A BOMBER BASE

摘要

Located to the east of Gainsborough in Lincolnshire, Hemswell offers unrivalled access to an 'Expansion Period' station with superb provenance and the allure of having been a 'set' for the 1955 film The Dam Busters. The vast majority of the site is publically accessible and is home to the Hemswell Antiques Centres, billed as "Europe's largest". It also is host to a vast Sunday market and has several eateries within. What's not to like? Construction of a medium bomber station to the east of the village of the same name started in late 1935. Swallowed within the perimeter was the World War One airfield of Harpswell - see the panel. In spring 1937 the Avro Anson Is and Hawker Audaxes of 61 and 144 Squadrons began working up at Hemswell. No. 144 started conversion to Bristol Blenheim Is in December and 61 Squadron did likewise in January 1938. In February of the following year, 61 began to receive Handley Page Hampden I bombers, and a month later 144 began the same process.