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Dishforth Airfield is a long-established military aerodrome in North Yorkshire, now home to the British Army's 6 Regiment Royal Logistic Corps, standing beside the A1(M) a few miles east of Ripon. Once a Royal Air Force bomber and transport station and later an Army Air Corps helicopter base, it retains two substantial hard runways that make it a distinctive waypoint for anyone studying the area's aviation history in the simulator.
Dishforth Airfield lies in North Yorkshire and is operated by the British Army, currently home to 6 Regiment Royal Logistic Corps. It began life in 1936 as a Royal Air Force station and passed through decades of bomber, transport and training use before becoming an Army Air Corps helicopter base in 1992. For a simulator pilot it offers an unusual mix of a large, well-built wartime airfield layout now given over to Army logistics and, in the past, attack and utility helicopters, rather than fixed-wing civil traffic.
The airfield sits immediately next to the A1(M) at Junction 49 with the A168, with part of the site built over the old Great North Road (the former A1). It is about 4.4 miles east of Ripon and roughly 11.5 miles north-east of Harrogate, North Yorkshire. It previously served as a Relief Landing Ground for RAF Linton-on-Ouse, placing it within a part of North Yorkshire long associated with military flying training.
Dishforth has two hard-surfaced runways. The 15/33 runway is lit and is the longer of the pair, recorded at 5844 feet on the 33 heading and 5358 feet on the 15 heading. The 10/28 runway is shorter and unlit, recorded at 4458 feet on the 28 heading and 3068 feet on the 10 heading. Field elevation is 112 feet, and there is no instrument landing system.
Dishforth has no instrument landing system, and no published radio frequencies, navigation aids or approach procedures are available for the field.
No published joining or circuit procedures are available for Dishforth Airfield.
The airfield is a prominent feature beside the A1(M), directly at Junction 49 with the A168, and part of its area overlies the alignment of the old Great North Road. The village of Dishforth itself lies just north of the main runway, giving a clear ground reference for anyone tracing the airfield's position relative to the surrounding road network.
Royal Air Force Dishforth opened in September 1936 and, at the outbreak of the Second World War, became part of No. 4 Group, RAF Bomber Command, initially used for recruit training. Between September 1939 and April 1941, No. 78 Squadron flew night bomber operations from the airfield using Armstrong Whitworth Whitley aircraft. From 1943 to 1945 the station operated under No. 6 (RCAF) Group Bomber Command as a sub-station of RAF Topcliffe, reflecting the wider Canadian contribution to Bomber Command operations in the area. Immediately after the war it was used to convert aircrew onto the Douglas Dakota transport aircraft. The postwar decades saw a succession of operational conversion units, No. 30 Squadron flying the Blackburn Beverley from 1953 to 1959, and No. 215/230 Squadron operating the Scottish Aviation Pioneer in the late 1950s. A Douglas Dakota flight, No. 1325 (Transport) Flight, formed at Dishforth in August 1956 to support British nuclear test operations before relocating to the Pacific. From 1962 the airfield also served as a Relief Landing Ground, hosting Jet Provosts from RAF Leeming, the Leeds University Air Squadron flying Chipmunks, and periodic dispersals of Avro Vulcan V-bombers during Cold War exercises. Through the 1970s and 1980s part of the site was used as a police training centre. The RAF handed the station to the Army Air Corps in 1992, when it became known as Dishforth Airfield; it was the first base to receive the Apache AH.1 helicopter, later re-equipping with Westland Lynx helicopters, and Apache crews from the base took part in the 2007 Jugroom Fort rescue mission in Afghanistan.
Dishforth Airfield is now operated by the British Army under the Ministry of Defence, home to 6 Regiment Royal Logistic Corps following a major expansion in 2016 when the regiment relocated from Germany. Earlier plans announced in 2016 to close the site by 2031 were reversed in November 2021, when it was confirmed the airfield would remain open to support the Army's Future Soldier programme. As an active military station, prior permission is required for any flying activity, and there is no general civil access.
