RAF Wittering
| RAF Wittering | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Characteristics | |
| ICAO code | EGXT |
| Coordinates | |
| Height above MSL | 83 m (272 ft ) |
| Transport links | |
| Distance from the city center | 15 km northwest of Peterborough |
| Street |
|
| Basic data | |
| opening | 1924 |
| operator | Royal Air Force |
| Start-and runway | |
| 08/26 | 2759 m × 61 m asphalt |
The Royal Air Force Station Wittering, or RAF Wittering for short , is one of the oldest military airfields of the British Royal Air Force . It lies between Stamford and Peterborough in Cambridgeshire , England . The base was the home base of the Harrier whiz for over forty years . After their premature decommissioning in 2010, light training aircraft have been in Wittering since 2015.
history
The origins of the airfield go back to the year 1916, when the then Royal Flying Corps (RFC) opened the Stamford base. As was reactivated after 1924 and until 1935 it housed the Central Flying School, which is now located in RAF Cranwell .
During the Battle of Britain in 1940/1941 Wittering was an important base of the RAF Fighter Command , which was under the 12th Group . Wittering was bombed five times by the Air Force during this conflict . The "satellite station" RAF Collyweston was then in the immediate vicinity. The two airfields were connected by a new runway in 1941, which means that the airfield roughly assumed its current shape.
The main runway was extended during the Cold War in 1954 in preparation for the flight operations of the " V-Bombers ", and until January 1969 it was home to two squadrons ( 100th and 139th Squadron ) of Victor B2 bombers. Back in 1969, the control was on the basis of the Strike Command has been transferred and consequently there were 1,972 to 1,976 to the stationing of two Hunter - seasons .
The real reason for the transfer, however, was the introduction of the then revolutionary Harrier , the first series-built Harrier that could be launched and landed vertically. Wittering remained the home base of the Harrier for over forty years, the retraining unit (referred to over the years as the 233rd OCU , 20th or 4th Squadron ) and the 1st Squadron as a deployment unit were located here. Machines from Wittering played an important role in the reconquest of the Falkland Islands after the Argentine invasion in 1982 .
After two decades of flight operations with the first Harrier generation, the RAF began the gradual introduction of the second generation in 1987, which continued until 1993. In the course of a troop reduction at the end of the 1990s, the two squadrons stationed at RAF Germany were relocated to the neighboring RAF Cottesmore airfield (see below under other). Along with this measure, the RAF Harriers were combined in a first step with the Sea Harriers of the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy (RN) to form the Joint Force Harrier . After the latter aircraft type, which was still based on the Harrier of the first generation, was decommissioned, all British Harrier of the second generation were operated jointly by RAF and RN. The "Harrier Force" was decommissioned at the end of 2010 shortly after a further troop reduction was announced.
After three years of calm over the base's sky, RAF Wittering was reactivated as a military airfield in April 2014 and subsequently modernized. Training squadrons have been stationed here since February 2015. They were initially subject to No. 3 Flight Training School in RAF Cranwell and since October 2015 the reactivated No. 6 Flight Training School .
Todays use
Today the station is the home base of the 38th Group and a number of non-flying units of the RAF.
Since 2015, there have been flying squadrons again in RAF Wittering, such as the 16th (Reserve) and 115th (Reserve) Squadron for basic and flight instructor training for the RAF Cranwell- based No. 3 Flight Training School .
With the headquarters HQ 12 (Air Support) Engineer Group , the property has also been home to a first army unit since 2013 .
Others
The second Harrier base of the British armed forces, RAF Cottesmore, was located just under 20 km to the northwest in the first decade of the 21st century, the base belonged to RAF Wittering from April 2011 to the end of March 2012. RAF Cottesmore closed as an RAF station in late March 2012, 74 years after it opened in 1938. The Kendrew Barracks have served as army barracks ever since .
Trivia
A stunt for the film Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation with Tom Cruise was filmed on October 31, 2014 in Wittering, during which the actor was hanging on the side of an Airbus A400M Atlas taking off.
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ 6 Flying Training School, RAF Homepage, October 8, 2015 ( Memento of the original from October 12, 2015 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.
- ^ A400M in the Cruise phase, Flightglobal, July 17, 2015
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