RAF Longtown

RAF Longtown opened in July 1941 as a satellite to RAF Crosby-on Eden, and to begin with was used by Hurricanes from Crosby’s own units. However it soon became home to a succession of training units for much heavier aircraft, and for the next five years the skies around it were full of B17 Flying Fortresses, Handley-Page Halifaxes, Short Stirlings, Avro Yorks and Consolidated Liberators. The airfield became a displaced persons camp after the war known as Hallburn Hostel.

Today the airfield has reverted to agriculture, with a small wind farm on the site. What little remains can be viewed from the roadside – very few buildings remain and the runways are largely broken up.

Image credit – Imperial War Museum collection