Colerne Airfield , now known as Azimghur Barracks, is a British Army facility just north-west of the village of

Colerne Colerne is a village and civil parish in north Wiltshire, England. The village is about west of the town of Corsham and northeast of the city of Bath. It has an elevated and exposed position, above sea level, and overlooks the Box valley to ...

, Wiltshire, England. It is set to close in 2029.

History

RAF Colerne Royal Air Force Colerne or more simply RAF Colerne is a former Royal Air Force station which was on the outskirts of the village of Colerne in Wiltshire, England, and was in use from 1939 to 1976. The site is now known as Azimghur Barracks a ...

was opened on this site in 1940, and was in operation until 1976. From 1940 to 1955,

RAF Fighter Command RAF Fighter Command was one of the commands of the Royal Air Force. It was formed in 1936 to allow more specialised control of fighter aircraft. It operated throughout the Second World War, winning fame during the Battle of Britain in 1940. The ...

units were based here. During the

Battle of Britain The Battle of Britain () was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defended the United Kingdom (UK) against large-scale attacks by Nazi Germany's air force ...

, the airfield served as a satellite field to

RAF Middle Wallop Middle Wallop is a village in the civil parish of Nether Wallop in Hampshire, England, on the A343 road. At the 2011 Census the population was included in the civil parish of Over Wallop. The village has a public house, The George Inn, and ...

, and squadrons rotated back and forth from there on a daily basis. In the 1970s and 1980s, Azimghur Barracks was used as a training depot by the Royal Corps of Transport's and The Royal Army Ordnance Junior Leaders Regiment.

Present day

The site is a ground station for the

Skynet 5 Skynet is a family of armed force, military communications satellites, now operated by Babcock International on behalf of the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), Ministry of Defence (MOD). They provide strategic and tactical ...

military satellite system that provides battlefield support (e.g. real-time imagery from remote-piloted drones in various theatres of war). It is in close proximity to the underground

Corsham Computer Centre The Corsham Computer Centre (CCC) is an underground British Ministry of Defence (MoD) installation in Corsham, Wiltshire, built in the 1980s. According to the MoD, the centre "processes data in support of the Royal Navy". The centre has been simi ...

. The Azimghur Barracks part of the site is home to 21 Signal Regiment. Since November 1992, the airfield is used by Air Cadets and 3 Air Experience Flight, and was the headquarters of

Bristol University Air Squadron Bristol University Air Squadron, commonly known as BUAS, is a University Air Squadron that recruits from the University of Bristol, University of Bath, University of the West of England, University of Exeter and University of Plymouth. Training ni ...

, a Volunteer Reserve unit which recruits from several universities in south-west England, before their move to MoD Boscome down in 2022

Future

In November 2016, the

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

announced that the airfield would close in 2018 (later extended to 2025), and Azimghur Barracks in 2031 (later brought forward to 2029).

References

*{{cite book , last1=March, first1=P., title=Royal Air Force Yearbook 1993, year=1993, publisher= Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund, location=

Fairford Fairford is a market town in Gloucestershire, England. The town lies in the Cotswold hills on the River Coln, east of Cirencester, west of Lechlade and north of Swindon. Nearby are RAF Fairford and the Cotswold Water Park. History I ...

, UK History of Wiltshire Airports in South West England