Petwood Hotel, were requisitioned for the RAF and Pinewoods was used to hide military equipment, especially on its northern perimeter. RAF Woodhall Spa airfield was built to the south of the village in the parish of Tattershall Thorpe. It closed for operational purposes in 1964, although it is still owned by the Ministry of Defence, used mainly for jet engine maintenance and testing and is operated as a satellite unit of nearby RAF Coningsby. A memorial wall depicting the breaching of the German dams in Operation Chastise, otherwise known as the "Dam Busters" raid, stands in the Royal Gardens (the site of the Royal Hydro Hotel) in the centre of the village. It is dedicated to the memory of those from 617 Squadron who were killed during the war. The memorial is the location of a local school choir photograph, published in Lincolnshire Life magazine, which included a black Labrador dog; the photo-caption asks if this "mysterious" animal was Guy Gibson's dog, which was run over and killed shortly before Gibson departed to bomb German dams. Most of the Royal Hydro Hotel and Winter Gardens was destroyed by a German parachute mine which fell on 17 August 1943, although part of it did survive and became the Mall Hotel. Two civilians were killed. Post-war The Spa Baths finally closed when the well collapsed in 1983 and after spending many years in a derelict state are now being redeveloped. Geography Woodhall Spa lies at the southwestern edge of the Central Lincolnshire Vale, between the Rivers Witham and Bain. The village is largely flat rising gently towards the east, and is surrounded towards the north and east by a mixture of ancient and planted woodland. To the south west can be found many sand and gravel excavation pits, some still in use and some abandoned, many of which are now protected nature reserves such as the former RAF Woodhall Spa now managed by the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust. Much of the land on which the village is built was once extensive heathland with a light fluvial sandy soil. Well-preserved areas of heathland can be seen at Moor Farm Nature Reserve on Wellsyke Lane, where plants include tormentil, bell heather and climbing corydalis. The abundance of sand and gravel in the soil around Woodhall Spa explains the formation of acidic heathland, in a county otherwise characterised by calcareous bedrock and naturally alkaline soils. Lincolnshire's