RAF Alconbury
| RAF Alconbury | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Characteristics | |
| ICAO code | EGWZ |
| IATA code | AYH |
| Coordinates | |
| Height above MSL | 49 m (161 ft ) |
| Transport links | |
| Distance from the city center | 6 km northwest of Huntingdon |
| Street | 1 km to 
|
| Basic data | |
| opening | 1939 |
| operator | United States Air Force |
| Start-and runway | |
| 12/30 | 2500 m concrete / asphalt |
The Royal Air Force Station Alconbury , RAF Alconbury for short , is a military airfield used by the United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) in the United Kingdom , between Cambridge and Peterborough in the county of Cambridgeshire , East Anglia . The base together with RAF Molesworth and RAF Upwood, the latter only as a branch of Alconbury since 2012, forms the so-called Tri-Base Area (see under Miscellaneous ), airborne units are no longer stationed here permanently.
In early 2015 it was announced that Alconbury and Molesworth will soon be returned to the British. The units stationed here should be relocated to RAF Croughton in 2024 at the earliest. Since the British Ministry of Defense has no further needs for the areas, the bases are to be subjected to civilian conversion .
history
The military airfield was built from 1938 for the Royal Air Force (RAF) as a satellite field of RAF Upwood, which was a few kilometers northeast, and was opened in 1939. With the outbreak of the Second World War , the station was placed under the Bomber Command and initially acted as part of the 2nd Group as a satellite airfield at the nearby RAF Wyton airfield . The first permanently stationed squadron was the Blenheims equipped 15th Squadron from April 1940, which flew its air raid on an airfield near Rotterdam captured by the German Air Force . Parallel to the conversion to the Wellington , Wytons and Alconbury were subordinated to the 3rd Group in November 1940 . and as a result the space was expanded.
In May 1942, Alconbury was chosen as one of 28 bases to be used by the Eighth Air Force . After the RAF machines had withdrawn, the field was initially expanded and from September 1942, the 93rd Bombardment Group (Heavy) , which was equipped with four squadrons of B-24 Liberator , was the first flying formation here . Two months later, King George VI visited. the first B-24 US formation on European soil. In January 1943, the group made way for the 93rd Bombardment Group (Heavy) , equipped with four squadrons of B-17 Flying Fortress , later in the spring and summer the 95th Bombardment Group (Heavy) was located here for some time .
In September 1943, Alconbury's decades-long association with special operations began when it was decided to use the base for Boy Scout missions. The 482nd Bombardment Group (Pathfinder) was set up in August 1943 with three squadrons, its task was from spring 1944 a. a. in radar training. In addition, the unit supported covert operations of the Office of Strategic Services , the equipment again consisted mostly of B-24.
After the last US bomber squadron, the 36th Bomb Squadron , was disbanded in mid-October 1945, the RAF station was used for ammunition storage and destruction before RAF Alconbury came under US control again with the beginning of the Cold War . The base was expanded again to operate jet aircraft, put into service in 1953 by the USAFE and housed the 86th Bombardment Squadron from 1955 to 1959 , which was initially equipped with B-45 Tornado and from 1958 with B-66 Destroyer . (She was subordinate to the 47th Bombardment Wing at RAF Sculthorpe in Norfolk ). For a short time at the end of the 1950s, the base also housed transport and weather observation teams.
In August 1959, the 10th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing moved from Spangdahlem to Alconbury and was to remain stationed here until 1994, at the end with a different role and name. The squadron was initially equipped with the reconnaissance version RB-66 of the B-66 and two of its squadrons were in Alconbury, one more each in RAF Bruntingthorpe in Leicestershire and RAF Chelveston in Northamptonshire . There were also detachments on French bases, e.g. B. in Toul . In May 1965, the conversion of the two squadrons to the RF-4C Phantom II began , which was joined by a third squadron, formerly based in Laon, France . Due to the advent of spy satellites , two of the three squadrons were decommissioned in 1976. In addition to the remaining reconnaissance squadron, the 527th Tactical Fighter Training and Aggressor Squadron, equipped with F-5E , was based in Alconbury between 1976 and 1988 .
With the establishment of the 17th Reconnaissance Wing in 1982, the SAC again became a user of the station, and the 95th Reconnaissance Squadron flew the TR-1 / U-2R Dragon Lady . At the beginning of 1988 the last remaining RF-4C squadron, the 1st Reconnaissance Squadron, was deactivated and RAF Alconbury became the home base of two squadrons A-10A Thunderbolt in addition to the TR-1 reconnaissance squadrons , the squadron was renamed the 10th Tactical Fighter Wing . After years of intensive flight operations, the runway was rehabilitated at the end of the 1980s and the units that had since been relocated were relocated to the Middle East in preparation for Operation Desert Storm in 1990.
The two A-10 squadrons were deactivated at the end of the Cold War in 1991 and 1992 and their aircraft were relocated to the USA, the TR-1 were also relocated to their type base in Beale AFB in 1991 . (The 95th RS is now based in RAF Mildenhall as the RC-135 squadron.) RAF Alconbury became home to the 352nd Special Operations Group for a short period of time . This was subordinate to two MC-130 squadrons and the 21st Special Operations Squadron with MH-53J helicopters. The group moved to Mildenhall as early as 1995, where the two MC-130s are still stationed today. This ended regular flight operations.
Todays use
Since 1995, the base has hosted the following non-flying association:
- 423. Air Base Group , the unit is responsible for the maintenance of the infrastructure (see also below under Miscellaneous) and thus looks after other associations.
Others
The 423rd Air Base Group stationed in Alconbury oversees two other facilities, RAF Molesworth (approximately 15 km to the west) and another branch, which until 2012 was designated RAF Upwood (approximately 8 km to the northeast). The three (earlier) airfields are therefore also referred to as tri-base areas . Molesworth and Upwood are no longer airfields today.
RAF Molesworth
RAF Molesworth was converted into a cruise missile location in the 1980s (see NATO double decision ). Military flight operations took place here as early as the First World War. The base also served as a US bomber base during World War II. During the Cold War, flight operations were limited to the stationing of transport aircraft in the 1950s. The station was only reactivated with the NATO double resolution. The 303rd Tactical Missile Wing only existed for a few years due to the end of the Cold War. Since the British Ministry of Defense has no further needs for the area, the facility is to be subjected to civil conversion .
RAF Upwood
Today only remnants of the former airfield area in Upwood are used for military purposes, Upwood was also used during the First World War. During the Second World War, Upwood was under the (British) Bomber Command and remained so until 1961. Subsequently, the base was used for two decades by various RAF training facilities and in 1981 became a satellite station of the 10th TRW in RAF Alconbury, which, however, does not fly here Had deployed squadrons.
supporting documents
- ↑ USAF postpones RAF Mildenhall closure, Bury Free Press, September 26, 2017
- ^ Cambridge News, Jan. 18, 2016
- ^ Cambridge News, Jan. 18, 2016
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