RAF Folkingham

Military Decommissioning. The primary reason for closure was the obsolescence and decommissioning of the PGM-17 Thor ballistic missile program in 1963. Following the Cuban Missile Crisis and the development of more advanced submarine-launched and intercontinental ballistic missiles, the land-based Thor IRBMs were phased out. As RAF Folkingham's sole purpose at the time was to host these missiles, the station was no longer required by the Royal Air Force and was subsequently closed and sold.

The former airfield has been largely returned to agricultural use, with most of the runways and perimeter tracks removed. However, faint outlines of the runway layout are still visible in aerial photography. The former technical and domestic sites have been redeveloped into a commercial area known as the Folkingham Airfield Industrial Estate. The most prominent surviving features are the three concrete launch pads for the Thor missiles, which remain on the site as a distinct reminder of its Cold War past. The site is private property and not generally accessible to the public.

RAF Folkingham has a significant dual history from World War II and the Cold War. It was first developed in 1940 as a 'Q-site' (decoy airfield) for nearby RAF Cranwell. In 1943, it was upgraded to a full Class A airfield. In early 1944, it was allocated to the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) Ninth Air Force and designated as USAAF Station 484. It became home to the 313th Troop Carrier Group, which operated Douglas C-47 Skytrain aircraft. This group was heavily involved in major WWII operations, including dropping paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division during the D-Day Normandy landings and participating in Operation Market Garden. After the USAAF departed in 1945, the airfield was returned to the RAF but saw little use until the Cold War. In 1959, it was reactivated as one of Britain's 20 Thor Intermediate-Range Ballistic Missile (IRBM) sites, operated by No. 223 (Strategic Missile) Squadron RAF. This made it a front-line nuclear deterrent base during a tense period of the Cold War until the program's termination.

There are no known plans or prospects for reopening RAF Folkingham as an airport. The extensive removal of its core aviation infrastructure, such as runways and taxiways, combined with its decades-long conversion to agricultural and industrial use, makes any potential reopening logistically and financially unfeasible.