Royal Air Force Wyton or more simply RAF Wyton is a

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

station near St Ives,

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfor ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. The airfield is decommissioned and the station is now under the command of UK Strategic Command. RAF Wyton is home to the National Centre for Geospatial Intelligence (NCGI), which provides Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) and Geospatial Intelligence (GEOINT) support to HM Armed Forces. It also contains the

Ministry of Defence Police The Ministry of Defence Police (MDP) is a civilian special police force#United Kingdom, special police force which is part of the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), Ministry of Defence. The MDP's primary responsibilities are ...

Headquarters, the

Defence Infrastructure Organisation Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) is an operating arm of the Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), Ministry of Defence (MoD) in the United Kingdom, which is responsible for the built and rural estate. Its chief executive is Mike Green. ...

Regional Headquarters, 42 Engineer Regiment (Geographic), and several other UK and Allied capabilities, authorities, and departments. Located within the station, the Pathfinder Building is described as the "operations centre of Defence Intelligence" and the “largest Top Secret, Five-Eyes by design, military intelligence fusion and assessment facility in the world."

History

Flying station

Wyton has been a military airfield since 1916, when it was used for training by the

Royal Flying Corps The Royal Flying Corps (RFC) was the air arm of the British Army before and during the First World War until it merged with the Royal Naval Air Service on 1 April 1918 to form the Royal Air Force. During the early part of the war, the RFC sup ...

and then its successor the

(RAF). The following squadrons were posted to Wyton between 1916 and 1935: ;Second World War During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

it was used primarily as a bomber base, flying

Bristol Blenheim The Bristol Blenheim is a British light bomber designed and built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company, which was used extensively in the first two years of the Second World War, with examples still being used as trainers until the end of the war. ...

de Havilland Mosquito The de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito is a British twin-engined, multirole combat aircraft, introduced during the World War II, Second World War. Unusual in that its airframe was constructed mostly of wood, it was nicknamed the "Wooden Wonder", or " ...

and

Avro Lancaster The Avro Lancaster, commonly known as the Lancaster Bomber, is a British World War II, Second World War heavy bomber. It was designed and manufactured by Avro as a contemporary of the Handley Page Halifax, both bombers having been developed to ...

aircraft. Bristol Blenheim IV (N6215) of 139 Squadron became the first RAF aircraft to enter Germany in the Second World War on 3 September 1939, piloted by Flying Officer A. McPherson. He was awarded the DFC. In 1942 it became the home of the Pathfinder Force under the command of

Group Captain Group captain (Gp Capt or G/C) is a senior officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many Commonwealth of Nations, countries that have historical British influence. Group cap ...

Don Bennett. The following squadrons were posted to Wyton between 1935 and 1939: * No. 44 Squadron between 1937 and 1937. * No. 114 Squadron between 1936 and 1939. * No. 139 Squadron between 1936 and 1939. The following squadrons were posted to Wyton between 1939 and 1945: ;Cold War After the war Wyton became home to the

English Electric Canberra The English Electric Canberra is a British first-generation, jet-powered medium bomber. It was developed by English Electric during the mid- to late 1940s in response to a 1944 Air Ministry requirement for a successor to the wartime de Havilla ...

s of the Strategic Reconnaissance Force.

Vickers Valiant The Vickers Valiant was a British high-altitude jet bomber designed to carry nuclear weapons, and in the 1950s and 1960s was part of the Royal Air Force's " V bomber" strategic deterrent force. It was developed by Vickers-Armstrongs in respon ...

s arrived for No. 543 Squadron in 1955 and a

Handley Page Victor The Handley Page Victor was a British jet-powered strategic bomber developed and produced by Handley Page during the Cold War. It was the third and final ''V bomber'' to be operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF), the other two being the Vickers ...

arrived for the Radar Reconnaissance Flight in 1959. In 1974, three Nimrod R1s belonging to No. 51 Squadron arrived for use in the

Elint Signals intelligence (SIGINT) is the act and field of intelligence-gathering by interception of ''signals'', whether communications between people (communications intelligence—abbreviated to COMINT) or from electronic signals not directly u ...

and Sigint role, and in 1975, the T17 and T17A Canberras of No. 360 Squadron arrived: this was a joint RAF and RN Squadron specialising in

Electronic countermeasures An electronic countermeasure (ECM) is an electrical or electronic device designed to countermeasure, trick or deceive radar, sonar, or other detection systems, like infrared (IR) or lasers. It may be used both offensively and defensively to deny ...

training. The following squadrons were posted to Wyton between 1946 and 2011: ;Post-Cold War In the early 1990s one of its pilots was rugby union player Flight Lieutenant Rory Underwood. During a four-month period in 1989, two squadrons of U.S. Air Force

Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II The Fairchild Republic A-10 , also infamously known under the nickname , is a single-seat, twin-turbofan, straight-wing, subsonic attack aircraft developed by Fairchild Republic for the United States Air Force (USAF). In service since 19 ...

jets were operated out of RAF Wyton while the runway at their base, nearby RAF Alconbury, was resurfaced. In May 1995 both RAF Wyton and RAF Alconbury airfields were decommissioned and Wyton was formally amalgamated with RAF Brampton, and later with RAF Henlow to make all three locations a single RAF Station under a single station commander for administrative purposes. The airfield continued to host light aircraft for the Cambridge and London

University Air Squadron University Air Squadrons (UAS), are Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve units under the command of No. 6 Flying Training School RAF. That offers training and flight training to university students, with the goal of attracting students into a ca ...

s until they both moved to RAF Wittering in 2015. On 25 March 2013 it was decided to relocate all flying units from Wyton due to the high maintenance costs of the airfield. Following the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review the RAF Brampton Wyton Henlow formation was disbanded: RAF Henlow subsequently became a separate station again and RAF Brampton was demolished.

Intelligence station

The Joint Forces Intelligence Group (JFIG), a unit which was responsible for the collection of

signals A signal is both the process and the result of Signal transmission, transmission of data over some transmission media, media accomplished by embedding some variation. Signals are important in multiple subject fields including signal processin ...

geospatial Geographic data and information is defined in the ISO/TC 211 series of standards as data and information having an implicit or explicit association with a location relative to Earth (a geographic location or geographic position). It is also call ...

imagery Imagery is visual symbolism, or figurative language that evokes a mental image or other kinds of sense impressions, especially in a literary work, but also in other activities such as. Imagery in literature can also be instrumental in conveying ...

and

measurement and signature intelligence Measurement and signature intelligence (MASINT) is a technical branch of intelligence gathering, which serves to detect, track, identify or describe the distinctive characteristics (signatures) of fixed or dynamic target sources. This often inc ...

, moved from Feltham in Middlesex to RAF Wyton in 2013. 42 Engineer Regiment relocated from Denison Barracks in Hermitage to RAF Wyton to co-locate with the Joint Forces Intelligence Group in July 2014 and No. 1 Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance Squadron moved from RAF Marham to Wyton in April 2017. In 2016, JFIG disbanded, and the bulk of its former units and capabilities were re-rolled to establish the National Centre for Geospatial Intelligence. The NCGI is a 1-star commanded organisation which in recent years has monitored military and terrorist activities taking place in real time, such as: * HMS Diamond in operations against the Houthis in the Red Sea * Unidentified radio signals coming from the Yemeni coast * Different types of drones being used by Russia in Ukraine, including the physical analysis of Russian

Orlan-10 The Orlan-10 () is a reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) developed by the Special Technology Center (STC) in Saint Petersburg for the Russian Armed Forces. The Orlan-10 features a composite fuselage that reduces its radar signature. Dr ...

and Iranian Shaheed 131 UAVs * Development of Chinese DF-17 hypersonic missiles * Pyongyang sending artillery rounds and missiles to Russian forces in Ukraine It is also involved in homeland security and played a vital part in the Salisbury poisoning investigation by tracing the Novichok trail. Wyton hangars 2013

Former units

Other units moved (now disbanded) The following other units were posted to Wyton at some point: * No. 1 Photographic Reconnaissance Unit RAF (June 1982 - July 1992) * No. 2 Group Communication Flight RAF (January 1940 - May 1943) * No. 4 Blind Approach Training Flight RAF became No. 1504 (Beam Approach Training) Flight RAF (December 1940 - August 1942) * No. 7 Group Communication Flight RAF (July 1940 - September 1941) * 8th Aero Squadron * No. 8 Group Communication Flight RAF (August 1942 - October 1945) * No. 8 (Pathfinder Force) Group RAF (August 1942 - May 1943) * No. 13 Aircraft Modification Unit RAF (March - August 1946) * No. 70 (Bomber) Wing RAF * No. 231 Operational Conversion Unit RAF (July 1982 - December 1990, May 1991 - April 1993) * No. 1323 (Canberra) Flight RAF (October 1953 - November 1955) * No. 1409 (Meteorological) Flight RAF (January - July 1945) * No. 1499 (Bombing) Gunnery Flight RAF (March - June 1943) * No. 1655 Mosquito Training Unit RAF * No. 2730 Squadron RAF Regiment * No. 2763 Squadron RAF Regiment * No. 2781 Squadron RAF Regiment * No. 2844 Squadron RAF Regiment * Canberra Air Race Flight RAF (June - October 1953) * Canberra Standardisation and Training Flight RAF (December 1990 - May 1991) * Electronic Warfare Division RAF became Electronic Warfare Detachment RAF (Unknown - December 1994) * Electronic Warfare Engineering and Training Unit RAF (-1976) became Electronic Warfare and Avionics Unit RAF (1976-1993) * Electronic Warfare Operational Support Establishment RAF (1983-1995) becoming part of Air Warfare Centre 1993 * Equipment Support (Air) Group RAF (November 1999 - unknown) * Ground Controlled Approach Operators School RAF (March 1952) * Logistics Command RAF (April 1995 - April 2000) * Radar Reconnaissance Flight RAF (October 1955 - September 1961) * Cambridgeshire Police Air Operations Unit Currently operational units moved On 25 March 2013 it was decided to relocate the following flying units from Wyton due to the high maintenance costs of the airfield. * 57(R) Squadron relocated to

RAF Cranwell Royal Air Force Cranwell or more simply RAF Cranwell is a Royal Air Force List of Royal Air Force stations, station in Lincolnshire, England, close to the village of Cranwell, near Sleaford. Among other functions, it is home to the RAF Colleg ...

in Summer 2013. * Cambridge University Air Squadron relocated to RAF Wittering in mid-2014. * University of London Air Squadron relocated to RAF Wittering in mid-2014. * 5 Air Experience Flight also relocated to RAF Wittering in mid-2014.

Based units

Notable units based at RAF Wyton.

Strategic Command

Defence Intelligence * National Centre for Geospatial Intelligence (NCGI) Defence Digital * Defence Assurance and Information Security

Royal Air Force

No. 1 Group (Air Combat) RAF * RAF Wyton Area Voluntary Band No. 22 Group (Training) RAF *Headquarters, Central & Eastern Region,

Air Training Corps The Air Training Corps (ATC) is a British Youth organisations in the United Kingdom, volunteer youth organisation; aligned to, and fostering the knowledge and learning of military values, primarily focusing on military aviation. Part of the ...

*Headquarters, Bedfordshire and Cambridgshire Wing, Air Training Corps

British Army

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is the engineering arm of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces ...

* 42 Engineer Regiment (Geographic) ** 13 Geographic Squadron ** 14 Geographic Squadron ** 16 Geographic Support Squadron ** 135 Geographic Squadron

Ministry of Defence

* Defence Intelligence Estates Rationalisation Team (PRIDE) *

United States Department of Defense

* Defense Contract Management Agency – United Kingdom

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * * * RAF Annual Review 2012

External links

Official site

RAF Wyton Area Voluntary Band
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wyton Royal Air Force stations in Huntingdonshire Royal Air Force stations in Cambridgeshire Royal Flying Corps airfields Royal Air Force stations of World War II in the United Kingdom Airports established in 1916 1916 establishments in England