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Finningley ARS History

Our name Finningley ARS sometimes causes a little confusion as our club is not actually located in Finningley.
The club was originally a RAF members, club for those on base at RAF Finningley which is located a few miles away from our current location. When the RAF base at Finningley was being closed, and the societies members at the time managed to find a new home for the club, on the edge of another RAF airfield, RAF Sandtoft.

We've no affiliation with the RAF, nor any service men/women amongst our membership, but we do like remember the clubs roots and help tell the story of RAF Finningley and RAF Sandtoft.

  • RAF Finningley Key History & Timeline:
    Opened in July 1936 as a World War II bomber and operational training station (home to squadrons like Nos. 7, 102, 106, and 18/25 Operational Training Units).

  • Cold War Era (Late 1950s–1970s) Operated as a major V-bomber base for Avro Vulcans, Handley Page Victors, and Vickers Valiants equipped with nuclear capabilities, later shifting to navigation and multi-engine training (No. 6 Flying Training School) and No. 100 Squadron Hawks.

  • Famous for hosting large-scale annual Battle of Britain and late-summer air displays, with its final major air show held in September 1994.

  • Closed and decommissioned by the Ministry of Defence on March 31, 1996.

Handley Page Halifax

RAF Sandtoft

RAF Sandtoft was a Royal Air Force bomber airfield, situated between Doncaster and Scunthorpe. It was built during the Second World War and was primarily used as a training base for heavy bomber crews rather than as a front-line operational station. 
Its principal role was hosting No.1667 Heavy Conversion Unit (HCU). Here, crews who had already mastered twin-engined aircraft learned to fly four-engined bombers before joining operational squadrons.

The station opened in February 1944 as a satellite airfield to RAF Lindholme. It was built to the standard RAF Class A layout, with:

Three intersecting concrete runways

Two T2 hangars and one larger B1 hangar

Around 36 aircraft dispersal points

Accommodation for roughly 2,300 personnel. 


Avro Lancaster

The Heavy Conversion Unit was disbanded in November 1945, and RAF Sandtoft closed soon afterwards.
The station then entered "care and maintenance," meaning it was kept intact but inactive.
In 1953 it was allocated to the United States Air Force during the Cold War, although no USAF units ever occupied the airfield.

It returned to Air Ministry control in 1955 and was gradually sold off.