Editor’s Note: Although RAF Scampton is only 58 miles from Sheffield, it is just south of the area usually covered by this website. That said, we believe that this story will be of interest to our readers and other racial Nationalists across the country.
News that the Government is planning to buy RAF Scampton to house up to 1,500 illegal immigrants has come as a shock to West Lindsey District Council, local residents and supporters of a plan to regenerate the 800-acre historic site.
“This includes adverts in the press from Serco advertising for housing officers to work in Scampton this week. This has come as a great surprise to the Council which has invested a significant amount of time and resources over a number of years in developing a major investment plan for the site.”
Press release from West Lindsey District Council 10 March 2023.
Only last year the council announced, with great fanfare, that “a landmark deal has been agreed which will see the council purchase the former RAF base from the Ministry of Defence and in a back-to-back arrangement transfer ownership to Scampton Holdings Limited through a Development Agreement.”
The deal, which would have secured over £300 million of investment into the regeneration of the site, would have preserved, protected and enhanced the site by ‘providing aviation heritage, business, aerospace, space and aviation technology and education opportunities’. The plans would have maintained flying from the base and safeguarded the station’s heritage.
The plans would have led to the creation of 1000’s of new highly-skilled jobs in an area that is already suffering from high unemployment. As recently as the 9 February 2023, the council’s Corporate Policy and Resources Committee unanimously voted in favour of progressing with the site acquisition to deliver the RAF Scampton regeneration project. Unfortunately the Government had other priorities.
Councillor Owen Bierley, leader of West Lindsey District Council, has revealed that RAF Scampton could be used to house up to 1,500 asylum seekers, following talks with the Government. The Home Office has confirmed the former base which closed last year is one of several sites the department is looking at.
Cllr Bierley said: “We have spoken to the Home office today [March 9] and they have confirmed that they are looking at RAF Scampton as one of a number of sites that they are assessing. We are extremely concerned by what impact this will have on our existing local community, given the close proximity to Scampton schools and nursery.
“Given the site has poor public transport connectivity and is remote in nature to service, we believe this would not be suitable for asylum seekers.”
The 2021 census recorded that the village of Scampton had a population of 609. 589 of that total were described as White, 9 were Asian and 1 person was described as ‘black’. The Mixed/multiple population was 11. The 2011 census gave the population of the civil parish (which includes Brampton and Broadholme) as 1,358.
Scamptons long history
Scampton opened as Home Defence Station Brattleby in 1916 and was renamed RAF Scampton in 1918. The Red Arrows were first stationed at Scampton from 1983 to 1996 and returned in 2001 after a period at Cranwell.
RAF Scampton stands on the site of a First World War Royal Flying Corps landing field, which had been called Home Defence Station Brattleby. The station was closed and returned to agriculture following the First World War, and reactivated in the 1930s. It has provided an airfield for fighters in the First World War, bombers during the Second World War and V-force Avro Vulcans during the Cold War.
Since the temporary closure of RAF Scampton in 1996, and subsequent reactivation, the station has provided a home for the RAF Aerobatic Team the Red Arrows, and to private companies, temporarily, such as Hawker Hunter Aviation, for the maintenance and storage of aircraft.
1943–1945
Following the development of the Upkeep bouncing bomb, No. 617 Squadron, originally referred to as “Squadron X”, was formed at Scampton in order to carry out the proposed raid, codenamed Operation Chastise. More commonly referred to as the “Dambusters Raid”, the raid would go down as the most famous and widely remembered in the history of the RAF.[16]
On the night of 16–17 May 1943, No. 617 Squadron despatched nineteen Lancaster’s from Scampton. Led by Wing Commander Guy Gibson, the main bulk of the squadron attacked the Sorpe, Eder and Möhne dams with an additional aircraft tasked to perform an attack on the Schwelm Dam. Both the Eder and Möhne dams were breached, however eight of the Lancaster’s despatched failed to return and fifty-three aircrew were lost.
Following the raid Wing Commander Gibson was awarded the Victoria Cross, becoming Scampton’s third recipient of the award. On the day of the raid, Wing Commander Gibson’s dog, Nigger, was run over and killed on the A15 outside the entrance to the base. He was buried later that night, his grave situated outside Gibson’s office at No. 3 Hangar. The above details are taken from Wikipeadia.
In 1977, Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions prohibited unjustified attacks against installations such as dams, dykes and nuclear power stations for their potential consequences on the civilian population.
Resources:
Top Image: Google Maps.
Red Arrows Image: Hawks of the Red Arrows pictured on the flight line at RAF Scampton. Harvey Milligan, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
Bottom Image: The grave of Guy Gibson’s dog. A. Carty at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
The British Movement welcomes articles for possible inclusion on this site from members and supporters across the North of England. Please remember that we have to operate within the laws of this country – we will not include any content that is against the current laws of the United Kingdom. News reports should be topical and be relevant to the regions covered by this website.
