RAF Wyton

RAF Wyton
Wyton
Characteristics
ICAO code	EGUY
IATA code	QUY
Coordinates	52 ° 21 ′ 0 ″  N , 0 ° 6 ′ 59 ″  W.
Height above MSL	41 m (135  ft )
Transport links
Distance from the city center	4 km east of Huntingdon
Street	10 km to the
Basic data
opening	1912
operator	Royal Air Force
Runways
09/27	2516 m × 61 m asphalt
15/33	762 m × 18 m asphalt

The Royal Air Force Station Wyton , RAF Wyton for short , is a former military airfield and is no longer used for aviation purposes by the British Royal Air Force between Wyton and St Ives in the county of Cambridgeshire , England .

history

Wyton's links with aviation go back to 1912. The RAF's first mission in World War II took off from Wyton, as did the first aircraft in the 1,000 bomber raids on the German Reich. The Pathfinder Force with its de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito was set up in Wyton on August 14, 1942, and machines from Wyton were also involved in the last bombing raid on Nazi Germany. After the war, the scouts were dissolved, which initially ended military flight operations.

In 1951 and 1952 the square served as a transit station for American bombers and in January 1953 the long era of photo reconnaissance began. Initially equipped with reconnaissance variants Mosquito, Gloster Meteor and Avro Lancaster , but after a short time the English Electric Canberra was put into service as a photo reconnaissance aircraft. These shaped the sky over Wyton for decades until the cessation of military flight operations. In the 1960s to 1970s there were also squadrons with bombers of the Avro Vulcan type and later until the early 1990s electronic reconnaissance aircraft of the Nimrod R Mk.1 type were in Wyton.

As a result, Wyton formed the so-called "Tri-Station" base RAF Brampton Wyton Henlow with two other facilities , with only Wyton being used for flying purposes. Military flight operations, which focus on light training aircraft, were finally discontinued in February 2015 after the school squadrons stationed here were relocated to RAF Cranwell and RAF Wittering .

future

The areas previously used for aviation are to be separated from the military site and used for civil non-aviation purposes.

The remaining station is under the Joint Forces Command .

Web links

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

• RAF Wyton Station website