RAF Balderton

The closure was a direct result of the post-World War II military drawdown. As a temporary airfield built specifically for wartime needs, it was deemed surplus to the requirements of the much smaller peacetime Royal Air Force and was not suitable for the new generation of jet aircraft.

The site is no longer recognizable as an active airport. A large portion has been redeveloped into the Balderton Industrial Estate, with numerous commercial and industrial units built upon the former technical site, hardstands, and taxiways. The main concrete runways and perimeter track are still partially visible from the air, but they are fragmented, in a state of decay, and have been repurposed as private access roads, for open-air storage, or have been returned to agricultural land. The original control tower was demolished in the 1960s. A memorial to the squadrons that served at the airfield is located in the nearby village of Balderton.

RAF Balderton was a significant Class A airfield opened in June 1941. It was initially a key base for RAF Bomber Command's No. 5 Group, hosting Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) squadrons, such as No. 408, flying Handley Page Hampden and later Avro Lancaster bombers on raids over occupied Europe. In September 1943, the airfield was transferred to the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) Ninth Air Force and designated as Station AAF-482. It became the home of the 437th Troop Carrier Group, which flew Douglas C-47/C-53 Skytrain aircraft. From Balderton, this group played a crucial role in major Allied airborne operations, including towing Waco CG-4A gliders and dropping paratroopers during the D-Day landings in Normandy (Operation Overlord) in June 1944 and Operation Market Garden in September 1944. The airfield returned to RAF control in early 1945, hosting No. 227 Squadron's Lancasters until the end of the war in Europe. After VE Day, it was used for the repatriation of Allied prisoners of war.

There are no known plans or prospects for reopening RAF Balderton as an airport. The extensive industrial development on the site, the degraded state of the remaining runway infrastructure, and its proximity to other active airfields make any such proposal economically and logistically unfeasible.