RAF Holbeach | |
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Type | NATO Air Weapons Range |
Location | near Holbeach in UK |
Area | EGD207 |
Operator | Defence Training Estates (East) |
Status | Active |
In use | 1928- |
RAF Holbeach is a Royal Air Force bombing range situated between Boston and Kings Lynn in Gedney Drove End on The Wash, in Lincolnshire, eastern England. Most of the range, including the control tower and four observation towers are in Gedney, but it does overlap with Holbeach to the west. On aeronautical charts it is identified using the code EGD207 (UK Danger Area 207).
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The range opened in 1926. It was administered by RAF Marham as an Air Weapons Range within RAF Strike Command. On 1 April 2006 control was transferred to Defence Estates and the range is now administered by Defence Training Estates (East) from their headquarters at West Tofts Camp near Thetford.
The station's badge features a vertical sword through a crown. The motto is Defend and Strike.
The range provides facilities for RAF and other NATO aircraft to practice dropping bombs and firing their cannon. Targets include several old trawlers which have been beached on the sands of The Wash for this purpose. Towers parallel to the target line are manned and allow the fall of the weapons to be triangulated.
RAF Holbeach also has facilities for scoring strafing runs. The strafing targets are a number of three-metre square net with an orange bullseye made by weaving plastic strips through the chicken-wire net. The Strafe Scoring detects the X-Y position of the projectile from the acoustic signature of the supersonic shock wave. This result is sent by radio to the control tower, where it is displayed to the Air Traffic Controller for relaying to the pilot. The range also has semi-automatic bomb and rocket scoring systems.