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What's Happening Around and About! RAF DIGBY The Aerial Erector School The Aerial Erector School is to move from RAF Digby and be relocated to RAF St. Athan under changes announced by the Ministry of Defence as part of the current Defence Training Review. The move is expected to be completed by 2017. RAF CRANWELL It was announced by the Ministry of Defence that all aeronautical and communications engineering training currently at RAF Cranwell will move to RAF St.Athan as part of the Defence Training Review. RAF LEEMING
Most of the RAF's Air
Combat Service Support (Communications) Units are now be located at RAF Leeming in
Yorkshire. The Aerial Engineering Flight, No.1 Expeditionary Radar and Airfields
Squadron moved from RAF Sealand in March 2006 where it became part of the Tactical
Communications Wing, 90 Signals Unit. RAF SAXA VORD In a short but solemn ceremony on the 2nd March 2006 amid falling snow, the ensign was lowered for the last time ending the RAF's presence on the island of Unst. The Station Commander, Sqn Ldr Philip Carpenter, stated "It's the end of an era. We shall miss the warmth and generosity of the islanders." RAF SAXA VORD MOTHBALLED. A new tourism centre is to built on the former site of RAF Saxa Vord was announced recently. To be officialy launched in 2008, the facility is claimed to be the first residental natural and cultural heritage centre in the United Kingdom. RAF INNSWORTH
On the 16th June 2005 a
parliamentary statement by the Armed Forces Minister Adam Ingram ended the
speculation over the future of RAF Innsworth the current home of the Headquarters
of the Royal Air Force Personnel and Training Command and the Armed Forces
Personnel Administration Agency. The HQ Allied Rapid Reaction Corps is expected to move into Innsworth when it is withdrawn from Germany sometime between 2009 and 2011. RAF Coltishall The first steps in the closing of RAF Coltshall were taken on March 11th 2005 when two of the resident squadrons, No.16 and No.54 Squadrons were disbanded. Both squadrons which were first formed in the First World War were flying Jaguar Aircraft. The parade was followed by a fly-past and marching off ceremony. The celebrations continued throughout the weekend with static and flying displays and a grand reunion of ex-members of both squadrons. The Squadron Standard of No.54 Squadron was laid-up in Norwich Cathedral on Sunday 13th March. The Squadron Standard of No.16 Squadron was laid-up in St. Omer Cathedral in France on the 20th March. No.16 Squadron was formed at St. Omer on the 10th February 1915 under the command of Major F.V.Holt DSO. Following a series of ceremonies, all operational flying ceased on the 1st April when the Jaguars of No.6 Squadron departed for their new base at RAF Coningsby. The former Battle of Britain station is expected to have closed by December 2006 COLTISHALL CLOSED 30th NOVEMBER 2006
RAF Chia Keng 2 Rx Site from the air. RAF CHIA KENG, SINGAPORE. Many thanks to Brian "Sailor" Luttman for passing on the details of the RAF Chia Keng Receiver Station website run by Derek Lehre in New Zealand. The Website has, with permission from Derek who also supplied the photograph, now been connected to our Links Page.
RAF ST.MAWGAN The Armed Forces Minister Adam Ingram, it
was reported in the RAF News, announced on the 10th March 2005, that RAF ST. Mawgan
is to be "mothballed" by 2007. Currently there is a permanent detachment of
riggers from the ERAS, RAF Sealand based at St. Mawgan to carry out maintenance
and emergency servicing in the South West. All units presently stationed there
will be moved to other bases but the future of No.2625 Squadron RAuxAF is under
review. The Search and Rescue Headquarters, No.203(R) Squadron and its
associated support will move to RAF Valley in North Wales. This unit will be the
last unit at St. Mawgan, leaving by April 2007 at the latest.
RAF
STENIGOT The Aerial Erector
School at RAF Digby is now under the command of the recently formed (joint
services ) Defence College of Communications Information Systems. The Aerial
Erector trade is moving from RAF trade group 5 into the RAF trade group 4, the
new Communications and Information Systems trade group. Stenigot has had a face
lift with the investment of £50,000 into the training facilities at the site.
Brigadier John Terrington opened the new training facilities and Ft.Lt. Grahame
Cooke took over the new training area on behalf of the school. GIBRALTAR The Rigger's establishment on the rock has been reduced by 4 posts, as much of the HF work is being civilianised, and the Middle Hill site has been closed down. R.A.F. SEALAND The
closure of R.A.F. Sealand has now taken place. All the Aerial Erectors
with the Expeditionary Radar and Airfield Squadron have been transfered to 90
Signals Unit
RAF Leeming where they will be joined by the Tactical Communications
Wing from Brize Norton. RAF SEALAND CLOSED R.A.F. Gangodawila, Ceylon A very interesting website run by Tony Cunnane featuring this RAF Receiver Station and much more including extracts from his diaries written during his stay there has been added to the links page. R.A.F. BUCHAN The operations site has now become a Remote Radar Head under the control of Boulmer. All the engineering and operations equipment has been decommissioned or removed. The domestic site has been cleared and the last personnel posted to Boulmer and the site handed over to the Defence Estates for disposal. R.A.F. BAWDSEY,One of the buildings included in the second series of the popular BBC Restoration programme was the Transmitter Block in the grounds of Bawdsey Manor on the Suffolk coast. R.A.F. Bawdsey was the world's first radar station and played a pivotal role in the Battle of Britain. Under the direction of Professor Robert Watson-Watt and his team of scientists, Bawdsey played a major part in the early research of a variety of radars from the late 1930's onwards. Their work was so secret that even today little is known about the story of Bawdsey and its radar boffins. R.A.F.Bawdsey finally closed down in the 1980's and the last of the towers were dismantled in 2000. All that remains on the site are the Transmitter and Receiver Blocks and the underground bunkers surrounded by 13 pillboxes. Unfortunately
Bawdsey did not win 'Restoration' but that does not stop them from saving the
site. Please note that you can now make donations to Bawdsey Radar Group and help
in the project to restore the transmitter block. Donations can be made by cheque,
made payable to: Bawdsey Radar Group. Please send to Mary Wain (Chairman) 1,
Whitehouse Cottage, Gulpher Road, Felixstow, Suffolk, IP11 9RJ.
The Transmitter
Block opening Days for 2008.
Easter Sunday 23rd March
Opening Times: 12-30pm to 4-30pm with last entry at 4-00pm.
SHOUT and whisper Project.
Thanks
to a Heritage Lottery Fund Grant of £47,900 the
memories of people who were part of the development and use of radar at Bawdsey
will be made available to future generations. The reminiscences of people
involved with radar at Bawdsey from the late 1930s to the 1960s will be
captured in video and audio formats and stored in the Suffolk and Essex Record
Office archives and at The National Archive at Kew. Some of the records will be
accessible from the Bawdsey website. This oral history project, titled "Shout
and Whisper", is linked to the
longer term project to restore the Transmitter Block. |
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