Qualla: RAF Cark https://qualla.com/raf-cark en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:16 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/t/u/raf-cark-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: RAF Cark https://qualla.com/raf-cark RAF Cark: Introduction https://qualla.com/raf-cark/ Photo credit RAF photographer;The original uploader was NiD.29 at English Wikipedia., 26 October 2011 (original upload date), Public domain. An airship factory was nearly built here in 1916. The Great War was on, preparation work began on a site on the flat coastal plain between the villages of Cark and Flookburgh, and then the project was cancelled the following year. The ground reverted to farmland for a generation. Twenty-five years later, in 1941, the runways finally went down - not for airships but for fighters. The flat strip of Cumbrian coast had been chosen again, this time for war.

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Image: RAF photographer;The original uploader was NiD.29 at English Wikipedia., 26 October 2011 (original upload date) | Public domain

]]> Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/t/u/raf-cark-wp/gctu-raf-cark-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full RAF Cark: A Fighter Station on the North Coast https://qualla.com/raf-cark/ Photo credit RAF photographer;The original uploader was NiD.29 at English Wikipedia., 26 October 2011 (original upload date), Public domain. RAF Cark opened in 1941 under No. 9 Group, RAF Fighter Command. Its primary purpose was air defence: protecting the industrialised cities of northwest England - Manchester, Liverpool, Barrow-in-Furness - from German bombers crossing the Irish Sea. The airfield was laid out with a...

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Image: RAF photographer;The original uploader was NiD.29 at English Wikipedia., 26 October 2011 (original upload date) | Public domain

]]> Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/t/u/raf-cark-wp/gctu-raf-cark-a-fighter-station-on-the-north-coast.mp3 0:06 2 full RAF Cark: From Fighting to Training https://qualla.com/raf-cark/ Photo credit RAF photographer;The original uploader was NiD.29 at English Wikipedia., 26 October 2011 (original upload date), Public domain. The role changed almost immediately. On 17 March 1942 RAF Cark was transferred from Fighter Command to RAF Flying Training Command. That same day a new unit was raised on the field - the Staff Pilot Training Unit, operating under No. 25 Group. Its job was to train the pilots who ...

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Image: RAF photographer;The original uploader was NiD.29 at English Wikipedia., 26 October 2011 (original upload date) | Public domain

]]> Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/t/u/raf-cark-wp/gctu-raf-cark-from-fighting-to-training.mp3 0:06 3 full RAF Cark: A Crowded Logbook https://qualla.com/raf-cark/ Photo credit RAF photographer;The original uploader was NiD.29 at English Wikipedia., 26 October 2011 (original upload date), Public domain. For its size, RAF Cark hosted an unusually long list of units. The Staff Pilot Training Unit came and went and came again - March 1942 to November 1942, then back from March 1943 until the war's end. No. 1 Anti-Aircraft Co-operation Unit operated 'R' and 'F' Flights here through ...

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Image: RAF photographer;The original uploader was NiD.29 at English Wikipedia., 26 October 2011 (original upload date) | Public domain

]]> Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/t/u/raf-cark-wp/gctu-raf-cark-a-crowded-logbook.mp3 0:06 4 full RAF Cark: Wind-Down and Quiet Closure https://qualla.com/raf-cark/ Photo credit RAF photographer;The original uploader was NiD.29 at English Wikipedia., 26 October 2011 (original upload date), Public domain. Once Germany surrendered in 1945, the urgency that had built the runways drained away. Operations were wound down and RAF Cark was placed on care and maintenance. A Pilot-Navigation Instructors Course ran for a few weeks in late 1945. No. 188 Gliding School outlasted the Staff Pi...

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Image: RAF photographer;The original uploader was NiD.29 at English Wikipedia., 26 October 2011 (original upload date) | Public domain

]]> Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/t/u/raf-cark-wp/gctu-raf-cark-wind-down-and-quiet-closure.mp3 0:06 5 full RAF Cark: Silk Above the Bay https://qualla.com/raf-cark/ Photo credit RAF photographer;The original uploader was NiD.29 at English Wikipedia., 26 October 2011 (original upload date), Public domain. Cark Airfield never quite stopped flying. After the RAF left, the strip was used for civilian gliding, the long flat surface ideal for winches and tow planes climbing into the marine air rising off Morecambe Bay. It is now the home of the North West Parachute Centre. Most days wh...

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Image: RAF photographer;The original uploader was NiD.29 at English Wikipedia., 26 October 2011 (original upload date) | Public domain

]]> Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/t/u/raf-cark-wp/gctu-raf-cark-silk-above-the-bay.mp3 0:06 6 full