Royal Air Force Oakington or more simply RAF Oakington was 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 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 of

Oakington Oakington is a small rural village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Oakington and Westwick, in the South Cambridgeshire district, in the county of Cambridgeshire, England, dating back to Roman times. It is north-west of Cambridge. ...

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 ...

and northwest of

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

History

Second World War

Construction was started in 1939, but was affected by the outbreak of war. The original plan called for

Type-C hangar The Type-C hangar is a specific design of aircraft hangar built by the Royal Air Force during its expansion period of the 1930s. The hangar type generally measured in length, with a width of , and a clear height of . Whilst the type was design ...

s but two type J were erected instead. It was used by No. 2 Group in July 1940 for No. 218 Squadron which had recently returned from Nantes,

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. In September, Oakington was passed to No. 2 Group which stationed the first

Short Stirling The Short Stirling was a British four-engined heavy bomber of the Second World War. It has the distinction of being the first four-engined bomber to be introduced into service with the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the war (the earlier Handley ...

Squadron No. 7. The newly formed No. 3 Photographic Reconnaissance Unit RAF started to use RAF Oakington to conduct high altitude work for Bomber Command's target. However, there were poor surface conditions at RAF Oakington so No. 3 PRU often operated from

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 ...

Postwar

During the 1950s RAF Oakington was an Advanced Flying Training School, No. 5 Flying Training School RAF (5 FTS), which reformed at the airfield on 1 June 1954. Its initial role was to convert trainee pilots to jets using

de Havilland Vampire The de Havilland DH100 Vampire is a British jet fighter which was developed and manufactured by the de Havilland, de Havilland Aircraft Company. It was the second jet fighter to be operated by the Royal Air Force, RAF, after the Gloster Meteo ...

FB.5 single seat jets and T.11 twin-seat jets. In March 1962 these types were exchanged for the Vickers Varsity T.1 twin piston-engine pilot trainers. 5 FTS was disbanded on 31 December 1974 when the need for training on piston engined aircraft reduced. The airfield was then closed, becoming a

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

barracks Barracks are buildings used to accommodate military personnel and quasi-military personnel such as police. The English word originates from the 17th century via French and Italian from an old Spanish word 'soldier's tent', but today barracks ar ...

. The airfield's land area had contracted after the war, and much evidence of this former military use is visible in farmland surrounding the current perimeter.

Units

The following units were here at some point:

British Army use

The barracks were used in the late 1970s and through the 1980s as a transit camp for units moving between Germany and Northern Ireland. It was also a permanent base for 657 Squadron Army Air Corps in the 1980s. The barracks were occupied by the 3rd Bn The Royal Green Jackets from 1979 to 198
1st Bn The Royal Anglian Regiment
from 1982 to 1984, the 1st Bn The Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment (29th and 45th) from 1986 to 1989,

Royal Highland Fusiliers The Royal Highland Fusiliers, 2nd Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland (2 SCOTS) is an infantry battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland. Prior to 28 March 2006, the Royal Highland Fusiliers was an infantry regiment in its own right, creat ...

from 1989 to 1993 and by the

Cheshire Regiment The Cheshire Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, part of the Prince of Wales' Division. The 22nd Regiment of Foot was raised by the Henry Howard, 7th Duke of Norfolk in 1689 and was able to boast an independent existence ...

from 1993 to 1996.

Immigration Reception Centre

In 2000 the station domestic area was leased to the

Home Office The Home Office (HO), also known (especially in official papers and when referred to in Parliament) as the Home Department, is the United Kingdom's interior ministry. It is responsible for public safety and policing, border security, immigr ...

, and converted for use as

Oakington Immigration Reception Centre Oakington Immigration Reception Centre was an immigration detention centre located in Cambridgeshire run by UK Visas and Immigration. Originally a World War II airfield, RAF Oakington was used by RAF Bomber Command flying Short Stirling aircr ...

until November 2010.

Future use

Since 2007 plans have been developed to build Northstowe, a new settlement of 9,500 houses on the site. Demolition of parts of the site commenced in late January 2011 by the contractor Sovereign Plant Ltd. Work started on the first 1500 homes and related facilities in 2014.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* *

External links

Pictures of RAF aircraft taken at the base
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oakington Royal Air Force stations in Cambridgeshire Royal Air Force stations of World War II in the United Kingdom