RAF Leconfield

Royal Air Force Station Leconfield
Characteristics
ICAO code	EGXV
Coordinates	53 ° 52 '37 "  N , 0 ° 26' 15"  W Coordinates: 53 ° 52 '37 "  N , 0 ° 26' 15"  W.
Height above MSL	7 m (23  ft )
Transport links
Distance from the city center	6 km north of Beverley
Street	2 km to the
Basic data
opening	December 3, 1936
operator	Royal Air Force

The former Royal Air Force Station Leconfield , RAF Leconfield for short and also Leconfield Camp , was a military airfield of the British Royal Air Force east of the town of Leconfield in the East Riding of Yorkshire , England . The base is one of the smaller of the RAF. It serves as a command center for air defense . Regular flying use no longer takes place.

The area of ​​the former airfield is still used for military purposes. The Defense School of Transport Leconfield (DST Leconfield) is located here today . It is subordinate to the Defense College of Logistics Policing and Administration (DCLPA) and as such is a cross-armed forces base.

history

The airfield was opened in the run-up to the Second World War in late December 1936 as a base for the RAF Bomber Command . The first user was between January 1937 and September 1939, the 166th Squadron equipped with Heyford .

On the night of September 3, 1939, the day the United Kingdom entered the war, Whitley bombers, which had been in service with the 166th Squadron since June, were the first British aircraft from Leconfield to penetrate German airspace.

In October Leconfield came to RAF Fighter Command and was home to the previously in RAF Church Fenton -based Spitfire Mk I of 72 Squadron and during the Battle of Britain was the station temporary basis of various fighter squadrons that were here to relax.

In the further course of the war a number of other fighter and bomber squadrons were stationed here. This also included two squadrons formed by Polish volunteers, the 302nd "Poznański" and the 303rd "Kościuszko.

After the war, Leconfield was home to various training institutions. For this purpose, types from the war time such as Wellington , Mosquito and Spitfire were initially used. Later there were various jet-powered types such as Meteor , Vampire and Venom .

At the beginning of October 1957, Leconfield also became the base for rescue helicopters . Initially it was Sycamore HR.14 of the 275th Squadron and from 1959 Whirlwind HAR.4 and HAR.2 . This unit was renamed the 228th Squadron in September 1959 and the 202nd Squadron in August 1964, now equipped with Whirlwind HAR.10 .

As early as the summer of 1959, there was a hunting squad here for the first time. The 19th Squadron first flew the Hunter F.6 and then from December 1962 the Lightning F.2 . In addition, the 92nd Squadron had been based here since 1961 , which also initially flew the Hunter and later the Lightning. The 19th season moved to Gütersloh in East Westphalia in September 1965 and the 92nd in the same year to Geilenkirchen in the Lower Rhine region .

The station was still home to a maintenance unit, u. a. for Lightnings, and the base of the whirlwinds of the 'D' Flight of the 202nd Squadron and their staff. RAF Leconfield was finally closed on January 1, 1977. At the same time, the service time of the Lightning squadrons in Germany, which used to be based here, ended. The 202nd Squadron relocated to RAF Finningley in this context .

Leconfield was then taken over by the British Army and, as Normandy Barracks, home to the Army School of Mechanical Transport (ASMT). From this, the Defense School of Transport Leconfield (DST Leconfield) was established in 1996 .

The rescue helicopter flight operations were later resumed with two Sea King HAR.3s and continued for years. As a result of the privatization of British air rescue, the two Sea Kings of the 'E' Flight of the 202nd Squadron did not leave the base until the beginning of April 2015, which finally ended flight operations in Leconfield.

Individual evidence