The site hosted an elementary flying school for newly entered pilots into the Royal Naval Air Service, though some offensive and defensive operations were flown from Redcar as well.

The base was created as part of chain of new air stations after the German naval bombardment of east coast towns in December 1914.

The base had a brief operational lifespan between July 1915 and December 1919, after which it was decided not to retain Redcar as an active station, and much of the site has been re-used for housing.

[1] Redcar was developed along with many other sites in response to the raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby, a German naval bombardment in which over 100 civilians were killed.

[5][6] Records show that Redcar was also used to train existing pilots in instructor duties, so most of those transiting through, would already be familiar to flying.

[7] However, the station wasn't equipped with an officers' mess, and trainee pilots were hosted in the local village, requiring them to walk to and from the aerodrome four times a day.

[24] On 2 April 1918, Charles Edward Pattison crashed his Sopwith Camel aircraft at Redcar after hitting overhead wires.