RAF Leeming

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RAF Leeming
An RAF C-17 above the runway at RAF Leeming
Code IATA: QXL, ICAO: EGXE
County Yorkshire
Badge of the Royal Air Force
Owner Ministry of Defence
Location SE305890
54°17’33"N, 1°32’8"W
Runway(s) 7,516 feet (Asphalt)
Website /stations/raf-leeming/

RAF Leeming is a Royal Air Force station located near Leeming, in the North Riding of Yorkshire. It was opened in 1940 and was jointly used by the RAF and the Royal Canadian Air Force. Between 1950 and 1991, it operated mostly as a training base with Quick Reaction Force Tornado F3 fighters based there in the latter stages of the Cold War and into the early 21st century. Since 2006, it has become the home of the deployable RAF communications cadre (No. 90 Signals Unit RAF) and the home of No. 135 Expeditionary Air Wing.

History

The area at the extreme western edge of the base was used in the 1930s by local flying enthusiasts. It took the name of Londonderry Aerodrome as it was closest to the hamlet known improbably as Londonderry.[1][2] In the late 1930s, the Royal Air Force bought up the aerodrome and most of the surrounding land to convert it into an RAF airfield, which became known as Royal Air Force Leeming. Part of the buildup of the base included building a decoy airfield at Burneston, some four miles to the south.[3]

1940s

Stirling bomber being prepared for a flight

The station opened in June 1940 as a bomber station during the Second World War. In 1943 the station was assigned to No. 6 Group of the Royal Canadian Air Force, with a sub-station at RAF Skipton-on-Swale. The main aircraft operated were Handley Page Halifax bombers.[4][5][6]

A detachment of No. 219 Squadron RAF used the airfield between 4 October 1939 and 12 October 1940 when the main section of the squadron was at RAF Catterick flying the Bristol Blenheim IF.[7]

  • No. 10 Squadron RAF between 8 July 1940 and 5 July 1942 flying the Handley Page Halifax Mks I & II.[8]
  • No. 7 Squadron RAF reformed at the airfield on 1 August 1940 with the Short Stirling I before moving to RAF Oakington on 29 October 1940.[9]
  • No. 102 Squadron RAF between 25 August 1940 and 1 September 1940 flying the Armstrong Whitworth Whitley V before moving to RAF Prestwick.[10]
  • No. 35 Squadron RAF between 20 November 1940 and 5 December 1940 using the Halifax I before moving to RAF Linton-on-Ouse.[11]
  • No. 77 Squadron RAF between 5 September 1941 and 6 May 1942 flying the Whitley V before moving to RAF Chivenor.[12]
  • No. 408 Squadron RCAF between 14 September 1942 and 27 August 1943 with the Halifax V and I before moving to RAF Linton-on-Ouse.[13]
  • 1659 HCU RAF 1941–1942
  • No. 424 Squadron RCAF between 8 April 1943 and 3 May 1943 using the Vickers Wellington X before moving to RAF Dalton.[14]
  • No. 427 Squadron RCAF between 5 May 1943 and 31 May 1946 when the squadron disbanded. The squadron initially used the Halifax V and III before switching to the Avro Lancaster Mk.I and III in March 1945.[14]
  • No. 429 Squadron RCAF between 13 August 1943 and 31 May 1946 when the squadron disbanded. The squadron initially used the Halifax V and III before switching to the Lancaster Mk.I and III in March 1945.[14]

1950–1990

Following the war, the station became a night-fighter base, equipped initially with de Havilland Mosquito and then Gloster Meteor and Gloster Javelin aircraft before becoming a Flying Training Command airfield in 1961. The station was then home to No. 3 Flying Training School, equipped with the BAC Jet Provost aircraft.[15]

Several other units used the airfield during the same period, these were:

  • 228 Operational Conversion Unit RAF 1948–1961[16]
  • No. 3 Flying Training School RAF 1961–1984[17]
  • Northumbrian Universities Air Squadron 1974–Present[18]
  • No. 11 Air Experience Flight 1980–Present[19]

In January 1987, the airfield closed for one year to allow installation of Hardened Aircraft Shelters (HAS). RAF Leeming became the home base for three Tornado squadrons over the next twenty years.[20]

1990–present

Leeming functioned as a training base until 1988 when it became a front-line base in the air defence role equipped with Tornado F.3s. Initially it hosted Nos 11(F), 23, and 25(F) Squadrons, all flying the F3. 23 Squadron was disbanded on 1 March 1994 and its air and ground crews dispersed across the station's remaining two squadrons.[21] This left two Tornado squadrons, which were half of the air defence fighter squadrons of the RAF. 11 Squadron was disbanded in October 2005. The last Tornado squadron at Leeming, No 25(F) Squadron, disbanded on 4 April 2008.[22]

No. 135 Expeditionary Air Wing was formed at Leeming on 1 April 2006 to create a deployable air force structure.[23] Since that time it has deployed several times for Baltic Air Policing.[24]

The station's air traffic control unit was named the best in the Royal Air Force in February 2012, winning the Raytheon Falconer Trophy.[25]

RAF Leeming had been host to a BAE Systems reverse assembly line process (Reduce to Produce (RTP)) programme in which redundant Tornado aircraft were brought into one of the hangars at RAF Leeming and stripped of all usable components. The process started with the F3 variant of the aircraft as it was the first to be withdrawn completely from service, and moved onto the GR4 variant later. In October 2017, it was announced that the full retirement of the Tornado aircraft from RAF service in 2019 meant that this process would end with the loss of 245 British Aerospace jobs between RAF Leeming and RAF Marham.[26][27][28]

607 (County of Durham) Squadron reformed at RAF Leeming on 5 January 2015. The Squadron formerly flew fighter aircraft and was disbanded in 1957. The squadron is a General Service Support (GSS) unit with many diverse roles such as chef, driver, intelligence analyst and suppliers.[29]

In March 2019, the Ministry of Defence indicated that RAF Leeming, alongside RAF Waddington and RAF Wittering, was being considered as the future home of the RAF Aerobatic Team the Red Arrows.[30] In May 2020 however it was confirmed that the team would move to Waddington.[31]

On 1 December 2020, it was announced that the Yorkshire Universities Air Squadron had relocated to RAF Leeming from RAF Linton-on-Ouse as part of the latter's closure by the end of 2021.

The first of nine Hawk 167 aircraft to be operated by a newly established Joint Qatar Emiri Air Force-RAF Hawk Training Squadron arrived at Leeming in early September 2021. The squadron will train pilots from both air forces and be home to the Qatar Emiri Air Force's entire fleet of Hawks.[32][33] The RAF's No. 100 Squadron, operating the Hawk T1 in the Aggressor squadron|aggressor role disbanded on 31 March 2022.[34]

Heritage

A Tornado F3 as gate guardian at the main gate

Leeming's gate guardian is now a Tornado F3,[35] commemorating its history as an air defence base, and the fact that many Tornados were scrapped/Reduced To Produce here.[36] The previous gate guardian XA634 is the world's only surviving Gloster Javelin FAW4, which spent most of its life as a testbed at the Gloster Aircraft Company and was offered for sale by tender in September 2014 by the Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)|Ministry of Defence.[37] In December 2014 it was announced that Gloucestershire Jet Age Museum had won the tender and purchased the aircraft.[38]

Outside links

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References

  1. ↑ Coupland 1997, p. xviii.
  2. ↑ "Air Day Aerodromes". Flight Magazine (London: Royal Aero Club) 26 (1,326): 508. 24 May 1934. SSN 0015-3710. 
  3. ↑ Halpenny, Bruce Barrymore (1982). Action stations 4; Military Airfields of Yorkshire (2 ed.). Cambridge: Patrick Stephens. p. 107. ISBN 0-85059-532-0. 
  4. ↑ Halley 1988, pp. 494–510.
  5. ↑ Delve 1994, p. 62.
  6. ↑ Sturtivant and Hamlin 2007, pp. 97, 125–126.
  7. ↑ Jefford 1988, p. 72.
  8. ↑ Jefford 1988, p. 27.
  9. ↑ Jefford 1988, p. 26.
  10. ↑ Jefford 1988, p. 54.
  11. ↑ Jefford 1988, p. 37.
  12. ↑ Jefford 1988, p. 48.
  13. ↑ Jefford 1988, p. 90.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Jefford 1988, p. 91.
  15. ↑ History of Airfield from RAF Leeming Noise Insulation Grant Scheme survey report
  16. ↑ Delve 2006, p. 169
  17. ↑ "No 3 Flight Training School and No. 6 Flying Training School". Ministry of Defence. http://www.raf.mod.uk/rafwittering/aboutus/3fts.cfm. 
  18. ↑ "RAF – Northumbrian Universities Air Squadron". http://www.raf.mod.uk/rafleeming/aboutus/nuas.cfm. 
  19. ↑ "Information regarding air cadets and RAF air experience flights". Ministry of Defence. 8 October 2018. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/764794/12054.pdf. 
  20. ↑ Delve 2006, p. 170
  21. ↑ Jefford 2001, p. 35.
  22. ↑ "No. 25 Squadron returning to fly the Hawk T2". Ministry of Defence. https://www.raf.mod.uk/news/articles/no-25-squadron-returning-to-fly-the-hawk-t2/. 
  23. ↑ Cotter 2008, p. 33.
  24. ↑ "RAF Typhoon scramble intercepts Russian aircraft over the Romanian Black Sea | Royal Air Force" (in en-gb). https://www.raf.mod.uk/news/articles/raf-typhoon-scramble-intercepts-russian-aircraft-over-the-romanian-black-sea/. 
  25. ↑ "Leeming's Air Traffic Control Squadron named best in RAF". Ministry of Defence. 27 February 2012. http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/DefenceNews/PeopleInDefence/LeemingsAirTrafficControlSquadronNamedBestInRaf.htm. 
  26. ↑ "Nearly 2,000 jobs at risk as BAE Systems adjusts to declining workload The Engineer". https://www.theengineer.co.uk/nearly-2000-jobs-at-risk-as-bae-systems-adjusts-to-declining-workload/. 
  27. ↑ "RAF Leeming RTP « News « Fast Air Photography". http://www.fast-air.co.uk/raf-leeming-rtp/. 
  28. ↑ Flanagan, Emily (13 October 2017). "Jobs lost as BAE plans shake-up". Darlington and Stockton Times (41–2017): p. 5. SSN 2040-3933. 
  29. ↑ "RAF 607 County of Durham". http://www.raf.mod.uk/organisation/reserves/607-Country-of-Durham.cfm. 
  30. ↑ "Three choices for new Red Arrows base". BBC News. 18 March 2019. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-47617062. 
  31. ↑ "Red Arrows moving to RAF Waddington from RAF Scampton" (in en-GB). BBC News. 18 May 2020. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-52709531. 
  32. ↑ "RAF Leeming welcomes first Qatari Hawks" (in en-gb). 2 September 2021. https://www.raf.mod.uk/news/articles/raf-leeming-welcomes-first-qatari-hawks/. 
  33. ↑ "Royal Air Force and Qatar Emiri Air Force Expand Defence Partnership" (in en-gb). 1 April 2021. https://www.raf.mod.uk/. 
  34. ↑ Ryan, Emma (5 April 2022). "Watch the moment Red Arrows perform flypast at RAF Leeming in Yorkshire". The Yorkshire Post. https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/heritage-and-retro/heritage/red-arrows-in-yorkshire-watch-the-moment-red-arrows-perform-flypast-at-raf-leeming-in-yorkshire-3625562. 
  35. ↑ Foster, Mark (11 June 2015). "Fighter jet on permanent sentry duty". The Northern Echo. http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/13327364.Fighter_jet_on_permanent_sentry_duty/. 
  36. ↑ "Urban Ghosts Media is coming soon". https://www.urbanghostsmedia.com/2013/09/reduced-to-produce-the-end-of-the-rafs-tornado-f3-interceptor-force/. 
  37. ↑ "SALE OF QTY 1 GLOSTER JAVELIN FAW 4 AIRCRAFT". Ministry of Defence. 1 September 2014. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/355934/Sale-of-Gloster-Javelin-_FAW-4-_aircraft.pdf. 
  38. ↑ "BBC News – Gloucestershire Jet Age Museum buys Gloster Javelin". BBC Online. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-30622904. 
  • Birtles, P. (2012). UK Airfields of the Cold War. Midland Publishing. ISBN 978-1-85780-346-4. 
  • Cotter, Jarrod (2008). Royal Air Force celebrating 90 years. Stamford, UK: Key Publishing Ltd. ISBN 978-0-946219-11-7. 
  • Coupland, Peter (1997). Straight and True: A History of Royal Air Force Leeming. London: Leo Cooper. ISBN 0-85052-569-1. 
  • Delve, Ken (1994). The Sourcebook of the RAF. Shrewsbury, Shropshire, UK: Airlife Publishing. ISBN 1-85310-451-5. 
  • Delve, Ken (2006). Northern England : Co. Durham, Cumbria, Isle of Man, Lancashire, Merseyside, Manchester, Northumberland, Tyne & Wear, Yorkshire. Ramsbury: Crowood. ISBN 1-86126-809-2. 
  • Halley, James J. (1988). The Squadrons of the Royal Air Force & Commonwealth, 1918-1988. Tonbridge, Kent, UK: Air-Britain (Historians). ISBN 0-85130-164-9. 
  • Jefford, C. G. (1988). RAF Squadrons, a Comprehensive Record of the Movement and Equipment of all RAF Squadrons and their Antecedents since 1912 (First ed.). Shrewsbury, Shropshire, UK: Airlife Publishing. ISBN 978-1853100536. 
  • Jefford, C. G. (2001). RAF Squadrons, a Comprehensive Record of the Movement and Equipment of all RAF Squadrons and their Antecedents since 1912 (Second ed.). Shrewsbury, Shropshire, UK: Airlife Publishing. ISBN 978-1840371413. 
  • Sturtivant, Ray, ISO; Hamlin, John (2007). RAF Flying Training and Support Units since 1912. Tonbridge, Kent, UK: Air-Britain (Historians). ISBN 978-0-85130-365-9. 
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