RAF Lyneham

RAF Lyneham
"Support - Save - Supply"
IATA: LYE – ICAO: EGDL
Summary
Airport type		Military
Owner		Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)
Operator		Royal Air Force
Location		Lyneham, Wiltshire
Elevation AMSL		513 ft / 156 m
Coordinates		51°30′19″N 001°59′36″W
Map
EGDL Location in Wiltshire
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
	m	ft
06/24	2,386	7,828	Asphalt
18/36	1,826	5,991	Asphalt

RAF Lyneham (IATA: LYE, ICAO: EGDL) is a Royal Air Force station in Wiltshire, England. It was the home of all the Lockheed C-130 Hercules transport aircraft of the Royal Air Force before they were relocated to RAF Brize Norton. The station was also home to No. 38 Expeditionary Air Wing.

RAF Lyneham was the Royal Air Force's principal Transport hub, operating the modern C-130J Hercules, and the aging, but very adaptable, C-130K Hercules. The base was designated as a Master Diversion Airfield. It is one of the primary airfields to which aircraft divert in the eventuality of their home bases being closed due to weather, or other unforeseen events (such as aircraft crashes), having occurred.

RAF Lyneham is also renowned for being the "gateway" between the United Kingdom and Afghanistan; the base was also where repatriation of British personnel killed in Afghanistan takes place. The bodies were transported through the nearby town of Royal Wootton Bassett, with crowds lining the streets to pay tribute to the fallen.

The station is scheduled to close in 2012 with the majority of its personnel and other assets moving to RAF Brize Norton. On 31 May 2011, a parade was held, attended by the Princess Royal to mark the departure of the squadrons. The final Hercules will leave Lyneham on 1 July 2011. Daily flying operations are scheduled to cease from 30 September 2011.

History

The airfield was built in 1939, necessitating the demolition of Lyneham Court manor house, the buildings of Cranley Farm and the village's tennis courts. The airfield itself was initially a grass landing area although the RAF always planned to lay hard runways. Hangars and other buildings were dispersed around the site to avoid creating one large target for an aerial enemy.

Second World War

Aerial view

The station was opened on 18 May 1940 as Number 33 Maintenance Unit, with no ceremony and few personnel. On the first day of operations, the personnel strength was recorded as four officers, one other rank and 15 civilians. Nine vehicles were also recorded, including two tractors, an ambulance and a Crossley fire engine. The station did not have any aircraft however, until the end of the month when a de Havilland Tiger Moth and a Fairey Albacore arrived.

A single enemy aircraft attacked the station on 19 September 1940, dropping an incendiary and two high explosive bombs before strafing part of the airfield. Five civilian workmen were killed.

Lyneham's first runways were constructed during 1940 and 1941, the longest being 4,375 ft (1,334 m), the other 3,542 ft (1,080 m). During the following years these were both extended, and in 1943 the 6,000 ft (1,829 m) north-south runway was opened as well.

On 14 October 1942, 511 squadron was formed from No. 1425 Flight at RAF Lyneham. The squadron continued the work of the flight operating regular transport schedules to Gibraltar using the Consolidated Liberator. To extend the route from Gibraltar to Malta the squadron also operated the Armstrong Whitworth Albemarle. As the Second World War progressed, No. 511 Squadron expanded its long-range transport role and it was the first squadron to operate the Avro York transport (a transport based on the Avro Lancaster). At first the Liberators and Yorks were operated as separate flights, but the Liberator Flight became 246 Squadron in 1944. The squadron continued to fly trooping flights, particularly between the United Kingdom and India until it was disbanded on 7 October 1946.

With the increase in air transport operations in the RAF, as opposed to ferrying, Transport Command was formed in March 1943. Lyneham, in Number 46 Group, was its main base in the south, and as well as sending its own aircraft overseas, acted as the clearance airfield for planning, diplomatic clearance, customs and briefing purposes for transport aeroplanes from other stations flying abroad. It also provided facilities for aircraft being ferried overseas.

Post-war

RAF Lyneham viewed on approach

99 Squadron reformed on 17 November 1945, at RAF Lyneham equipped with the Avro York, it operated as part of the Berlin Airlift. It continued in the role with the Handley Page Hastings then the Bristol Britannia from 1959 to 1976. No. 99 was disbanded in 1976, following the 1974 Defence White Paper. The squadron was reformed in 2002, to operate the RAF's Boeing C-17s from RAF Brize Norton.

On 16 October 1946, 511 squadron was formed again as an Avro York operator. It continued to fly the long-distance routes to India and the Far East until, like a lot of transport squadrons, it became involved in the Berlin Airlift. The squadron then re-equipped with the Handley Page Hastings and in 1957 the squadron moved to join other operators of the Hastings at RAF Colerne. A year later the squadron disbanded when it was re-numbered to 36 Squadron on 1 September 1958.

Station entrance with the de Havilland Comet gate guardian

In 1956, with the arrival of the de Havilland Comet operated by 216 Squadron, the main runway was extended from 6,000 feet to its present length of 7,830 feet. This necessitated the demolition of two hangars on the north side of the airfield, and also the movement of the main gate from the north side to its present position on the south-west of the Station.

From 1958 Lyneham became one of the 18 Stations designated as dispersal airfields for the RAF's nuclear deterrent V bomber Force. A dispersal area and hutted camp were built so that four Avro Vulcan or Handley Page Victor aircraft could operate from a self-contained base within Lyneham.

511 Squadron was formed again at RAF Lyneham on 15 December 1959, as the second squadron to operate the Bristol Britannia on long-range trooping flights. It moved out of RAF Lyneham for RAF Brize Norton in June 1970, as Lyneham became the base for the new Lockheed Hercules. The squadron was disbanded on 6 January 1976, when it was decided to withdraw the Britannia from service.

RAF Hercules in flight

Lyneham's position as the primary tactical transport base for the RAF was emphasised in February 1971 when Nos. 30 and 47 Squadrons were transferred from their old base at RAF Fairford. They were followed in September by No. 48 Squadron from Singapore. This gave a total of five tactical Hercules squadrons at Lyneham, as well as the VIP transport Comet squadron, and in 1976, the station became the largest operational base in the RAF with the arrival from Cyprus of Hercules-equipped No. LXX Squadron, bringing to seven the station's total of resident aircraft squadrons.

In 1992, No. 242 Operational Conversion Unit was renamed No. 57 (Reserve) Squadron, and moved from the old airmen's hutted accommodation into a new building. There has been a continuous programme of building since the mid-eighties to update and replace the original Station buildings, which were not designed or built with such a long life in view in 1939 and the forties.

RAF Lyneham received the first of 25 brand-new Lockheed Martin C-130J Hercules on 23 November 1999, to be operated by Nos. XXIV and 30 Squadrons. The J model aircraft work side by side with the twenty-nine refurbished C-130K Hercules that are flown by No. 47 Squadron. LXX Squadron, 'stood-down' on 8 September 2010, but will reform in 2014 as the first replacement Airbus A400M squadron, to be followed by 47 Squadron.

Future

RAF Lyneham is scheduled for closure by 2012 with functions and aircraft relocating to RAF Brize Norton. The base will remain open until the last of the C-130K fleet is retired. At this point the 24 new generation C-130Js will move to Brize Norton where they will join the Airbus A400M, the Boeing C-17 Globemaster III and the aerial refuelling fleet.

A parade attended by the Princess Royal was held on 31 May 2011, to mark the departure of Nos. 24, 30 and 47 from RAF Lyneham. The Douglas Dakota of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight conducted a flypast.

Units and personnel are currently transferring to Brize Norton, and flying operations from RAF Lyneham will end on 30 September 2011. RAF Lyneham is due to close entirely on 31 December 2012.

It has been announced by the British Defence Secretary Dr Liam Fox in July 2011 that Lyneham will be the new site of the Defence Technical Training Change Programme centre. This coincides with the closure of REME's Technical training establishments at Arborfield Garrison and Bordon Garrison, both of which are due to move to Lyneham by 2015.

Units based at RAF Lyneham

Hangar at RAF Lyneham

Operational units

• Wings
  • No. 38 Expeditionary Air Wing
  • No. 1 Air Mobility Wing
  • Tactical Medical Wing (TMW)

There are no RAF flying squadrons remaining at RAF Lyneham since the final aircraft transferred to RAF Brize Norton on 30th June 2011.

There are also two Royal Air Force Reserve Units based at Lyneham:

• No. 4626 (Aeromedical Evacuation) Squadron RAuxAF
• No. 1359 (Hercules Reservist Aircrew) Flt

The base is also home to No. 1 Air Mobility Wing, formerly known as the United Kingdom Mobile Air Movements Squadron. It is divided into three squadrons, 44 MAMS, 45 MAMS and HQ Squadron. They operate as tactical air movements specialists, providing world wide movements teams to handle RAF Transport Fleet aircraft whenever or where ever required. Collectively they cover Operation Herrick.

47 Air Despatch Sqn Royal Logistic Corps, which operates here is an army unit, part of 13 Air Assault Support Regiment RLC but formerly under 29 Regiment RLC at RAF South Cerney.

No. 38 Expeditionary Air Wing (EAW) was formed at Lyneham on 1 April 2006 encompassing most of the non-formed unit personnel on station. The EAW does not include the flying units at the station or the other formed units i.e. Tactical Medical Wing. The station commander is dual-hatted as the commander of the wing.

Other units

• Air Transport & Air-to-Air Refuelling Operation Evaluation Unit
• Hercules Engineering Development and Investigation Team
• No 4 Force Protection Wing Headquarters (No 4 FPWg HQ)
• No 4626 Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron
• No 612 Air Transportable Surgical Squadron
• 2491 (Lyneham) Squadron, an Air Training Corps squadron, part of the Dorset and Wiltshire Wing. The station is also used for many Air Cadet annual camps.

See also

• List of RAF stations

External links

• Official website
• Airport information for EGDL at World Aero Data. Data current as of October 2006.
• RAF Lyneham Old Boys Association: LOBA
• RAF Movements and Mobile Air Movements Squadrons Association
• UKMAMS Old Bods Association
• Hercules at RAF Lyneham