RAF Metheringham
RAF Metheringham is a former Royal Air Force station located in the flat agricultural heartland of Lincolnshire, England, roughly eight miles south-east of Lincoln. Now largely returned to farmland, the site nonetheless holds deep historical and emotional significance as one of the many wartime airfields that dotted this part of England during the Second World War. It is perhaps best known today for the Metheringham Airfield Visitor Centre, a small but moving memorial museum dedicated to preserving the memory of the men and women who served here, particularly the crews of 106 Squadron RAF. The site sits within postcode LN4 3BJ near the village of Martin, and while little of the original infrastructure remains visible to the casual passer-by, those who seek it out discover a place of quiet power and remarkable human stories.
The airfield was built in 1943 as a standard wartime heavy bomber base, constructed to the typical design of the period with three intersecting runways of tarmac and concrete, perimeter tracks, dispersal points, and a collection of utilitarian brick and prefabricated buildings. It was opened in October 1943 and 106 Squadron, flying Avro Lancasters, was posted here from RAF Syerston. The squadron had already accumulated a distinguished and costly operational record, and at Metheringham it continued to fly raids deep into occupied Europe and into Germany itself. Over the course of its operational life at the station, the squadron suffered grievous losses — dozens of aircraft and their seven-man crews simply failed to return, claimed by flak, night fighters, accidents, and the brutal mathematics of Bomber Command's strategic campaign. The station closed in 1946 and the land was largely returned to agriculture, but the ghosts of that era were never entirely dispelled.
One of the most poignant stories associated with RAF Metheringham is that of Catherine Doyle, a WAAF (Women's Auxiliary Air Force) sergeant who died in tragic circumstances near the airfield in October 1943, just days after the station opened. According to local accounts, she and a companion became hopelessly lost in bitter weather returning to the base and she died of exposure on the Lincolnshire fens. Her story has taken on an almost legendary quality in the area, and she is sometimes cited as one of the lesser-known human tragedies of the home front. The airfield also gained wider public attention through its connection to Wing Commander Guy Gibson, who had commanded 106 Squadron in its earlier days before going on to lead the famous Dambusters raid of May 1943, though Gibson himself was not based at Metheringham during its operational period.
The physical landscape at the site today is quintessentially Lincolnshire — vast, open, and almost aggressively flat. The ancient field systems have given way to large arable plots growing wheat, oilseed rape, and sugar beet depending on the season, and the sky dominates in a way that feels almost theatrical. On overcast days the clouds press close to the earth and the land takes on a melancholy, sombre quality that feels entirely appropriate to the site's history. Sections of the original concrete perimeter track survive and can be walked or cycled, their cracked and weed-invaded surfaces offering a tangible connection to the thousands of boots and tyres that crossed them during the war. The relative silence of the countryside is occasionally broken only by agricultural machinery or distant birdsong — a stark contrast to the thunderous roar of Merlin engines that once filled this air night after night.
The Metheringham Airfield Visitor Centre, operated by dedicated volunteers, is housed in a restored building on part of the former site and contains an impressive collection of artefacts, documents, photographs, and personal memorabilia relating to 106 Squadron and the wider experience of Bomber Command. The exhibits are arranged with evident care and genuine passion, and the centre punches well above its weight for a community-run heritage site. It includes personal effects recovered from crash sites, logbooks, uniforms, and carefully curated displays about individual crew members that give the statistics of the air war a deeply human face. The centre also maintains a memorial garden and is home to commemorative events, particularly around key anniversaries.
The surrounding area is rich in similar heritage. Lincolnshire was so densely packed with RAF stations during the Second World War that it earned the nickname "Bomber County," and within a short drive of Metheringham one can visit the International Bomber Command Centre in Lincoln — a world-class memorial and archive opened in 2018 — as well as other preserved or partially surviving airfields at Woodhall Spa, Bardney, and East Kirkby, where the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre houses a taxiable Lancaster bomber named Just Jane. The nearby village of Metheringham itself is a modest settlement with a pub and parish church, and the broader area offers pleasant cycling through flat fen landscapes along quiet country lanes.
Visiting RAF Metheringham is best done by car, as public transport to this rural area is extremely limited. The visitor centre is generally open on weekend afternoons and certain weekdays during the spring, summer, and early autumn months, though visitors are strongly advised to check opening times in advance as it is staffed by volunteers and hours can vary. There is no admission charge, though donations are warmly welcomed and help sustain the centre's work. The perimeter track and open areas around the former airfield can be accessed on foot or by bicycle at other times, and the flat terrain makes this accessible to most visitors regardless of fitness level. The best time to visit is arguably late spring or early autumn, when the light is clear and the agricultural fields are at their most visually dramatic without the bleakness of a Lincolnshire winter.
A curious and lesser-known detail about RAF Metheringham is that portions of the original runway and dispersal infrastructure remain beneath the surface of current agricultural fields, occasionally revealed by drought conditions when crop marks appear from the air — the ghosts of wartime geometry made briefly visible by differential soil moisture. Local farmers and aviation archaeologists continue to find fragments of history here: pieces of aircraft, personal equipment, and the traces of the enormous logistical enterprise that once occupied these quiet fields. The fact that so much has returned to farmland, and yet so much persists just below the surface or in the memories maintained by the visitor centre, gives RAF Metheringham a particular quality among Lincolnshire's many wartime sites — a place where the past is always just one season's drought or one volunteer's dedication away from returning to view.