RAF Waddington (IATA: WTN, ICAO: EGXW) is a Royal Air Force station in Lincolnshire, England.
Waddington opened as a Royal Flying Corps flying training station in 1916 until 1920, when the station went into care and maintenance.
It reopened as a bomber base on 12 March 1937, with squadrons flying the Bristol Blenheim and later Handley Page Hampdens.
In November 1940 it was the first station to receive the Avro Manchester heavy bomber.
44 Sqn was ...
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RAF Waddington (IATA: WTN, ICAO: EGXW) is a Royal Air Force station in Lincolnshire, England.
Waddington opened as a Royal Flying Corps flying training station in 1916 until 1920, when the station went into care and maintenance.
It reopened as a bomber base on 12 March 1937, with squadrons flying the Bristol Blenheim and later Handley Page Hampdens.
In November 1940 it was the first station to receive the Avro Manchester heavy bomber.
44 Sqn was the first in RAF Bomber Command to fly operationally with the Lancaster on 2 March 1942 from Waddington.
On 17 April 1942 at around 3pm, six Avro Lancasters from 44 Sqn left in daylight for the MAN diesel engine (for U-boats) factory at Augsburg in southern Germany (Bavaria). Four Lancasters were shot down and Squadron Leader John Dering Nettleton received a VC, piloting R5508. He survived due to the German fighters running out of fuel, and lack of daylight.
In the Cold War, RAF Waddington became an Avro Vulcan V-bomber bomber base, with 83...
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