RAF Grimsby  Royal Air Force Grimsby or more simply RAF Grimsby is a former Royal Air Force station located near Grimsby, Lincolnshire, England. The site was operational during the Second World War as part of RAF Bomber Command initially as a satellite station for the Vickers Wellington bombers of RAF Binbrook. By early 1943 the station was equipped with Avro Lancaster bombers of No. 100 Squadron RAF. Although the station was officially called RAF Grimsby, servicemen and locals referred to it as Waltham, the name of the nearby village Waltham. Flying began at Waltham in 1933 when a grassed strip operated as Grimsby's municipal airport and a small aero club was formed at the airfield. In June 1938, the airfield's's first military resident's were RAF Bomber Command's 5 Group who set up an Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve training outfit (No. 25 Elementary and Reserve Flying Training School RAF). The Civil Air Guard also operated from the aerodrome. The airfield was requisitioned by the Air Ministry in May 1940. The aerodrome was then prepared through the summer of 1940 with concrete runways (the first in north Lincolnshire) to accommodate bombers of No. 1 Group RAF. The aerodrome became operational in the summer of 1941 and was initially a satellite airfield for the nearby RAF Binbrook. The Wellington squadrons based at Binbrook would use Waltham as their own airfield did not have concrete runways. Throughout the war the station was under 1 Group Bomber Command. Three squadrons served at RAF Grimsby during its operation: 142 Squadron moved to the airfield in November 1941; 100 Squadron arrived in December 1942; and 550 Squadron (formed from 100 Squadron's C-Flight). The first operational sortie from Waltham for 100 Squadron was on the 4/5 March 1943. The squadron's Avro Lancaster bombers were sent on mine-laying sorties along the coasts of occupied Europe. Two Lancasters were lost. The station was closed some weeks prior to the surrender of Germany and the hangars were used by No. 35 Maintenance Unit RAF for storage and the flying field reverted to back to agricultural use. Years later the A16 was being improved and a bypass for the village of Holton-le-Clay cut into a large proportion of the station. Currently a memorial to 100 Squadron stands near the B1 hangar, next to the northern entrance to Holton-le-Clay. There is a memorial for 550 Squadron at the now disused station RAF North Killingholme and 142 Squadron is said to have a memorial in North Africa.