42 Engineer Regiment (Geographic) is a
Royal Engineers regiment of the
British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
. The regiment, formed originally in 1947, provides field deployable geographic services, including geodetic survey, terrain analysis, information management and dissemination and
geospatial intelligence
In the United States, geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) is intelligence about the human activity on earth derived from the exploitation and analysis of imagery, signals, or signatures with geospatial information. GEOINT describes, assesses, and vi ...
(GEOINT).
Organisation
Today the regiment consists of:
* 42 Engineer Regiment, in
Wyton
** 13 Geographic Squadron
** 14 Geographic Squadron
** 16 Geographic Support Squadron
**
135 Geographic Squadron
History
In February 1947 a cadre of 19 Topographic Squadron RE moved to Egypt and was initially titled as 19 Field Survey Regiment. It later was renamed as 42 Survey Engineer Regiment on 31 August 1948 and was based near
RAF Fayid
RAF Fayid (LG-211) is a former military airfield in Egypt, approximately south of Ismailia (Al Isma`iliyah) and northeast of Cairo. It was formerly a major Royal Air Force airfield built before World War II, and later used by the Egypti ...
. In 1948, 13 Field Survey Squadron was posted to Egypt and its personnel were absorbed into the regiment. 13 Squadron was assigned the role of map production which remains its core duties to this day.14 Field Survey Squadron remained in Germany after the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
, and provided geographic support to the British Army on the Rhine. This squadron deployed to Northern Ireland in 1973 as an infantry unit and in 1995, the Squadron moved to
Ayrshire Barracks,
Mönchengladbach
Mönchengladbach (, li, Jlabbach ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located west of the Rhine, halfway between Düsseldorf and the Dutch border.
Geography Municipal subdivisions
Since 2009, the territory of Mönchengladbac ...
before it was eventually reunited with the regiment in July 2013. The engineers lived in
Denison Barracks
Denison Barracks is a military installation at Hermitage in Berkshire, England.
History
The site was used as an American military hospital during the Second World War and became the home of Royal School of Military Survey in 1949. The barracks w ...
in
Hermitage for many years until July 2014 when the regiment in moved to
RAF Wyton
Royal Air Force Wyton or more simply RAF Wyton is a Royal Air Force station near St Ives, Cambridgeshire, England. The airfield is decommissioned and is now home to the Joint Forces Intelligence Group.
History Flying station
Wyton has b ...
as part of the
Joint Forces Intelligence Group.
The regiment operates the Tactical Information and Geospatial Intelligence Systems (TIGAS) vehicle system as part of the Field Deployable
GEOINT
In the United States, geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) is intelligence about the human activity on earth derived from the exploitation and analysis of imagery, signals, or signatures with geospatial information. GEOINT describes, assesses, and vis ...
(FDG) capability.
On 10 November 2021 the regiment won Best Security, Defence or Law Enforcement IT Project of the Year at the UK IT Industry Awards.
Freedoms
* 1997:
Newbury, Berkshire.
* 3 July 2018:
St Ives, Cambridgeshire.
References
External links
* {{official, https://www.army.mod.uk/who-we-are/corps-regiments-and-units/corps-of-royal-engineers/42-engineer-regiment-geographic/
42 Survey Engineer Regiment - British Army units from 1945 on
Regiments of the Royal Engineers