RAF Coningsby

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RAF Coningsby
IATA: QCY – ICAO: EGXC
Summary
Airport type Military
Operator Royal Air Force
Location Coningsby, Lincolnshire
Elevation AMSL 25 ft / 8 m
Coordinates 53°05′35″N 000°09′58″W / 53.09306, -0.16611
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
08/26 9,003 2,744 Asphalt

RAF Coningsby (IATA: QCY, ICAO: EGXC), is a Royal Air Force station in Lincolnshire, England. It is commanded by Group Captain Stuart D Atha.

The station is the home of No. XVII(R) Squadron - the Operational Evaluational Unit, No. 29(R) Squadron - the Operational Conversion Unit and No. 3(F) Squadron - the first Typhoon Operational Squadron, flying the Eurofighter Typhoon F2 and T1.

Since June 2007 the Typhoons of No. 3(F) Squadron have formed part of air defence of the UK along with RAF Leeming in North Yorkshire and RAF Leuchars in Scotland, both of which are equipped with Tornado F3 fighters.

The station is also home to No. 121 Expeditionary Air Wing

Contents

[edit] History

The base was opened in 1940 as a bomber base. No. 617 Squadron were at the base from August 1943 - January 1944. Following World War II the base received its first jet aircraft - the Canberra - in 1953. In 1956, the base expanded with the runway being extended. Avro Vulcans arrived in 1962 which were transferred to RAF Cottesmore in November 1964. From 1964 -6, the station had been designated to receive the proposed RAF fighter, the TSR2 project, which was bizarrely cancelled for economic reasons in April 1965. Its intended replacement, the F-111 was shelved when its costs overshot the UK's budget. Spey-engined Phantoms (the plane the government eventually bought) arrived in 1966, with all RAF Phantom training taking place on the base, and the base became part of Fighter Command until December 1967. The Phantoms were initially in a ground attack role, changing to air defence in October 1974 when the base joined Strike Command in No. 11 Group. In November 1984, the Tornado F3 squadrons began to form. Tornado training took place until April 1987, when the Phantoms left (to RAF Leuchars) and Coningsby had the first (No. 29) Tornado air defence squadron. To accommodate these new aircraft extensive hardened aircraft shelters (HAS) and support facilities were built.

Coningsby was the first airfield to receive the Tornado ADV and was the first to receive its replacement, the Eurofighter Typhoon. 56 Squadron was based there until March 2003 but has relocated to RAF Leuchars to allow airfield improvements required for the arrival of the Typhoon. 5 Squadron also flew F3s from Coningsby until its disbandment in 2003. The Typhoon arrived in May 2005 with No. 17 Squadron, after the RAF first publicly displayed the aircraft at Coningsby in December 2004. In July 2007, the Typhoon became operational from the base (and the UK).

[edit] Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF)

Coningsby is also the home to the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (since March 1976 when it arrived from RAF Coltishall) and their Visitor Centre. The BBMF operate one of two remaining airworthy Avro Lancaster bombers in the world besides five Spitfires of various types, two Hurricanes, a Dakota and two Chipmunks.

[edit] Operational Evaluation Units

Also based at Coningsby is the RAF's Fast Jet and Weapons Operational Evaluation Unit (FJWOEU), a merger of the Strike/Attack OEU (previously at Boscombe Down), the Tornado F.3 OEU (previously at RAF Waddington) and the Air-Guided Weapons OEU (previously at RAF Valley). Today, the unit operates under the shadow squadron numberplate of No.41(R) Sqn. FJWOEU is tasked with operational testing and evaluation of existing and forthcoming aircraft and weapons.

No. 121 Expeditionary Air Wing was formed at Coningsby on 1st April 2006 and encompasses most of the non-formed unit personnel. The EAW does not include any of the flying squadrons. The Station Commander is dual-hatted as the Commanding Officer of the Wing.

[edit] Current structure

The RAF Coningsby structure as of April 2008:[1]

  • 121 Expeditionary Air Wing
  • Air Combat 1 Group
  • Air Warfare Center
  • Battle of Britain Memorial Flight

[edit] Source and References

  1. ^ Air Forces Monthly, April 2008 issue, pp. 44

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] News items

[edit] Video clips

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