RAF Boulmer
| RAF Boulmer | |
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|---|---|
| Code | |
| County | Northumberland |
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| Location | NU252142 55°25’19"N, 1°36’12"W |
| Website | |
Royal Air Force Boulmer or more simply RAF Boulmer is a Royal Air Force station near Alnwick in Northumberland. It is home to the Air Command and Control Force, 19 Sqn - Control and Reporting Centre (CRC) Boulmer, 20 Sqn - Operational Conversion Unit (OCU) and 144 Signals Unit (SU).
The School of Aerospace Battle Management and support staff was based there until 26 July 2019; it has since moved to RAF Shawbury. Until 30 September 2015, it was also home to A Flight, No. 202 Squadron RAF, who flew the Westland Sea King HAR.3 in the SAR (Search and Rescue) role.
History
Second World War
In 1940 a decoy airfield was set up near the village of Boulmer to divert German attacks from nearby Royal Air Force airfields such as RAF Acklington. As the air threat to the British Isles receded, the decoy airfield, with its grass runways and plywood and canvas Hurricanes, was abandoned.[1]
In March 1943 RAF Boulmer was reopened as a satellite airfield to house the advanced flights of No. 57 Operational Training Unit RAF (a Supermarine Spitfire training unit based at RAF Eshott, Boulmer's parent unit).[2]
Part of the airfield formed the basis of a caravan site with the runway and taxiway being used as an access road to the site. The site remains and is called Seaton Park.[3]
Cold War
By 1950, the threat of the atomic bomb had caused a serious rethink in the organisation of air defence and a plan, codenamed ROTOR, was brought in to replace many of the existing stations with new protected underground operations rooms. The site chosen for one of these new underground Ground-controlled interception (GCI) stations was close to the former RAF Boulmer which had been returned to agriculture at the end of the Second World War.[4]
The station was to have a two-level underground operations room designated as an R3. The R3 was never intended to survive a direct hit from a nuclear weapon but was designed to withstand a near miss from Russian bombing with 2,200 lb armour-piercing high explosive bombs dropped from 35,000 feet.[4]
A target date for completion of the station was set as 21 August 1953 and although not complete, the station opened on time with limited capabilities using an American AN/FPS3 long-range search radar and an AN/TPS10 height finder. The station became known as 500 Signals Unit under the control of RAF Acklington and part of 13 Group - the station motto 'Semper in excubitu vigilans' is taken from 500 Signals Unit's badge.[5] On completion of the R3 in September 1954 the station became fully operational.[4]
In the autumn of 1957 RAF Boulmer was designated a Group Control Centre, with responsibility for the RAF Radar Stations at Buchan and Killard Point. By 1958, Boulmer was selected to be upgraded with the installation of the more modern-high powered Type 84 Surveillance radar. This increased the range of detection and was able to penetrate the latest Soviet jamming technology.[4]
In 1971 Border Radar was established at Boulmer: this was a joint military/civil facility providing air traffic control services to co-ordinate civil and military traffic. Although still operational until the late 1980s, the unit closed when all Area Air Traffic Services were centralised between West Drayton and Prestwick.[4]
By 1974 the Station had evolved to become both a Sector Operations Centre (SOC) and Control and Reporting Centre (CRC).[4]
In 1978 RAF Boulmer took on an additional role as a search and rescue station following the closure of RAF Acklington,[2] a role that it fulfilled until 30 September 2015. Initially the station was equipped with Westland Whirlwind helicopters; however, in December 1978 the station was re-equipped with Westland Sea King aircraft.[6]
The next major change came in 1982 when the R3 bunker was vacated and work begun to upgrade it to an R3A. During this period the CRC was relocated to an above ground facility while the work was carried out.[4]
In 1990, Boulmer's links with Air Defence were reinforced by the arrival of the School of Fighter Control from RAF West Drayton. Following an extensive refurbishment the bunker was returned to operations in 1993. However, with the end of the Cold War the CRC was used in a standby role only with the homeland defence task being conducted from RAF Buchan and RAF Neatishead.[4]
Post Cold War
In 1994, No. 1 Air Control Centre (No 1 ACC) reformed at RAF Boulmer, providing the Royal Air Force with deployable fielded air command and control capability.[7]
In 2002, the Station began a major refurbishment of the underground bunker and installation of new equipment as part of the UKADGE Capability Maintenance Programme (UCMP). Valued at £60 million, the first phase of the programme was declared operational at RAF Boulmer on 16 August 2004.[4]
In 2004 RAF Boulmer's newly refurbished NATO Control and Reporting Centre (CRC) took over all air defence functions previously administered by the CRCs at RAF Buchan and RAF Neatishead.[4]
In late July 2004 it was announced that RAF Boulmer would close by 2012, with the majority of its functions transferring to RAF Scampton. The first action taken in response to this announcement was for No 1 ACC to move to RAF Kirton in Lindsey, a former RAF Fighter Command airfield in Lincolnshire. This would bring the Air Command and Control elements of the Air Surveillance and Control System (ASACS) (the new CRC at Scampton) geographically closer to the ISTAR elements such as the E3 Sentry AWACS force at RAF Waddington. No 1 ACC's move to Kirton was completed in early 2005.[4]
On 10 January 2008 it was announced that a study had been conducted into where to locate the elements of the Air Surveillance and Control System (ASACS). The results concluded that the best option in both financial and operational terms is to retain RAF Boulmer as the ASACS hub and as a result the station would stay open beyond 2012.[8]
'A' Flight was one of the three operational flights of No. 202 Squadron RAF and was based at RAF Boulmer, the Sea King HAR.3 helicopter was used, 'A' Flight provided round-the-clock search and rescue cover for a large area, stretching from Fife in the north to Hartlepool in the south and encompassing the Lake District in the west.
On 30 September 2015 'A' Flight of No. 202 Squadron departed RAF Boulmer and the provision of SAR from RAF Boulmer ceased. SAR is now carried out by HM Coastguard through a contract with Bristow Helicopters.[9]
The RAF School of Aerospace Battle Management (SABM), formerly the School of Fighter Control (SFC), was located at RAF Boulmer from 1990 to 2019. The school became part of the Defence College of Air and Space Operations on its creation in April 2016.[10] The SABM played a central part in delivering the training required for Weapons Controllers and Identification Officers of the Air Operations Branch and airmen and airwomen of the Air and Space Operations Specialists (Aerospace Systems) Trade Group. The school relocated to RAF Shawbury in Shropshire in August 2019.[11]
In 2021, Boulmer's Control and Reporting Centre (CRC) was allocated the No. 19 Squadron number plate.[12]
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about RAF Boulmer) |
References
- ↑ "Boulmer (Longhoughton)". Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust. https://www.abct.org.uk/airfields/airfield-finder/boulmer-longhoughton/.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Delve 2006, p. 45.
- ↑ "New camping, campervan and caravanning site set for summer opening on the Northumberland coast". Northumberland Gazette. 20 May 2021. https://www.northumberlandgazette.co.uk/lifestyle/staycation/new-camping-campervan-and-caravanning-site-set-for-summer-opening-on-the-northumberland-coast-3243516.
- ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 "Boulmer Rotor Radar Station". Subterranea Britannica. https://www.subbrit.org.uk/sites/boulmer-rotor-radar-station/.
- ↑ Pine, L G (1983). A dictionary of mottoes. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. p. 208. ISBN 0-7100-9339-X. https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofmott00tion/page/208.
- ↑ "Former Sea King pilot leading campaign to bring RAF Boulmer helicopter back". Chronicle Live. 13 October 2015. https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/former-sea-king-pilot-leading-10243773.
- ↑ "RAF Boulmer". Air of Authority - A History of RAF Organisation. https://www.rafweb.org/Stations/Stations-B.htm.
- ↑ "Closure threat to RAF base lifted". BBC News. 10 January 2008. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/tyne/7180853.stm. Retrieved 5 July 2016.
- ↑ "Sadness as Sea Kings leave RAF Boulmer". The Ambler. 30 September 2015. http://www.theambler.co.uk/2015/09/30/sadness-as-sea-kings-leave-raf-boulmer/. Retrieved 5 July 2016.
- ↑ "A New School for RAF Shawbury". 7 April 2016. https://www.raf.mod.uk/news/archive/a-new-school-for-raf-shawbury-07042016. Retrieved 23 November 2017.
- ↑ Mullen, Group Captain Chris (2019). "Foreword". Aries - the Magazine of RAF Shawbury (Forces & Corporate Publishing) 1: 5. https://www.raf.mod.uk/our-organisation/stations/raf-shawbury/documents/20190207-aries-magazine-ed1/.
- ↑ "Two historic RAF Squadron Numberplates are set to return". https://www.raf.mod.uk/news/articles/two-historic-raf-squadron-numberplates-are-set-to-return/.
- Cannon, Michael (1994). Eavesdropping on the British Military. Cara Press.