RAF Firbeck
Royal Air Force base in Yorkshire, England
Royal Air Force Firbeck or more simply RAF Firbeck is a former Royal Air Force relief landing ground located west of Firbeck, South Yorkshire, England.
The airfield was opened in September 1940 and was closed in 1948, during this time it was mainly used as a relief landing ground (RLG) and small planes such as the Westland Lysander and the Taylorcraft Auster. After the Second World War had ended the airfield was used by two Royal Air Force (RAF) gliding schools.
History
The airfield was first constructed in 1935 in conjunction with a country club opening up at Firbeck Hall. Cyril Nicholson invested money into the Jacobean hall and its surroundings which attracted the rich and glamorous of that time. The then Prince of Wales (the future Edward VIII) also flew into the airfield in his own de Havilland Dragon Rapide aircraft (the very aircraft that he flew to London on his accession to King in 1936). On the outbreak of war, the airfield was pressed into service for the Royal Air Force under the Emergency Powers Act.
The first squadron to use the airfield was No. 613 Squadron RAF which had moved from RAF Netherthorpe on 7 September 1940. The unit had detachments at various other airfields such as RAF Clifton, RAF Netherthorpe, RAF Sutton Bridge, RAF Doncaster and RAF Martlesham Heath initially flying the Westland Lysander Mk.
The public source identifies “RAF Firbeck” as royal Air Force base in Yorkshire, England. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Firbeck, Royal and Force.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “RAF Firbeck”, the useful work is to connect “royal Air Force base in Yorkshire, England” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7275320. Authority coordinates are 53.388, -1.163. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1940, 1948, 1935 and 1936.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “RAF Firbeck” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.