RAF North Luffenham

RAF North Luffenham
Edith Weston, Rutland in England
The station gate guardian, a Bloodhound surface-to-air missile
The station gate guardian, a Bloodhound surface-to-air missile during 1997.
Station Badge
Site information
TypeRoyal Air Force flying and missile station
OwnerMinistry of Defence
OperatorRoyal Air Force
Royal Canadian Air Force
Controlled byRAF Bomber Command
ConditionClosed
Location
RAF North Luffenham is located in Rutland
RAF North Luffenham
RAF North Luffenham
Location in Rutland
RAF North Luffenham is located in the United Kingdom
RAF North Luffenham
RAF North Luffenham
RAF North Luffenham (the United Kingdom)
Coordinates52°37′56″N 000°36′38″W / 52.63222°N 0.61056°W / 52.63222; -0.61056
Grid referenceSK940050[1]
Area292 hectares[2]
Site history
Built1940 (1940)
In useJanuary 1941 –23 October 1997 (1997)[3]
FateTransferred to the British Army and became St George's Barracks.
Airfield information
Runways
Direction Length and surface
03/21 1,315 metres (4,314 ft) Concrete
06/24 1,858 metres (6,096 ft) Concrete
12/30 1,200 metres (3,937 ft) Concrete

Royal Air Force North Luffenham or more simply RAF North Luffenham is a former Royal Air Force station in Rutland, England. It is near to the villages of Edith Weston and North Luffenham.

History

Second World War

Aerial photograph of the airfield, 2 March 1944. The technical site with two T2 hangars are at the left (west). There are three more T2 hangars and the bomb dump north of the perimeter track. A large number of aircraft are parked on the north/south crosswind runway and on the hardstand loops around the perimeter track
Aerial photograph of the airfield, 2 March 1944. The technical site with two T2 hangars are at the left (west). There are three more T2 hangars and the bomb dump north of the perimeter track. A large number of aircraft are parked on the north/south crosswind runway and on the hardstand loops around the perimeter track

The station was built as a training airfield, opening in 1940. It was later taken over by 5 Group of RAF Bomber Command as a heavy bomber base, and was expanded by the building of concrete runways later in the war.

Post war

In 1951, the station was transferred to the Royal Canadian Air Force to become the temporary home of 1 Fighter Wing, the first Canadian NATO base in Europe. 439 Combat Support Squadron arrived in late May 1952, the first Canadian jet squadron to cross the Atlantic.[4][5] Other Sabres were at RCAF Station Grostenquin in eastern France, and Zweibrücken Air Base and CFB Baden–Soellingen in the west of West Germany. The aircraft took part in the Coronation fly past.[6] 1 Wing moved to Marville, France in 1955.

In late 1955, No. 228 Operational Conversion Unit, temporarily renamed No. 238 OCU, was detached to North Luffenham from RAF Leeming which was having its runways extended to 7000 ft to accommodate Gloster Javelins. The OCU remained for over a year before returning to Leeming.

Thor missiles

From 1959 to 1963, North Luffenham was the base for PGM-17 Thor intermediate range ballistic missiles, operated by No. 144 Squadron RAF. The Thor missile site was listed as a Grade II* building in 2011.[7][8]

In mid-1964 No. 3 Ground Radio Servicing Squadron was transferred from RAF Norton, Sheffield, Yorkshire. No. 3GRSS was responsible for the third-line maintenance repair of all ground radar and radio communication/navigational and landing aids located at airfields throughout Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Aviation medicine

In 1963 the RAF Aviation Medical Training Centre (AMTC) moved from its original location at RAF Upwood to RAF North Luffenham. The Centre was commanded by a senior RAF Medical Officer who with his medical and technical team were responsible for fitting and instructing aircrew in the use of flying protective clothing and equipment, including partial pressure suits, which kept the pilot conscious in the event of loss of cabin pressure at high altitude. Instruction in medical aspects of high performance aviation included experience of hypoxia and exposure to sudden explosive decompression of an aircraft cabin. This was carried out in a complex of RAF Mark V decompression chambers installed on the site for aircrew training and research purposes. Many of the aircrew medical monitoring techniques, oxygen systems and items of aircrew protective flying clothing developed at the RAF Institute of Aviation Medicine, Farnborough, were assessed by staff of AMTC.

Princess Margaret visited on 12 July 1973.[9]

Foreign language education

From 1965 to 1997 part of the Joint Services Language School was based here. Primary languages taught included Russian and Mandarin. Russian-language graduates of the school were employed at radio monitoring stations located close to the USSR border mostly in Gatow, Berlin, in order to monitor Russian air-to-ground radio voice traffic during airborne interception/ border incursion etc. Some also were stationed at Digby, and some were sent on airborne duties, variously stationed including Wyton, Cyprus etc. Most of the Chinese graduates were officers and stationed in Hong Kong. Most of the teachers were emigres or ex-Russian military. A plaque to commemorate the Language School was unveiled in 2005 by Air Commodore Bruce Benstead, the last Station Commander at RAF North Luffenham.[10] Recruits from RAF Swinderby completed their fieldcraft training at this base in the 1980s and early 1990s.

Departure of the RAF

Station Headquarters in 1997

By April 1977 it was planned that most RAF units would be gone.

When the RAF vacated the base, the gates from the main entrance were donated to the village of North Luffenham. The gates which bear the station badge were later erected at the entrance to the village's recreation ground.

The station was taken over by the British Army and renamed St George's Barracks in 1998.[11]

Former personnel

Notable former rugby players from RAF North Luffenham include Sir Augustus Walker (RAF & England), Peter Larter (Northampton & England) and Martin Whitcombe (Leicester Tigers & England 'B' international).

List of Station Commanders

  • April 1955, Group Captain A H Smythe[12]
  • late November 1956, Group Captain M W B Knight[13]
  • 2 January 1961, Group Captain John A Sowrey DFC (5 January 1920 - 30 November 2010)[14] later Air Commodore, a wartime Hawker Hurricane pilot; his cousin was Air Marshal Freddie Sowrey[15]
  • mid August 1974, Group Captain R M S Fitzgerald-Lombard[16]
  • December 1974, Group Captain Graham V Lobley[17]
  • early January 1977, Group Captain John B Quinton, aged 42, with wife Olwyn, son Adrian, daughter Juliet; he attended a Birmingham grammar school, and studied Physics at the University of Nottingham in 1955
  • 20 November 1978[18]
  • 21 July 1995, Group Captain G Jones[19]
  • 4 November 1996, Group Captain G H Benstead[20]

Units

The following units were here at some point:[21]

Units

See also

References

Citations

  1. ^ Birtles 2012, p. 42.
  2. ^ "Defence Estates Development Plan (DEDP) 2009 - Annex A" (PDF). GOV.UK. Ministry of Defence. 3 July 2009. p. 18. Retrieved 30 June 2018.
  3. ^ March 1998, p. 87.
  4. ^ Times Saturday May 31 1952, page 6
  5. ^ Times Monday June 16 1952, page 4
  6. ^ Times Friday May 8 1953, page 10
  7. ^ "Cold War missile sites get listed status". BBC News. 16 October 2012. Retrieved 11 June 2016.
  8. ^ Historic England. "Thor missile site at former RAF North Luffenham (1400806)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 7 December 2012.
  9. ^ Times Thursday July 12 1973, page 18
  10. ^ RAF Linguist Association North Luffenham 2005
  11. ^ "Royal Regiment of Fusiliers". British Army units 1945 on. Retrieved 1 June 2014.
  12. ^ Times Monday April 25 1955, page 9
  13. ^ Times Monday November 26 1956, page 10
  14. ^ Times Monday January 2 1961, page 17
  15. ^ Times obituary Tuesday January 4 2011
  16. ^ Times Monday August 6 1984, page 12
  17. ^ Times Monday December 16 1974, page 15
  18. ^ Times Monday November 20 1978, page 14
  19. ^ Times Thursday July 20 1995, page 20
  20. ^ Times Monday November 4 1996, page 24
  21. ^ "North Luffenham". Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust. Retrieved 7 June 2020.
  22. ^ Jefford 1988, p. 44.
  23. ^ Jefford 1988, p. 56.
  24. ^ Jefford 1988, p. 90.
  25. ^ March 1988, p. 74.
  26. ^ March 1991, p. 82.

Bibliography

  • Birtles, Philip (2012). UK Airfields of the Cold War. Midland Publishing. ISBN 978-1-85780-346-4.
  • Jefford, C. G. (1988). RAF Squadrons. A comprehensive record of the movement and equipment of all RAF squadrons and their antecedents since 1912. Shrewsbury, UK: Airlife. ISBN 1-85310-053-6.
  • March, Peter R. (1988). Royal Air Force Yearbook 1988. Fairford, UK: Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund.
  • March, Peter R. (1991). Royal Air Force Yearbook 1991. Fairford, UK: Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund.
  • March, Peter R. (1998). Royal Air Force Yearbook 1998. Fairford, UK: Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund.
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