Royal Air Force Rufforth or RAF Rufforth is a former Royal Air Force station located near Rufforth in North Yorkshire, England. It was used by only one operational squadron on long-range bombing missions during the Second World War, with most flying dedicated to conversion units under the auspices of nearby RAF Marston Moor. Post-war, the RAF used the site to house maintenance units, gliding schools and observation flights. It was completely disposed of by the MoD in 1981, and now is used for civilian light aircraft and glider flying. History The site at RAF Rufforth was surveyed by the Air Ministry in 1940, and built by John Laing & Son Ltd for the Royal Air Force in 1941 (completed 1942), it is located on the south side of the village. The airfield had one B1 and two T2 hangars and 36 aircraft hard standings and there was accommodation for 1,531 males and 251 females of all ranks. During construction, the base was used several times by aircraft form the Conversion units based at nearby airfields. For most of its wartime life, the base operated as a sub-station of nearby RAF Marston Moor. The airfield was officially opened at the start of November 1942, with No. 158 Squadron becoming the first squadron to arrive from RAF East Moor with Halifax bombers. The squadron was initially used on long-range bombing missions to Italy (Genoa being a frequent target), which led to a high attrition rate due to aircraft often running out of fuel and having to land elsewhere or crashing. By the time No. 158 Squadron were moved to RAF Lissett in February 1943, they had lost numerous aircraft and nine crews, 61 one of whom had been killed over enemy territory. No. 1663 Heavy Conversion Unit was stood up at Rufforth in early March 1943 operating ex-operational Halifaxes, which required considerable maintenance from the ground crews. Later variants of Halifaxes were added to the unit's complement, and by 1944, it was operating 16 Lancaster aircraft too. Later, in the same year, with other aircraft swelling the inventory (including some fighter aircraft), the base was transferred from No. 4 Group to No. 7 Group, which was part of training command. With the disbandment of No. 1663 HCU following the end of the war in Europe, lighter training aircraft moved to Rufforth in the form of No. 23 Gliding School and No. 64