RAF Station Middleton St George, the most northerly bomber station in the British Isles, was opened on the 15th of January 1941.
Home to both the RAF and RCAF, Middleton, better proclaimed locally as Goosepool, provided the springboard for many of world war two ' s most famous bomber missions. These carry the raids on the pocket battleship Tirpitz, the battle of Hamburg, the battle of Berlin, the V2 skyrocket sites at Penemunde and the prominent Dresden raids of February 1945.
These, and dozens of other targets throughout Germany and Italy, hackneyed the full-dress attention of the squadrons based at Middleton St George between April 1941 and May 1945.
The losses suffered by the airmen of the British Isles, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and a dozen other countries, who were based at RAF Middleton St George during world war two, amounted to 1, 266 killed. Even more were injured, taken prisoner or evaded capture.
This book covers the full history of the airfield from the beginning of its construction in 1938, to the end of hostilities in the summer of 1945 and beyond. Every raid is recorded and each wartime aircraft type based there is featured, including the Whitley and the Halifax.
It then continues with the airfield ' s peacetime training role and the changeover from Bomber Command to Fighter Command during the birth of the jet era. The RAF remained at Goosepool until 1964, until budget cuts deemed that RAF Middleton St George was surplus to requirements.
The final section of the book covers the period during which the airfield bade farewell to the RAF and heralded the birth of Teesside Airport and the new up and coming jet airline travel industry. Teesside Airport thrived during the post war years and by 2003 it was providing flights to destinations all over the world for the populations of Durham, Cumbria, Teesside and Yorkshire.
Sadly, after the airfield was taken over by Peel Holdings during 2003, for some reason it declined and has become a shadow of its former self.
Today Goosepool ' s future is uncertain. During the war the Germans were the enemy at the gate. Now it seems that the money gods hold the poisoned chalice that could decide the airfields fate.
The author ' s website and blog is now live, an excellent reference for World War 2 historians.
