In 2021, I posted an account of a ride I took to visit the grave of P/O J G Magee, author of ‘High Flight’, and the visit I made to Metheringham and Woodhall Spa. I got quite a lot of positive feedback, including some versions of ‘can we have more’. Last year I came off Oscar on a slippery corner, and since then have been rather nervous of riding, but finally got around to deciding on a day out. Having just read “Lancaster Target”, an autobiographical account by Jack Currie, I decided to explore the idea of a tour of former RAF airfields in Lincolnshire, specifically the north of the county, since my previous ride was south of Lincoln. Students of Second World War history in Europe will know that Britain was the ‘unsinkable aircraft carrier’ off the coast of Europe, and, in particular, East Anglia and Lincolnshire, close to Europe and relatively (often extremely) flat were ideal for military airfields. Lincolnshire became known as ‘Bomber County’. It was not particularly easy to identify former airfields, but eventually I came up with eighteen, mostly north of Lincoln, and selected seven I thought I could visit in some sort of logical order. It seemed to me that seeking the memorials to the personnel of the stations was the best idea, since many of the stations have left little or no trace.

Thus, Wednesday morning, 30^th August, I wheeled Oscar out of the garage, checked him over, and set about riding. Since my accident I’ve bought armoured trousers and proper boots. They are not great in terms of comfort but I wasn’t intending a lot of walking in them. Oscar started okay, and I set off, heading up the Parkway to use the Rotherham bypass to reach Lincolnshire. I deliberately avoided the motorways, M1, M18, M180, which would have speeded matters up considerably, even on Oscar. The motorways are boring, and the traffic often frightening to a vulnerable motorcyclist. Instead, guided by Google, I took the lesser roads, heading for my first objective, Sandtoft. Let me say, some of those roads were in less ... much less ... satisfactory condition than I’d like. One of them, almost dead straight for miles, barely wide enough for two cars to pass with care, ran between two deep ditches, and the surface was so uneven there were signs warning of the danger of speed or lack of care. There were dips and ridges, some of them more like kerbs than road surface. However. Eventually I heard ‘Your destination is on your left’.

Well, I couldn’t see anything as I was riding, so I parked and walked back. The RAF Sandtoft memorial was behind a gate festooned with barbed wire and sporting a notice.

‘MoD property. Keep out.’

Sadly, I could only take a couple of pictures over the gate:

Then set off for the remains of the airfield. Most of it is industrial estate, but a small flight school uses what must have been perimeter track for a runway, and next to that is the ‘Happy cafe’. Unfortunately, their espresso machine was out of action, but the instant caffeine was a barely adequate replacement.

Another couple of visitors chatted with me pleasantly as we enjoyed our breaks.

Upon setting out for my next objective, I found to my dismay that I had somehow lost my ‘power bank’. This is a necessity, if I am using my phone for GPS. I suspect that I failed to properly secure the device and it must have bounced out of my pocket. Nonetheless, I set off for Kirton-in-Lindsey.

The next snag was that the B1398 off the A18 was closed. But between us, Google and I found a diversion, though not one which was marked.

Google failed me, though, in finding the Kirton-in-Lindsey airfield memorial. The airfield is currently the home of a gliding club as well as some industrial units. I found the memorial by accident, set on a corner of one of the roads I’d been round looking for it.