to the Ninth Air Force. It had gained three concrete runways, 33 loop and 17 pan hardstandings, and four T2 hangars and a B1. The 314th Troop Carrier Group, equipped with C-47s and C-53s, occupied the station from then until March 1945, when it was handed back to the RAF. In May 1945 it was used by a detachment of the 349th Troop Carrier Group, equipped with C-46s. The airfield closed in late 1945 & the station was used for storage until 1948. It was sold in 1955, much of the site has since been demolished and returned to agriculture, but part remains active as Saltby Airfield, home to the Buckminster Gliding Club since 1971. The airfield memorial is to the right of the picture.

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