RAF Driffield

My name is Mark Appleby, although anyone who lives in the Driffield area will probably know me by my nickname ‘Frank.’

In the 1990s I worked for the – now defunct - local weekly newspapers The Driffield Post and Driffield Times, and also had a spell freelancing with Hull News Service, and a few months in Hull and Beverley with the Hull Daily Mail.

Since August 2000, I’ve been active in the online media world, initially as a news reporter, then entertainment reporter and sub-editor, with the old Ananova news site. I’ve also worked for Orange Digital, where I edited the Orange Wednesdays web and mobile sites.

In recent years I’ve been a Digital Content Editor for a major UK-based telecoms operator.

I’ve lived in Driffield virtually all of my life, and my interest in RAF Driffield stems from my childhood, Airfix kits were an ever-present obsession, and the stories my nan told me of hiding under the stairs when the German bombers attacked the airfield really caught my imagination.

I’ve run a Facebook page dedicated to RAF Driffield for a while now, and after many false starts, finally I’ve managed to cobble together this website as a tribute to all the men and women who served at the base over the years, and to keep alive the memory of a place which contributed so much to the history of our town, county and country.

I’m also a founding member of the Driffield Historical (Battlefields) Society, and run a website detailing our visits to the battlefields of France and Belgium. Feel free to take a look: https://www.east-yorkshire-ypres.com/

All the best,

Mark (Frank)