Historically in Nottinghamshire,[1] it lies on the A614 road between Bawtry and Thorne, about 6 miles south-east of Doncaster.

[2][3][4] The Finningley ward of Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council covers 16.8 square miles, including the villages of Auckley, Branton, Blaxton, Hayfield and Bessacarr Grange, and part of Cantley.

The station housed a 'V' force of Vulcan bombers in the Cold War, and for 35 years hosted a regular air show, which by the 1990s was the country's largest one-day event of its kind.

The 3,000-yard (2,700 m) long runway, currently the second longest in Northern England, was large enough to take even Concorde, and in the period after the closure of the RAF airfield there were several campaigns to turn Finningley into a commercial airport for the unserved South Yorkshire region, along with neighbouring Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire and the East Riding of Yorkshire).

Formed in 1922, it was taken over by MASS of North Anston in 2004 but has since ceased operating from the Old Bawtry Road site in Finningley.