RAF Melton Mowbray

The primary reason for closure was the military drawdown following the end of World War II. As a temporary wartime-built airfield designed for training, it was deemed surplus to the operational requirements of the peacetime Royal Air Force.

The site is no longer recognizable as an active airport. It has been extensively redeveloped and is now primarily the Melton Airfield Industrial Estate. The former runways and perimeter track, though fragmented and in disrepair, are still partially visible. The site is occupied by various businesses, including a large 2 Sisters Food Group poultry processing plant, vehicle storage compounds, and a large-scale solar farm built on the former main runway. The original control tower is a Grade II listed building and still stands, though derelict. The former technical and domestic sites to the south have been redeveloped into a housing estate.

Opened in 1942, RAF Melton Mowbray was a Class A bomber airfield. Its main role during World War II was as a training facility for bomber crews. It was home to No. 14 Operational Training Unit (OTU) of RAF Bomber Command, which trained crews from the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, primarily on Vickers Wellington bombers. After its training role ended in 1945, the station was transferred to Maintenance Command and used by No. 255 Maintenance Unit for the storage and eventual scrapping of surplus aircraft, including de Havilland Mosquitos and Avro Lancasters. The wider complex also had Cold War significance, hosting three PGM-17 Thor intermediate-range ballistic missiles between 1959 and 1963.

None. The extensive industrial, agricultural, and renewable energy redevelopment on the original airfield footprint, including the construction of large permanent structures and a solar farm across the main runway, makes any prospect of reopening as an airport economically and logistically unfeasible.