York Historic Environment Record

NMR Information:

Elvington military airfield is visible on air photographs, centred at SE 674 483. It was used by the RAF in World War II between 1939 and 1942 and between 1952 and 1958 by the American Air Force as a Strategic Air Command base. From the 1960's to 1992 it was used by the RAF for test flights and manoeuvres. It currently houses the Yorkshire Air Museum. The runway structures are visible and earlier runways are visible as cropmarks. Many buildings and other structures survive. Several camps associated with the airfield are identified to the east of the airfield.
(1-2)

Elvington Airfield, SE 665 480. In contrast to the two sources above, the Willis and Holiss gazetteer suggests that the airfield opened in 1942. By 1944 there were three asphalt runways. Site use in 1985 was stated to be RAF. The source includes a sketch map of the airfield's wartime layout. (3)

Elvington Airfield has been the home of the Yorkshire Air Museum since 1986. The focal point of the museum is the restored control tower, but there are other wartime buildings which have been restored. The airfield is used for displays of historic aircraft. The museum website describes the collctions and events at Elvington.(4-5)

Elvington, North Yorkshire, SE 679 485. "Opened in 1942, with two runways on the airfield, the Halifaxes of Elvington were heavily engaged in the Battle of the Ruhr in early 1943. May and June 1944 saw the formation of two heavy bomber squadrons of the Free French Air Force (seving under the RAF), which made their first attacks on the 5th of June near the invasion beaches of Normandy". (6)

Elvington Airfield, SE 668 482 (NAT). The 1972 edition of the OS 1:10000 sheet SE 64 NE depicts the post war airfield greatly extended to the west in comparison to the sketch of the wartime layout provided in source 1. (7)

1 Oblique aerial photograph reference number NMR SE 6748/4 (12939/18) 01-OCT-1996
2 Vertical aerial photograph reference number RAF 543/374 (F22) 0091-6 03-SEP-1958
3 Military airfields in the British Isles 1939-1945 77 Steve Willis and Barry Holliss
4 Airfield review 7 8, 1986
5 World Wide Web page Pete Wilkins. 2004. "Yorkshire Air Museum"; http://www.yorkshireairmuseum
6 VIRTUAL CATALOGUE ENTRY TO SUPPORT NAR MIGRATION English Heritage Thematic Listing Programme, May 2003: "Survey of Military Aviation Sites and Structures, Summary Report", Annexe 1, unpaged.
7 Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date) 1:10000, 1972

Paul Warner, 2004, Elvington Airfield Architectural and Archaeological survey (Unpublished document). SYO1170.