RAF Firbeck

The airfield was closed due to being surplus to requirements following the end of World War II. As a temporary satellite airfield built for wartime needs, it was decommissioned as part of the massive post-war demobilization and reduction of the Royal Air Force.

The site of the former RAF Firbeck has been almost entirely returned to agricultural use. The original runways were removed decades ago, but their outline is still faintly visible from the air as crop marks or soil discolouration, particularly in dry weather. Some of the original perimeter track remains and is used as farm tracks. A few of the original wartime buildings, including at least one T2-type hangar and smaller Nissen huts, survive and have been repurposed for agricultural or light industrial storage. The site is on private land and not publicly accessible, though some remnants can be seen from nearby public roads.

RAF Firbeck was a significant World War II fighter airfield, opened in June 1941. It served as a satellite station for RAF Kirton in Lindsey within No. 12 Group, RAF Fighter Command. Its primary role was to defend the industrial heartlands of South Yorkshire, including the major steel-producing cities of Sheffield and Rotherham, from Luftwaffe attacks. The airfield hosted numerous notable squadrons on rotation, including No. 616 (South Yorkshire) Squadron, which flew Supermarine Spitfires. Other units that operated from Firbeck included squadrons flying Hawker Hurricanes and Boulton Paul Defiants. It also briefly hosted Fleet Air Arm squadrons. The airfield was built with three concrete runways in a classic 'A' frame layout and was a typical example of a wartime dispersal airfield designed to spread out air assets and make them less vulnerable to a single attack.

There are no known plans or prospects for reopening RAF Firbeck as an airport. The land is privately owned, the essential aviation infrastructure (runways, taxiways, control tower) has been removed, and the site has been re-integrated into the surrounding agricultural landscape for over 70 years. Re-establishing an airfield at this location would be economically and logistically unfeasible.