RAF Leeming

RAF Leeming
Near Leeming, North Yorkshire in England
A BAE Hawk of No. 100 Squadron
Straight and True[1]
RAF Leeming
Shown within North Yorkshire
Coordinates 54°17′33″N 001°32′08″W / 54.29250°N 1.53556°W / 54.29250; -1.53556Coordinates: 54°17′33″N 001°32′08″W / 54.29250°N 1.53556°W / 54.29250; -1.53556
Type Royal Air Force station
Site information
Owner Ministry of Defence
Operator Royal Air Force
Controlled by No. 1 Group (Air Combat)
Website www.raf.mod.uk/rafleeming/
Site history
Built 1939 (1939)
In use 1940–Present
Garrison information
Current
commander		 Group Captain David Arthurton
Occupants
Airfield information
Identifiers ICAO: EGXE, WMO: 03257
Elevation 40.5 metres (133 ft) AMSL
Runways
Direction Length and surface
16/34 2,290 metres (7,513 ft) Asphalt
Source: RAF Leeming Defence Aerodrome Manual[2]

Royal Air Force Leeming or RAF Leeming is a Royal Air Force station located near Leeming, North Yorkshire, England. It was opened in 1940 and was jointly used by the RAF and the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). Between 1950 and 1991, it operated mostly as a training base with Quick Reaction Force (QRF) 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 (90 Signals Unit) and the home of No. 135 Expeditionary Air Wing.

HRH The Duchess of Cornwall is the Honorary Air Commodore of RAF Leeming.

History

1940s

This Stirling, N3641/MG-D, seen being prepared for a flight, was the second Stirling to be delivered to No. 7 Squadron at Leeming and took part in their first raid over Rotterdam on the night of 10–11 February 1941.

The station opened in 1940 as a bomber station during the Second World War. In 1943 the station was assigned to No. 6 Group Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) with a sub-station at RAF Skipton-on-Swale. The main aircraft operated were Whitley, Stirling, Halifax and Lancaster bombers.

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.[3]

1950–1990

Following the war, the station became a night-fighter base, equipped initially with Mosquito and then Meteor and Javelin aircraft before becoming a Training Command airfield in 1961. The station was then home to No. 3 Flying Training School, equipped with the Jet Provost aircraft.[11]

There were also several other units using the airfield during the same period, these were:

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.[12]

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 F3s. Initially it hosted Nos 11(F), 23, and 25(F)(XXV) 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 2 squadrons. It was reformed at RAF Waddington in 1996 flying the Sentry E3D. This left two Tornado squadrons, which were half of the air defence fighter squadrons of the RAF. 11 Squadron was disbanded in October 2005, but it re-formed at RAF Coningsby on 29 March 2007 flying the Eurofighter Typhoon F2. The last Tornado squadron at Leeming (No 25(F) Squadron) disbanded on 4 April 2008.

The only remaining jets are the BAe Hawks of 100 Squadron which arrived in 1995 and provide an air combat training service as well as support to the Joint Forward Air Controller Training and Standards Unit(JFACTSU).[13]

Leeming then began operating as a Forward Operating Base and as a Fast Jet Turnround facility. The remaining air defence bases are RAF Leuchars in Fife, Scotland which exchanged its Tornado F3s for Typhoons, and since June 2007 RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire which is home to Typhoon F2s. Coningsby took over from Leeming as England's main air defence base in April 2008 when 3 Sqn became fully operational. (RAF Leuchars would go on to disband its Tornado Squadrons in 2009 and was handed over to the Army in 2015). Leeming is also home to No 11 Air Experience Flight and Northumbrian Universities Air Squadron, with four Grob Tutor aircraft stationed there.[14]

The future of RAF Leeming following the disbandment of its remaining Tornado squadron was not clear for a period. Under plans by the UK Ministry of Defence, Air Combat Service Support units of 2 Group along with personnel from RAF Boulmer and other stations, who had been highlighted for a possible move to RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire, were instead relocated to Leeming, due to problems with accommodation at Scampton.

RAF Leeming saw substantial redevelopment as a communications hub, with 90 Signals Unit being the resident unit.

Currently two flying squadrons remain, 100 Squadron and the Northumbrian Universities Air Squadron, and there are no plans to disband or move either of these squadrons.

No. 135 Expeditionary Air Wing (EAW) was formed at the station on 1 April 2006 and encompasses most of the non-formed unit personnel. The EAW does not include the flying squadrons or any other formed units. The station commander at RAF Leeming is also the commander of the wing.

The following squadrons used RAF Leeming during the same timespan:

A Tornado F3 aircraft now stands as a gate guardian outside the main gate of RAF Leeming in North Yorkshire

The station's air traffic control unit was named the best in the Royal Air Force in February 2012, winning the Raytheon Falconer Trophy.[15]

Leeming's gate guardian is now a Tornado F3,[16] commemorating its history as an air defence base, and the fact that many Tornados were scrapped/Reduced To Produce here.[17] 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.[18] In December 2014 it was announced that Gloucestershire Jet Age Museum had won the tender and purchased the aircraft.[19]

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 new 607 Squadron will be a General Service Support (GSS) unit with many diverse roles such as chef, driver, intelligence analyst and suppliers.[20].

Following the MOD announcement in July 2018 that RAF Scampton is to closed and sold off in 2022, speculation is that the RAF Red Arrows display team, based at Scampton, could reallocate to RAF Leeming due to the suitability of base for training and operations, with similar Hawk fast jet training already established there.[21]

Based units

Flying and notable non-flying units based at RAF Leeming.[22]

Royal Air Force

No. 1 Group (Air Combat) RAF

No. 2 Group (Air Combat Support) RAF

No. 22 Group (Training) RAF

No. 38 Group (Air Combat Service Support) RAF

The deployable elements of the station structure form the core of an Expeditionary Air Wing, No. 135 Expeditionary Air Wing. For Exercise 'Griffin Strike 2016' in April 2016, No. 135 EAW became the combined French-British No. 135 Combined Expeditionary Air Wing.[23]

Reduce to Produce

RAF Leeming has been host to a reverse assembly line process (Reduce to Produce (RTP)) whereby redundant Tornado aircraft are 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 will end with the loss of 245 British Aerospace jobs between RAF Leeming and RAF Marham. BAE Systems are undertaking the RTP process.[24][25][26]

Station units

  • Base Support Wing
    • Administrative Squadron
    • Plans and Business Squadron
    • Finance Department
    • Forward Support Wing
      • Forward Support Sqn
      • Logistics Sqn
    • Operations Wing
      • Operations Squadron
      • Air Movements Squadron
      • Airfield Support Squadron

Accidents and incidents

  • 21 February 1944 – a RCAF Halifax, LV836, of No. 427 Sqn crashed into farmland at Romanby, creating a fireball and killing all seven crew on impact. The aircraft had left RAF Leeming nine minutes earlier, at 00:15, on a bombing mission to Stuttgart. On 10 March 2010 a memorial to the crew was unveiled at the crash site, which is now part of Romanby Golf & Country Club.[27][28][29]
  • 13 August 1951 – two aircraft from RAF Leeming collided over Hudswell, near to Richmond, North Yorkshire. A cadet in the No. 228 Operational Conversion Unit Wellington aircraft was given the only serviceable parachute by Flight Lieutenant John Quinton, shown how to operate it and ordered to bale out. The other eight crew members of both aircraft died when their aircraft hit the ground.[30]
  • 22 October 1999 – a 100 Sqn Hawk struck a bridge and crashed into an unoccupied building near the village of Shap, killing the pilot and navigator. The RAF Board of Inquiry suggested that aircrew fatigue may have contributed to the accident. A jury returned a verdict of accidental death.[31]
  • 28 January 2016 – during a training sortie, the pilot of a 100 Sqn Hawk experienced partial loss of vision. The base commander considered instructing the pilot to eject over the North Sea, but instead scrambled another Hawk, flown by an instructor. The two aircraft flew in formation to Leeming, and conducted a successful talk down landing.[32]

References

Citations

  1. ↑ Pine, L.G. (1983). A dictionary of mottoes (1 ed.). London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. p. 222. ISBN 0-7100-9339-X.
  2. ↑ "RAF Leeming Defence Aerodrome Manual (DAM)" (PDF). RAF Leeming. Military Aviation Authority. 13 February 2017. Retrieved 24 August 2017.
  3. ↑ Jefford 1988, p. 72.
  4. ↑ Jefford 1988, p. 27.
  5. ↑ Jefford 1988, p. 26.
  6. ↑ Jefford 1988, p. 54.
  7. ↑ Jefford 1988, p. 37.
  8. ↑ Jefford 1988, p. 48.
  9. ↑ Jefford 1988, p. 90.
  10. 1 2 3 Jefford 1988, p. 91.
  11. ↑ History of Airfield from RAF Leeming Noise Insulation Grant Scheme survey report
  12. ↑ Delve, Ken (2006). Northern England : Co. Durham, Cumbria, Isle of Man, Lancashire, Merseyside, Manchester, Northumberland, Tyne & Wear, Yorkshire. Ramsbury: Crowood. p. 170. ISBN 1-86126-809-2.
  13. ↑ http://www.raf.mod.uk/rafleeming/aboutus/jfactsuhome.cfm
  14. ↑ Coupland, Peter (1997). Straight and True (1 ed.). Barnsley: Pen & Sword. p. 82. ISBN 9781473818644.
  15. ↑ "Leeming's Air Traffic Control Squadron named best in RAF". Ministry of Defence. 27 February 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2012.
  16. ↑ Foster, Mark (11 June 2015). "Fighter jet on permanent sentry duty". The Northern Echo. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
  17. ↑ http://www.urbanghostsmedia.com/2013/09/reduced-to-produce-the-end-of-the-rafs-tornado-f3-interceptor-force/
  18. ↑ "SALE OF QTY 1 GLOSTER JAVELIN FAW 4 AIRCRAFT" (PDF). Ministry of Defence. 1 September 2014. Retrieved 20 January 2015.
  19. ↑ "BBC News – Gloucestershire Jet Age Museum buys Gloster Javelin". BBC Online. Retrieved 20 January 2015.
  20. ↑ "RAF 607 County of Durham". raf.mod.uk. Retrieved 23 February 2016.
  21. ↑ Grace Newton (25 July 2018). "Here's why this RAF base in Yorkshire could be the new home of the Red Arrows". The Yorkshire Post.
  22. ↑ "RAF Leeming - Who's Based Here?". Royal Air Force. Retrieved 14 July 2018.
  23. ↑ "Royal Air Force - News by Date". www.raf.mod.uk. Retrieved 1 February 2018.
  24. ↑ "Nearly 2,000 jobs at risk as BAE Systems adjusts to declining workload The Engineer". www.theengineer.co.uk. Retrieved 22 October 2017.
  25. ↑ "RAF Leeming RTP « News « Fast Air Photography". www.fast-air.co.uk. Retrieved 22 October 2017.
  26. ↑ Flanagan, Emily (13 October 2017). "Jobs lost as BAE plans shake-up". Darlington and Stockton Times (41–2017). p. 5. ISSN 2040-3933.
  27. ↑ "Memorial tribute to Halifax bomber crew unveiled at RAF Leeming". www.yorkpress.co.uk. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
  28. ↑ "LEEMING MEMORIAL – ROMANBY GOLF COURSE – HALIFAX LV836". 427 Squadron Association. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
  29. ↑ "Air Crew Fallen Remembered at Memorial Unveiling". www.raf.mod.uk/. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
  30. ↑ "Wellington PG367". www.yorkshire-aircraft.co.uk. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
  31. ↑ "Fatal RAF jet crash linked to 'excessive' workload of pilot". www.independent.co.uk. Retrieved 26 August 2017.
  32. ↑ "'Blind' RAF pilot saved by wingman who talked him down". www.telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 26 August 2017.

Bibliography

  • Coupland, Peter. Straight and True: A History of Royal Air Force Leeming. London: Leo Cooper, 1997. ISBN 0-85052-569-1.
  • Jefford, C.G, MBE,BA,RAF (Retd). RAF Squadrons, a Comprehensive Record of the Movement and Equipment of all RAF Squadrons and their Antecedents since 1912. Shrewsbury, Shropshire, UK: Airlife Publishing, 1988. ISBN 1-84037-141-2.
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