RAF Crosby-on-Eden | |
Ensign: | Ensign of the Royal Air Force.svg |
Ensign Size: | 90px |
Location: | Crosby-on-Eden, Cumbria |
Country: | England |
Type: | Royal Air Force station |
Coordinates: | 54.9375°N -2.8092°W |
Pushpin Map: | Cumbria |
Pushpin Map Caption: | Shown within Cumbria |
Pushpin Label: | RAF Crosby-on-Eden |
Ownership: | Air Ministry |
Operator: | Royal Air Force |
Controlledby: | RAF Fighter Command 1941-42 * No. 81 (OTU) Group RAF RAF Coastal Command 1942-44 * No. 17 Group RAF RAF Transport Command 1944- |
Code: | KX |
Built: | /41 |
Used: | February 1941 - |
Battles: | European theatre of World War II |
Elevation: | 50m (160feet) |
R1-Number: | 00/00 |
R1-Surface: | Tarmac |
R2-Number: | 00/00 |
R2-Surface: | Tarmac |
R3-Number: | 00/00 |
R3-Surface: | Tarmac |
Royal Air Force Crosby-on-Eden, or more simply RAF Crosby-on-Eden, is a former Royal Air Force station located north east of Carlisle, Cumbria and west of Brampton, Cumbria. It is nowadays Carlisle Lake District Airport.
In the early 1930s, Cumberland County Council opened Kingstown Municipal Airport, at the time outside the borough boundaries which later became the RAF Kingstown and is now Kingstown or Kingmoor Industrial estate. With the outbreak of war in 1939, RAF Kingstown's runway was too small for bombers, so the Royal Air Force developed a new airstrip at Crosby-on-Eden.[1] The new facility came into operation in February 1941 for training operations, designating the station RAF Crosby-on-Eden.
The airfield was originally under the command of RAF Fighter Command housing No. 59 Operational Training Unit RAF (OTU) which provided day training for Hawker Hurricane pilots.[2]
The following units were also here at some point:[5]
Crosby-on-Eden had little post war use and was closed in 1947 with the airfield returning to Carlisle City Council to continue as a municipal airport as what is now named Carlisle Lake District Airport with ownership passing to the Stobart Group.