RAF Waddington

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RAF Waddington

IATA: WTN - ICAO: EGXW
Summary
Airport type		Military
Operator		Royal Air Force
Serves		Waddington, Lincolnshire
Elevation AMSL		231 ft (70 m)
Coordinates		53°09′58″N, 000°31′26″W
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
Direction	ft	m	Surface
02/20	9,000	2,743	Asphalt

RAF Waddington (IATA: WTN, ICAO: EGXW) is a Royal Air Force station in Lincolnshire, England.

1 Early History
2 Present Day
3 Waddington International Air Show
4 Reference Source
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] Early History

Waddington opened as a flying training station in 1916 until 1920, when the station went into a care and maintenance.

It re-opened as a bomber base on 12 March 1937, with squadrons flying the Bristol Blenheim and later Handley Page Hampdens, and was in Nov 1940 the first station to receive the Avro Manchester heavy bomber.

In the Cold War, RAF Waddington became a Vulcan bomber base.

[edit] Present Day

It is presently home to the RAF's Sentry AEW1 and Nimrod R1 aircraft. The station is also home to No. 34 Expeditionary Air Wing

The airfield will also soon be home to the new Raytheon Sentinel R1 ASTOR ground-surveillance/intelligence aircraft of 5 Sqn.

There is an outdoor viewing area east of the A15 road close to the northern end of the long runway which was designed to accommodate V-bombers. Short-term visits from different NATO and Swiss fighter squadrons, in the past, used to generate occasional additional noise and interest due to the fact that the airfield was conveniently placed for offshore practice firing ranges above the North Sea. However with the closure of the mentioned firing ranges these visits have ceased.

No. 34 Expeditionary Air Wing was formed at Waddington on 1st April 2006 encompassing most of the non-formed unit personnel on station. The EAW does not include the flying units at the station. The station commander is dual-hatted as the commander of the wing.

Waddington is currently home to:

No 5 (Army Co-operation) Sqn - ASTOR/Sentinel R1
No. 8 Sqn - Sentry
No. 23 Sqn - Sentry
No. 51 Sqn - Nimrod R1
No. 26 Sqn - Ground Based Air Defence
No. 2503 Sqn - RAuxAF Force Sustainment

RAF Waddington is also the main site for the Air Warfare Centre.

[edit] Waddington International Air Show

RAF Waddington has in the last few years revived its Waddington International Air Show, which usually takes place in the last weekend of June, attracting up to 100,000 visitors and representatives of Air Forces from all round the world.