The airfield opened in 1941 under the control of
RAF Bomber Command and consisted of the standard pattern of three runways, with one Type B1 and two Type T2 hangars.
Nissen huts were used for accommodation. It was known as "Skelly" by the RAF personnel serving there.
No. 50 Squadron RAF, equipped with
Handley Page Hampdens, was the first squadron based at Skellingthorpe, with the first detachment of personnel arriving shortly before the runways were complete. They were followed by
No. 455 Squadron RAAF (also flying Hampdens), however this squadron moved to
RAF Wigsley shortly afterwards. The 50 Squadron Hampdens were replaced with
Avro Manchesters in April 1942, then, in June 1942, Skellingthorpe was closed for runway extensions to cope with the Squadron's conversion to new
Avro Lancaster aircraft. In November 1943 a further bomber squadron,
No. 61 Squadron RAF operating Avro Lancasters, arrived at Skellingthorpe, and remained until February 1944 after which it transferred to
RAF Coningsby in order for accommodation to be built on the Doddington Road side of Skellingthorpe airfield. 463 Squadron RAAF moved to RAF Skellingthorpe on 3 July 1945 with Lancaster Mks I and III from RAF Waddington. During the war the tally of bombers lost or failed to return from Skellingthorpe reached 208: 15 Hampdens, six Manchesters and 187 Lancasters. In 1981, former Chief of the Air Staff, Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir
Michael Beetham, who had flown Lancasters from Skellingthorpe during the war, unveiled a memorial on the site to commemorate the 1,984 men killed flying from the airfield during the Second World War.
Postwar After the end of the Second World War, RAF Skellingthorpe was the base for
No. 58 Maintenance Unit RAF, with salvaged crashed aircraft stored at the base. ==Units==