RAF Grimsby

RAF Grimsby (Waltham) was opened in 1941 as a satellite for the larger airfield nearby at Binbrook. During it’s time as an operational bomber base three squadrons served there; 100 Squadron, 142 Squadron and 550 Squadron.

Ghostly occurrences have been reported at the site since the airfield closed after the end of World War II in 1945, and many former airmen are rumoured to still make their presence felt. In 1969, a woman who had a small house on the perimeter of the airfield claimed to have woken one night to see the figure of a young, ginger haired man in RAF uniform standing at the foot of her bed. As her eyes became accustomed to the dark, she noticed that he was missing an arm and had his empty sleeve pinned to his shoulder. The figure stared at her for some time before gradually fading away in the darkness. The woman never saw the airman again but moved out soon after the experience.

Years later she did some research on the airfield and discovered that her house was built over a hut which was partly destroyed where a young airman committed suicide with a hand grenade. He had done so after being declared unfit for further duty when he lost an arm in a motorcycle accident.

Workers in the small industrial units which now occupy part of the airfield have also reported seeing ghostly figures in wartime RAF uniform. One man was so frightened by seeing a phantom serviceman disappear through a solid concrete wall that all his hair fell out and he refused to work alone in the building again.

The apparition of a man wearing a uniform which bears a pair of pilot’s wings has been seen regularly at the memorial for 100 Squadron which stands in the nearby village of Holton-le-Clay.