Leuchars Station is a

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 ...

installation located in

Leuchars Leuchars (pronounced or ; gd, Luachar "rushes") is a small town and parish near the north-east coast of Fife in Scotland. The civil parish has a population of 5,754 (in 2011) Census of Scotland 2011, Table KS101SC – Usually Resident Popula ...

Fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i ...

, on the east coast of

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, near to the historic town of

St Andrews St Andrews ( la, S. Andrea(s); sco, Saunt Aundraes; gd, Cill Rìmhinn) is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fou ...

. Formerly RAF Leuchars, it was the second most northerly air defence station in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

(the most northerly being

RAF Lossiemouth Royal Air Force Lossiemouth or more commonly RAF Lossiemouth is a military airfield located on the western edge of the town of Lossiemouth in Moray, north-east Scotland. Lossiemouth is one of the largest and busiest fast-jet stations in the R ...

). The station ceased to be an RAF station in April 2015 when control of the site was transferred to the Army.

History

RAF Leuchars

The Royal Air Force station at Leuchars opened on 16 March 1920, although its association with the military can be traced back to 1911 when military balloons were operated at the site. During its history the site was used as a RNAS fleet fighter station and later as a RAF Coastal Command airfield. Throughout the Cold War and beyond, the station was home to fighter aircraft which policed northern UK airspace. The station also hosted an annual International Airshow.

Transfer to the Army

On 18 July 2011,

Defence Secretary A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in som ...

Liam Fox Liam Fox (born 22 September 1961) is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for International Trade from 2016 to 2019 and Secretary of State for Defence from 2010 to 2011. A member of the Conservative Party, Fox has served as t ...

announced that RAF Leuchars would close as part of the

Strategic Defence and Security Review 2010 The Strategic Defence and Security Review 2010 was announced by the newly formed Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government of the United Kingdom in May 2010, and published on 19 October 2010. The previous major review of UK defence strateg ...

, with the station being transferred to

control in 2015 and the

Typhoon A typhoon is a mature tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere. This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, and is the most active tropical cyclone basin on Earth, accounting for a ...

aircraft based at Leuchars moving to

Moray Moray () gd, Moireibh or ') is one of the 32 local government council areas of Scotland. It lies in the north-east of the country, with a coastline on the Moray Firth, and borders the council areas of Aberdeenshire and Highland. Between 1975 ...

. In preparation for the closure, RAF Leuchars

Mountain Rescue Team Mountain rescue refers to search and rescue activities that occur in a mountainous environment, although the term is sometimes also used to apply to search and rescue in other wilderness environments. This tends to include mountains with tec ...

disbanded in November 2013 whilst No. 58 Squadron of the RAF Regiment and No. 6 Force Protection Wing disbanded on 10 May 2014. No. 6 Squadron was the first Typhoon unit to depart Leuchars, heading for its new home at Lossiemouth in June 2014. No. 1 Squadron followed on 8 September 2014, at which point responsibility for

Quick Reaction Alert Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) is state of readiness and '' modus operandi'' of air defence maintained at all hours of the day by NATO air forces. The United States usually refers to Quick Reaction Alert as 'Airspace Control Alert'. Some non-NATO c ...

(North) was transferred from Leuchars to Lossiemouth. Control of Leuchars was transferred to the

on 31 March 2015, when it was renamed Leuchars Station. The term 'station' was used as the size of the installation is smaller than a garrison but larger than a barracks and to reflect the range of army and RAF occupants. The

Royal Scots Dragoon Guards The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards (Carabiniers and Greys) is a cavalry regiment of the British Army, and the senior Scottish regiment. The regiment, through the Royal Scots Greys, is the oldest surviving Cavalry Regiment of the Line in the British ...

gradually relocated from Germany in the spring and summer of 2015 along with 2 Close Support Battalion of the

Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers The Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME ) is a corps of the British Army that maintains the equipment that the Army uses. The corps is described as the "British Army's Professional Engineers". History Prior to REME's for ...

and 110 Provost Company, Royal Military Police. The transition from RAF to Army control was considered to have gone smoothly by Fife Council in terms of its impact on the local community. In February 2018, local

councillor A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...

s suggested that the name of the installation be changed as it could be confused with

Leuchars Railway Station Leuchars railway station ( ) serves the towns of Leuchars and St Andrews in Fife, Scotland. The station is the last northbound stop before Dundee. The station was built as Leuchars Junction station for the route over the Tay Bridge to Dundee, t ...

. RAF

Typhoon FGR4 The Eurofighter Typhoon is a European multinational twinjet, twin-engine, canard (aeronautics), canard delta wing, multirole combat aircraft, multirole fighter. The Typhoon was designed originally as an air-superiority fighter and is manufactu ...

aircraft and the Quick Reaction Alert (Interceptor) North capability operated from Leuchars between 10 August and the week commencing 16 October 2020 whilst the intersection of RAF Lossiemouth's two runways was resurfaced.

Role and operations

In December 2018, there were approximately 750 members of the UK regular armed forces, 30 members of the full time reserve service personnel and 100 civil servants based at Leuchars.

British Army

The primary Army unit based at Leuchars is the

. It is a cavalry regiment which specialises in the reconnaissance role. It is equipped with the Jackal 2 armoured fighting vehicle and the Coyote tactical support vehicle. Other army units included 2 Close Support Battalion of the

(REME) and 110 Provost Company of the

Royal Military Police The Royal Military Police (RMP) is the corps of the British Army responsible for the policing of army service personnel, and for providing a military police presence both in the UK and while service personnel are deployed overseas on operation ...

Royal Air Force

The station continues to be home to several RAF units, including No. 612 (County of Aberdeen) Squadron RAuxAF, the

East of Scotland Universities Air Squadron The East of Scotland Universities Air Squadron ( gd, Sguadron Adhair Oilthighean Taobh an Ear na h-Alba), commonly known as ESUAS, is a squadron within the Royal Air Force established in 2003 as an amalgamation of "East Lowlands Universities A ...

incorporating No. 12 Air Experience Flight, and the headquarters of Scotland and Northern Ireland Region and South East Scotland Wing of the

Air Training Corps The Air Training Corps (ATC) is a British volunteer-military youth organisation. They are sponsored by the Ministry of Defence and the Royal Air Force. The majority of staff are volunteers, and some are paid for full-time work – including C ...

. The airfield is maintained by the RAF as a diversion airfield for military aircraft.

Based units

The following notable units are based at Leuchars Station.

British Army

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

( 8 Engineer Brigade, 12 (Force Support) Engineer Group) * 71 Engineer Regiment (

Army Reserve A military reserve force is a military organization whose members have military and civilian occupations. They are not normally kept under arms, and their main role is to be available when their military requires additional manpower. Reserve ...

) ** Regimental Headquarters **124 Field Squadron (Air Support) *** 2 Troop

( 102 Logistics Brigade) * 2 Close Support Battalion ** Battalion Headquarters ** 7 Close Support Company ** 11 Close Support Company ** Echelon Company

Royal Armoured Corps The Royal Armoured Corps is the component of the British Army, that together with the Household Cavalry provides its armour capability, with vehicles such as the Challenger 2 Tank and the Scimitar Reconnaissance Vehicle. It includes most of the A ...

( 51 Infantry Brigade) *

Adjutant General's Corps The Adjutant General's Corps is a corps in the British Army responsible for many of its general administrative services, named for the Adjutant-General to the Forces (now the Commander Home Command). As of 2002, the AGC had a staff of 7,000 peopl ...

( 1 Military Police Brigade, 1st Regiment, Royal Military Police) * 110 Provost Company

Royal Air Force

* RAF Airfield Operations No. 22 Group (Training) RAF *

– Grob Tutor T1 * No. 12 Air Experience Flight – Grob Tutor T1 *

** Scotland & Northern Ireland Region Headquarters ** South East Scotland Wing Headquarters ** Regional Activity Centre ** No. 2345 Squadron No. 38 Group (Air Combat Service Support) RAF * Tactical Medical Wing ** No. 612 (County of Aberdeen) Squadron (Royal Auxiliary Air Force)

Future

Airfield use

In late October 2020, it was confirmed by the

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

that they were looking into increasing both civilian and military usage of the airfield at Leuchars with the re-installation of F34 fuel facilities, however there would be no aircraft based permanently.

References

External links

Leuchars Station (RAF website)UK Military Aeronautical Information Publication – Leuchars (EGQL)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leuchars Buildings and structures in Fife Installations of the British Army 1916 establishments in Scotland

History

RAF Leuchars

Transfer to the Army

Role and operations

British Army

Royal Air Force

Based units

British Army

Royal Air Force

Future

Airfield use

See also

References

External links