RAF Norton: Sheffield's once proud RAF base, now almost forgotten by residents

But Sheffield was once home to an RAF base which even hosted air shows in the city, before its closure in 1965.

While the Government looks to increase Britain’s defence spending again, we have taken a look back at RAF Norton, a site which helped protect Sheffield in World War Two, and continued to operate in the city until well into the 1960s.

Most of the site has now been stripped away, with plans to develop housing there.

Our gallery of pictures, below, show both the base in its prime, in the 1950s and 60s, as well as a few showing it more recently.

In World War Two, Norton was a base for barrage balloons - inflatables that were used to stop Nazi bombers from getting to Sheffield, by lifting thick cables that they could not fly through. The Air Training Corps 367 Squadron was also based there from 1941 and had an old Gypsy Moth aircraft for practice.

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After the war, it became a station in the Royal Auxiliary Airforce Signals Group, concerned mainly with radar and radio equipment.

Photos show how it opened up to the public for open days in the 1950s.

But its time as an operational RAF base came to an end in January 1965, with the air force flag finally lowered for the last time.

Over the years, the site later became well known as the Lightwood driver training school, with the old RAF hard standings and runways being used to teach people to drive, including children who were not yet old enough to take cars on the roads.

Many of the old RAF buildings, including hangars, were still there until just a few years ago, when they were finally demolished.

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