RAF Brize Norton

RAF Brize Norton
Characteristics
ICAO code	EGVN
IATA code	BZZ
Coordinates	51 ° 45 ′ 0 ″  N , 1 ° 35 ′ 1 ″  W Coordinates: 51 ° 45 ′ 0 ″  N , 1 ° 35 ′ 1 ″  W.
Height above MSL	88 m (289  ft )
Transport links
Distance from the city center	25 km west of Oxford
Street	5 km to the
Basic data
opening	1937
operator	Royal Air Force
Start-and runway
08/26	3050 m × 56 m asphalt

The Royal Air Force Station Brize Norton , RAF Brize Norton for short , is the largest air base of the British Royal Air Force . It is located in the English county of Oxfordshire , about 25 kilometers west of Oxford .

history

The Royal Air Force Station Brize Norton was opened in 1937 as a base for the Royal Air Force pilot training. During the Second World War , the base was used for air defense against the German Air Force . In the course of D-Day 1944, Royal Air Force transport planes took off with paratroopers from Brize Norton to France . In 1950 the base was handed over to the US Air Force , which used it as a bomber base for the B-29 and B-47 . In the mid-1960s, however, the base was returned to the Royal Air Force, as the US Air Force relocated its bombers to the nearby RAF Fairford .

RAF Brize Norton became the Royal Air Force's second air transport hub after RAF Lyneham , initially focusing on strategic transport. For this purpose, the 10th Squadron ( 10th Squadron ) and the heavy transporters Short Belfast C.1 of the 53rd Squadron, which had been set up in Fairford the previous year with brand new Vickers VC10 (version C.1 for troop transport), were relocated to Brize Norton . This marked the beginning of one of the longest stationing of an aircraft type ever on an RAF station for the VC10; the VC10 era did not end until the end of September 2013.

In 1970 the use was intensified. The two seasons with Bristol Britannia so far in Lyneham, the 99th and the 511th moved to Brize Norton in June of that year. As a result of a new White Paper published in 1974, the Belfasts and Britannias were decommissioned in 1976 and Brize Norton was (until 1982) the home base of the 115th Squadron , which was initially equipped with Hawker Siddely Argosy and later with Hawker Siddely Andover .

As a result of the Falklands War , there was an expansion of the RAF troop transport and air refueling force. In 1983 the first used Lockheed Tristar arrived, for which the 216th Squadron was set up the following year . That year, the 101st Squadron was also activated as the second VC10 unit, which also received the VC10 acquired second-hand. Both types of aircraft were converted as tankers / transporters for their future military mission. The original VC10 of the 10th Squadron also received air refueling devices and were henceforth referred to as the VC10 C.1K.

In the summer of 2001, the 99th Squadron was reactivated as the fourth squadron ; it has since been equipped with a Boeing C-17A Globemaster III . This year, with the decommissioning of the last VC10 K.2, the first fleet downsizing of this type ended, which was continued in 2005 with the deactivation of the 10th Squadron .

After the closure of RAF Lyneham announced in 2003 , the tactical air transporters of the type C-130K / J Hercules were also relocated to Brize Norton by mid-2011 . As a result, the capacity utilization of RAF Brize Norton has more than doubled. In order to adapt the base to the new needs, it was closed completely from September 2005 to February 2006. During this time, the runway, the taxiway and the handling and maintenance facilities were completely renewed. During the modernization work, all air traffic from the base was relocated to the Fairford base a few kilometers away.

At the same time, at the beginning of July 2011, in the run-up to the planned decommissioning of Tristar and VC10 for 2013/2014, the 10th Squadron was reactivated, which will be the first to use the new Airbus A330 Voyager KC.2 / KC.3 tankers / transporters . The first tanker arrived at the end of 2011. The lessor Air Tanker started the infrastructure expansion for the leased new machines in 2008 and completed it in spring 2011.

After the VC10 was decommissioned after 47 years at the end of September 2013, the 101st Squadron began converting to the Voyager and one month later, another RAF aircraft type, the C-130K, was also decommissioned after 47 years. At the end of March 2014, the Tristars, the third type of RAF aircraft, was decommissioned in Brize Norton within six months, which also deactivates the 216th squadron. At the end of January 2014, RAF Brize Norton was the scene of the British-French consultations between Prime Minister Cameron and President Hollande .

The first Airbus A400M Atlas C.1 , the type that replaced part of the Hercules fleet, arrived at RAF Brize Norton in November 2014. The 70th Squadron was reactivated as the first squadron in mid-2015 and the 30th Squadron is to follow (not yet officially confirmed) as the second squadron , which completed its last Hercules flight in December 2016. To operate the Atlas, a consortium of Airbus Military and Thales set up a training center with, among other things, two flight simulators , which they also operate.

With the arrival of the Atlas, except for one, the Hercules C.5 (the short-hull version) was decommissioned. The remaining C.5 was kept in place of a C.4 that was written off after a hard landing in Iraq. The remaining copies are to be used until 2035 

Todays use

"Brize" is the air hub for the worldwide operations of the British armed forces, all British transport and tanker aircraft are stationed at the station , in detail (as of 2014):

• C-17 Globemaster III , 99th Squadron , since 2001
• Voyager KC.2 / 3 (A330-MRTT) , 10th and 101st Squadron , since late 2011
• Hercules C.4 / 5 (C-130J) , 24th , 47th and 206th Squadron ( B Flight ), the 24th squadron is used for retraining and the 206th for operational assessment / further development (also for the Atlas fleet), the 47th is operational relay, since mid-2011
• Atlas C.1 (A400M) , 24th , 70th and 206th Squadron ( B Flight ), the 24th squadron is used for retraining and the 206th for operational assessment / further development (also for the Hercules fleet), the 70th is the first relay, since November 2014

RAF Brize Norton is an alternate airport for the nearby RAF Fairford Air Base and an emergency landing site for passenger planes to and from London Heathrow . The headquarters of the British subsidiary of Airbus Defense and Space is also located in an industrial park on the edge of the base .

Furnishing

RAF Brize Norton has a 3050 m long and 55 m wide runway (08/26). An older 1700 m long run is also available, but no longer in operation. The air base has state-of-the-art facilities for handling cargo and passenger aircraft. The technical facilities are designed for 24-hour operation and night air traffic.

Incidents

• On November 28, 1946, the pilots of an Avro York C.1 of the Royal Air Force ( aircraft registration number MW168 ) lost directional control when taking off from RAF Brize Norton Air Force Base. The plane hit a railway embankment, causing the landing gear to collapse. All occupants survived the accident. The machine was damaged beyond repair.

Keevil Airfield

The former Royal Air Force Station Keevil , now known as Keevil Airfield , is still used for military purposes. It is subordinate to Brize Norton and is about 75 km southwest east of Trowbridge . It was built in 1941 during the Second World War as a production facility for Spitfire fighters. Between 1942 and 1944 it was used by the United States Army Air Forces . After several months of use by the RAF Fighter Command , the station became a base for the RAF Training Command in October 1944 . After the end of World War II, it served both the United States Air Force and the RAF as an alternative, training or satellite landing site. The latter, especially the units from Brize Norton, still used it for training purposes.

See also

• Wunstorf Air Base - Brize Norton's German partner base

Individual evidence

1. ^ Future Brize takes off , Ministry of Defense . November 23, 2009. 
2. ↑ UK extends Hercules out-of-service date to 2035. Janes, 24↔. July 2019
3. ↑ accident report Avro York MW168 , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on February 18 2020th
4. ^ Residents of Wiltshire treated to open day at Keevil-Airfield, RAF News, September 15, 2018
5. ↑ UK and Germany sign deal for twinning of airforce bases, Air Force Technology, March 5, 2018
6. ^ German-British partnership agreed, Hannoversche Allgemeine, March 1, 2018

Web links

Commons : RAF Brize Norton  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• RAF Station Brize Norton website
• Website of the air tanker consortium