Anglesey Airport
| Anglesey Airport Maes Awyr Môn RAF Valley |
|
|---|---|
|
|
| Characteristics | |
| ICAO code | EGOV |
| IATA code | VLY |
| Coordinates | |
| Height above MSL | 11 m (36 ft ) |
| Transport links | |
| Distance from the city center | 5 miles southeast of Holyhead |
| Street | 2 km to the 
|
| Basic data | |
| opening | February 13, 1941 |
| operator | Royal Air Force |
| Runways | |
| 13/31 | 2290 m × 46 m asphalt |
| 01/19 | 1640 m × 46 m asphalt |
The Anglesey Airport ( IATA : VLY , ICAO : EGOV ; Welsh Maes Awyr Môn ) is a commercial airport in the west of the Welsh island of Anglesey in Llanfair yn Neubwll . The civil area of the airfield, which is mainly used by the military, is leased by the British armed forces. The Royal Air Force uses the facility in parallel as Royal Air Force Station Valley , RAF Valley for short , as a base for trainer aircraft. Prince William was stationed here between January 2010 and September 2013 as a pilot of SAR helicopters.
history
The station was first opened on February 13, 1941 as Royal Air Force Rhosneigr , but received its current name RAF Valley on April 5 of the same year. It was under the 9th Group of Fighter Command and the 312nd (Czech) Squadron , equipped with Hurricanes , was the first user between March and May 1941. After they were relocated, the site was still used by hurricane squadrons, plus Beaufighters , who were replaced by mosquitos in 1943 and, among other things, a. was flown by the 456th (Australian) Squadron .
In 1941 the original three runways were expanded. In October of the same year, the 275th Squadron set up an air and sea rescue squadron for the first time, which operated Walrus and Lysander IIIA aircraft as original equipment . With the 350 (Belgian) Squadron , equipped with Spitfire, there was another "non-British" squadron here in the winter of 1941/1942, which is now an F-16 squadron in Florennes .
With the turning point in the Battle of the Atlantic in the spring of 1943, the importance of RAF Valley decreased, as did all airfields on the west coast of Great Britain in general . The United States Army Air Forces used the base in the last two years of the war as a stopover for aircraft that were transferred from the USA to the European theater of war and, after VE Day, to the Pacific .
After the end of the Second World War, Valley was only used as an alternative for planes from other airfields for a few years. However, the facility should continue to be used and the quiet time was used to expand the accommodation. Now subordinate to the 12th group, in 1949 the 20th Squadron again moved a flying squadron to Valley, whose equipment also included vampires , with which the jet flight operations began.
In 1951 the station became part of the 25th Group within the Training Command and the era began as a training center. Until 1960, RAF Valley was the base of the 202nd Advanced Flying School (from 1954 7th Flying Training School ), which was equipped with various jet-powered aircraft for training jet pilots of the Royal Navy . In 1960 the airfield became home to the 4th Flying Training School (FTS), which is still stationed here today . For the next 15 years, the Gnat T1 was the predominantly used trainer, which was replaced in the mid-1970s by the Hawk T1, which was stationed here until 2016 . The dissolution of the 7th Flying Training School located in RAF Chivenor led to the renaming of the subordinate Hawk squadrons in 1994. The 4th FTS included the 19th , 74th and 208th Squadron for the next seven years , before the 74th Squadron was disbanded as part of a troop reduction in 2000. The remaining Hawk T1 were replaced in 2011 at the 19th Squadron by Hawk T2, which was renamed the 4th Squadron in the same year .
At the same time, Valley hosted various rescue flight squadrons for several decades, which were equipped with different types of helicopters; corresponding school elements of the rescue pilots also used the base since 1962. The helicopters flown were the Whirlwind HAR10 , Wessex HAR2 and the Sea King HAR3 . Most recently, Valley was the headquarters of the RAF's SAR Force and home to the headquarters of the two squadrons , the 22nd and 202nd Squadron . There was also a swarm of the former, the C-Flight and the Sea King re-training unit of the 203rd Squadron . As a result of the privatization of British air rescue, the last mission of the 'C' Flight of the 22nd Squadron was flown at the beginning of July 2015 and the entire SAR force was decommissioned on February 18, 2016 in the presence of Prince William.
The last Hawk T1 squadron, the 208th Squadron , was disbanded in April 2016 and the SARTU ( Search and Rescue Training Unit ) already stationed in Valley became a new 202nd Squadron in May .
Ten Texans arrived in Valley between February and December 2018 as part of a further refitting of the British trainer fleet . Training flight operations began in 2019 initially by the Texan Integration Squadron and the civil partners Ascent (flight operations) and Affinity (maintenance) and after flight operations with the predecessor model Tucano in RAF Linton-on-Ouse by the 72nd Squadron .
Military use
The base currently (2018) houses the following flying associations:
- No. 4 Flying Training School equipped with Hawk T2 for tactics and weapons training, initially for a short time as 19th and since 2011 as 4th Squadron , in 2018 the 25th Squadron was added
- 202nd (Reserve) Squadron , until May 2016 the SARTU ( Search and Rescue Training Unit ) with AW139 and Griffin training helicopters , the latter being replaced by Jupiter HT1 , part of the Defense Helicopter Flying School, since April 2018
The two squadrons currently based in Valley are among the most traditional squadrons in British military aviation, whose history dates back to 1912 ( 4th Squadron ) and 1914 ( 202nd Squadron ). The "200" squadrons were naval squadrons during the First World War (in this case the 2nd squadron of the Royal Naval Air Service ), which was renumbered in the 202nd squadron when the RAF was founded in 1918.
Civil use
In early 2006, the National Assembly for Wales pushed plans for a subsidized flight connection to the Welsh capital Cardiff , for which a civilian terminal was built for 1.5 million pounds . The purpose was the better connection of north-west Wales and the improvement of the economic conditions. Highland Airways started two daily connections with Jetstream 31 in 2007. Manx2 has been flying the route with Dornier 228 since 2010 . On March 13, 2017, Eastern Airways took over the line with a Jetstream 41 on behalf of Flybe . There are also occasional flights to the Isle of Man .
Incidents
A Hawk T1 jet of the British Air Force's Red Arrows aerobatic team crashed shortly after take-off at 1:30 p.m. GMT on March 20, 2018 during a training flight in the military section of RAF Valley Airport. A mechanic on board the aircraft suffered fatal injuries, the pilot survived injured.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Prince William completes last shift at RAF Valley on Anglesey, BBC, September 11, 2013
- ↑ RAF Sea King Lands For The Last Time as an Operational SAR Flight at RAF Valley, RAF Homepage, July 1, 2015 ( Memento of the original from January 2, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked . Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ RAF Search and Rescue Force Disbandment Parade, RAF homepage, February 18, 2016 ( Memento of the original from February 21, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ 208 (R) Squadron celebrates its 100th at RAF Valley, RAF homepage, April 6, 2016 ( Memento of the original from April 11, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Texan T6C arrives at RAF Valley, RAF News, February 16, 2018
- ↑ PICTURE: T-6C arrival completes UK trainer fleet renewal, Flightglobal, December 5, 2018
- ↑ Historic flight by Texan T1 student pilot marked at RAF Valley, Flightglobal, October 18, 2019
- ↑ No. 25 Squadron returning to fly the Hawk T2, RAF News, Aug. 1, 2018
- ↑ RAF Valley based Search & Rescue Training Unit becomes 202 (Reserve) Sqn, RAF News, May 6, 2016 ( Memento of the original from May 24, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Josh Halliday, RAF engineer dies as Red Arrows jet crashes at north Wales airbase , in: The Guardian, March 20, 2018, accessed March 21, 2018
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