RAF Bruntingthorpe
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Royal Air Force Bruntingthorpe or more simply RAF Bruntingthorpe is a former
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 Station may refer to: Agriculture * Station (Australian agriculture), a large Australian landholding used for livestock production * Station (New Zealand agriculture), a large New Zealand farm used for grazing by sheep and cattle ** Cattle statio ...
located north east of
Lutterworth Lutterworth is an historic market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Harborough District, Harborough district of Leicestershire, England. The town is located in southern Leicestershire, close to the borders with Warwicks ...
,
Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...
and south of
Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...
, Leicestershire,
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 ...
. It was operational between 1942 and 1962 and it is currently known as
Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome and Proving Ground is a privately owned former airport near the village of Bruntingthorpe, Leicestershire to the south of Leicester. It was opened as RAF Bruntingthorpe in 1942. History The aerodrome was originally ...
.


History


Royal Air Force use

The station was opened in November 1942 as the home of No. 29 Operational Training Unit RAF operating the
Vickers Wellington The Vickers Wellington (nicknamed the Wimpy) is a British twin-engined, long-range medium bomber. It was designed during the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey. Led by Vickers-Armstrongs' chief designer Rex Pierson, a key feature of t ...
. After the Second World War ended, the airfield was used to test
Gloster Meteor The Gloster Meteor was the first British jet fighter and the Allies' only jet aircraft to engage in combat operations during the Second World War. The Meteor's development was heavily reliant on its ground-breaking turbojet engines, pioneere ...
jet fighters by the Power Jets Unit. It was placed into RAF care and maintenance status and remained unused until January 1957. The following units were also here at some point: * No. 11 Air Crew Holding Unit RAF * No. 44 Gliding School RAF (December 1945 - May 1946 & June - December 1949) * No. 1683 Bomber (Defence) Training Flight RAF (June 1943 - February 1944) * Bombing Analysis School RAF (July - December 1944)


United States Air Force use

On 13 November 1953, control of Bruntingthorpe was allocated to the
United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...
, however the airfield remained unused for most of the decade.bruntingthorpe.com history
/ref> In 1955, a massive reconstruction plan was approved to transform the airfield and station into a
Strategic Air Command Strategic Air Command (SAC) was a United States Department of Defense Specified Command and a United States Air Force (USAF) Major Command responsible for command and control of the strategic bomber and intercontinental ballistic missile compon ...
(SAC) bomber base. The USAF planned to use Bruntingthorpe as an advanced "Reflex" base for forward deployment of the new
Boeing B-47 Stratojet The Boeing B-47 Stratojet (Boeing company designation Model 450) is a retired American long- range, six-engined, turbojet-powered strategic bomber designed to fly at high subsonic speed and at high altitude to avoid enemy interceptor aircraft ...
medium range nuclear bomber. SAC wanted to disperse its nuclear bomber force and have about half of its B-47s stationed at forward bases in Western Europe and North Africa. Because the borders of the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact controlled areas were within the range of the B-47, the "Reflex" deployments would base the bombers for 90-day rotations of crews and aircraft. The wartime airfield's northeast/southwest runway was widened to 200 feet and increased in length from 6,000 to 10,800 feet in addition to a new parallel taxiway. To accommodate this, thirty-four farmlands were acquired to expand the size of the runway. In addition, a large dispersal area for aircraft parking, an underground refueling pipeline network and also the removal of the wartime crosswind runways. The station area required a large number of administrative and service buildings, a new main hangar, a new control tower and other airfield support buildings. Personnel barracks and other buildings, such as officer housing and, recreation facilities. On 1 March 1957, RAF Bruntingthorpe was activated by Strategic Air Command. The base was placed under the command of the 3912th Air Base Squadron,
7th Air Division The 7th Air Division (7 AD) served the United States Air Force with distinction from early 1944 through early 1992, earning an outstanding unit decoration and a service streamer along the way. History Hawaii As the 7th Fighter Wing, the divis ...
. The first operational use of the base began in March 1958 when 43 B-47s of the
100th Bombardment Wing The 100th Air Refueling Wing (100th ARW), nicknamed ''the Bloody Hundredth'', is a United States Air Force unit assigned to the Third Air Force, United States Air Forces in Europe – Air Forces Africa. It is stationed at RAF Mildenhall, Suffol ...
deployed from Pease AFB, New Hampshire arrived over a three-day period. The squadron participated in operational training missions until returning to the United States in November. The 96th Bombardment Wing from Dyess AFB, Texas, deployed its B-47s during the summer of 1959.AFHRA Document 00453105 MESSAGE FROM 15 AIR FORCE, HASKELL GRAY MAINTENANCE EFFECTIVENESS AWARD, 22 JUL 59 96 BOMBARDMENT WING CREW INFORMATION REPORT, JUL 59 MESSAGE, REFLEX TASK FORCE AT BRUNTINGTHORPE, ENGLAND, 31 JUL 59
/ref> Following French President
General de Gaulle Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French general and statesman who led the Free France, Free French Forces against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government of the French Re ...
's requirement for all foreign nuclear forces to leave France, there was a major readjustment of USAF deployments in Western Europe, and the B-47 deployments ended. On 1 September 1959, jurisdiction of Bruntingthorpe was transferred from SAC to the
United States Air Forces in Europe United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two f ...
(USAFE) and control of the facility was assigned to the
10th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing The 10th Air Base Wing (10 ABW) is a non-flying United States Air Force unit that is the host Wing (air force unit), wing for the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The Wing provides all base-level support ac ...
at
RAF Alconbury Royal Air Force Alconbury, or more simply RAF Alconbury, is an active Royal Air Force station near Huntingdon, England, that for many years was used by the USAF. The airfield is in the civil parish of The Stukeleys, close to the villages of G ...
, which had been moved from West Germany to England. The 10th TRW could not accommodate all four squadrons of the wing at Alconbury, so one was based at Bruntingthorpe, which became its satellite. The mission was changed to support Douglas RB-66B Destroyer Reconnaissance aircraft of the
19th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron 19 (nineteen) is the natural number following 18 and preceding 20. It is a prime number. Mathematics Nineteen is the eighth prime number. Number theory 19 forms a twin prime with 17, a cousin prime with 23, and a sexy prime with 13. ...
. The first B-66s arrived at the base on 26 August and by mid-September 18 were present. The squadron's activities consisted of taking high-resolution aerial photographs of Soviet and Warsaw Pact military forces and activities. The 19th TRS remained at Bruntingthorpe for almost three years until the summer of 1962. At that time, it was decided to forward deploy the squadron to the then-unused Toul-Rosières Air Base, France. The first aircraft departed for France on 22 July, with the final aircraft departing by the end of August. With the departure of the B-66s, the USAF turned over control of Bruntingthorpe to the British Ministry of Defence on 28 September, and this ended military use of the facility.


Present day

With the departure of the USAF, the MoD decided to sell off parts of the facility and to demolish buildings that it judged were no longer of use, or those World War II buildings that remained but were determined to be in a poor condition. Nearly all of the barracks, recreational and social buildings were torn down, along with a World War II hangar. In addition the USAF control tower, the crash and rescue building along with some of the buildings used during Whittle's testing of the Meteor jet during the postwar era were removed. In 1965 a public auction of land formerly used for the USAF support area was conducted. Today, much of the former RAF airfield remains, including the 10,000' runway built in the 1950s. Many dispersal pads for jet bombers remain, the large USAF hangar is still in use, along with the aircraft parking ramp on the south side. The airfield is now known as
Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome and Proving Ground is a privately owned former airport near the village of Bruntingthorpe, Leicestershire to the south of Leicester. It was opened as RAF Bruntingthorpe in 1942. History The aerodrome was originally ...
, and was, for a time the home of the only airworthy
Avro Vulcan XH558 Avro Vulcan XH558 (United Kingdom military aircraft serials, military serial ''XH558'', civil aircraft registration ''G-VLCN'') ''Spirit of Great Britain'' was the last remaining airworthy example of the 134 Avro Vulcan jet-powered delta winged ...
, until the aircraft left at the start of the 2009 display season and is now based at
Doncaster Sheffield Airport Doncaster Sheffield Airport , formerly named and commonly referred to as Robin Hood Airport, was an international airport in Finningley near Doncaster in South Yorkshire, England, in operation between 2005 and 2022. The site lies south-east ...
. It is also home to the several aircraft preservation groups including Classic British Jets Collection Buccaneer Aviation Group, Lightning Preservation Group who come together with other groups to present the Cold War Jets Collection Open days.


See also

*
RAF Alconbury Royal Air Force Alconbury, or more simply RAF Alconbury, is an active Royal Air Force station near Huntingdon, England, that for many years was used by the USAF. The airfield is in the civil parish of The Stukeleys, close to the villages of G ...
*
List of former Royal Air Force stations This list of former RAF stations includes most of the stations, airfields and administrative headquarters previously used by the Royal Air Force. They are listed under any former county or country name which was appropriate for the duration of ...
*
Strategic Air Command in the United Kingdom Between 1948 and 1992, personnel and aircraft of the United States Air Force (USAF) Strategic Air Command (SAC) were routinely deployed to bases in England. An informal agreement to base SAC bombers in the UK was reached between US General (Uni ...


References


Citations


Bibliography

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External links

* - middle of runway
Control Towers - Bruntingthorpe
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bruntingthorpe Military installations established in 1942 Military installations closed in 1962 Installations of the United States Air Force in the United Kingdom Royal Air Force stations in Leicestershire 1942 establishments in England 1962 disestablishments in England