MOD St Athan

MOD St Athan
Characteristics
ICAO code	EGSY
IATA code	DGX
Coordinates	51 ° 24 ′ 17 ″  N , 3 ° 26 ′ 9 ″  W Coordinates: 51 ° 24 ′ 17 ″  N , 3 ° 26 ′ 9 ″  W
Height above MSL	50 m (164  ft )
Transport links
Distance from the city center	20 km southwest of Cardiff
Street	B4265
Basic data
opening	September 1, 1938
operator	MoD
Start-and runway
07/25	1828 m × 43 m asphalt

MOD St Athan is a cross-armed forces facility of the British Ministry of Defense , English Ministry of Defense (MOD or MoD), about 10 km west of Barry in the Vale of Glamorgan, South Wales .

history

RAF St. Athan

The station officially opened as RAF St. Athan on September 1, 1938 and the first unit to be stationed was No. 4 School of Technical Training (4SofTT) . In 1939, the station's activities expanded with the arrival of a combat group pool, the School of Air Navigation, and a maintenance unit.

During the Second World War , the station had more than 14,000 employees and was used to train ground and flight crew. It was connected to the aircraft storage and maintenance center at RAF Llandow .

Between May 1947 and August 1973, St. Athan was also home to the Administrative Apprentice Training School , which offered a 20-month training program for boys who enrolled as clerks or employees in accounting, utilities, and administration before they became one 12 years of service in other RAF units.

British Army units were also housed in St. Athan , including the 1st Battalion of the Welsh Guards .

MOD St. Athan

In 2006 the Special Forces Support Group (SFSG) was established in St. Athan and the Welsh Guards returned to London . The station was renamed Ministry of Defense St Athan (MOD St Athan) .

MOD Athan was selected as the location for the UK's new Defense Academy but the program was discontinued in October 2010.

Todays use

The military airfield serves various Royal Air Force (RAF) school facilities . There is also an association of special forces and a British Army.

The airfield also serves as a helicopter base for the National Police Air Service and Bristow Helicopters on behalf of the British Coast Guard .

For many years, St Athan has also served as an aircraft graveyard , where aircraft are parked during temporary decommissioning, or else cannibalized and recycled. So one was on November 22, 2019 Boeing 747-400 of Virgin Atlantic Airways ( air vehicle registration G-Vbig ) to St Athan transferred to be cannibalized to there.

Others

The station was once home to a large collection of historic aircraft and was once considered the largest RAF station. Many of these aircraft are now exhibited in museums such as the two RAF museums in Cosford and London-Hendon . A Messerschmitt Me 163 is now in the Berlin Air Force Museum .

Web links

Commons : RAF St. Athan  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• MOD St Athan on the RAF homepage

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} History. In: raf.mod.uk. Retrieved October 18, 2019 . 
2. ↑ rzjets , accessed on June 6, 2020.