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"QUY" redirects here. For other uses, see Quy.
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RAF Wyton
Ensign of the Royal Air Force.svg
Near St Ives, Cambridgeshire in England
Entrance to RAF Wyton - geograph.org.uk - 262207.jpg
Canberra PR9 'XH170' which is RAF Wyton's gate guardian
RAF Wyton Badge.jpg
Verum Exquiro
(Latin for 'Seek the Truth')
RAF Wyton is located in Cambridgeshire
RAF Wyton
RAF Wyton
Shown within Cambridgeshire
Coordinates 52°21′26″N 000°06′28″W / 52.35722°N 0.10778°W / 52.35722; -0.10778
Type Royal Air Force station
Site information
Owner Ministry of Defence
Operator Royal Air Force
Controlled by Strategic Command
Condition Operational
Site history
Built 1915 (1915)
In use 1916 – present
Garrison information
Current
commander		 Wing Commander Keith Slack
Occupants
  • Defence Intelligence Fusion Centre
  • 42 Engineer Regiment (Geographic)
  • Defence Infrastructure Organisation
  • Defence Assurance and Information Security
  • Defence Intelligence Estates Rationalisation Team
  • RAF Wyton Area Voluntary Band
Airfield information
Identifiers IATA: QUY, ICAO: EGUY, WMO: 03566
Elevation 40.2 metres (132 ft) AMSL
Runways
Direction Length and surface
08/26 799 metres (2,621 ft) Grass

Royal Air Force Wyton or more simply RAF Wyton (IATA: QUY, ICAO: EGUY) is a Royal Air Force station near St Ives, Cambridgeshire, England. The airfield is decommissioned and is now home to the Joint Forces Intelligence Group.

History

Flying station

Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1939-1941. CH776
A Percival Petrel and Bristol Blenheim Mark IVs of No. 2 Group at Wyton between 1939 and 1941
Aerial travel for Business or Pleasure - Thos Cook & Son - 1919 - pp 16+ (map)
"Map of Air Routes and Landing Places in Great Britain, as temporarily arranged by the Air Ministry for civilian flying", published in 1919, showing "Wyton" as a "military and civil station", and as a stop on the route between Hounslow, near London, and the north.

Wyton has been a military airfield since 1916, when it was used for training by the Royal Flying Corps and then its successor the Royal Air Force (RAF).

The following squadrons were posted to Wyton between 1916 and 1935:

Second World War

During the Second World War it was used primarily as a bomber base, flying Bristol Blenheim, de Havilland Mosquito and Avro Lancaster aircraft. In 1942 it became the home of the Pathfinder Force under the command of Group Captain Don Bennett.

The following squadrons were posted to Wyton between 1935 and 1939:

The following squadrons were posted to Wyton between 1939 and 1945:

  • No. 15 Squadron between 1939 and 1940.
  • No. 15 Squadron for a second time between 1940 and 1942.
  • No. 40 Squadron between 1939 and 1941.
  • No. 57 Squadron between 1940 and 1940.
  • No. 57 Squadron for a second time between 1940 and 1940.
  • No. 83 Squadron for a second time between 1942 and 1944.
  • No. 105 Squadron between 1942 and 1945
  • No. 109 Squadron between 1942 and 1942.
  • No. 109 Squadron for a second time between 1942 and 1943.
  • No. 128 Squadron between 1944 and 1945.
  • No. 139 Squadron for a second time between 1943 and 1944.
  • No. 156 Squadron for a second time between 1945 and 1945.
  • No. 163 Squadron between 1945 and 1945.
Cold War

After the war Wyton became home to the English Electric Canberras of the Strategic Reconnaissance Force. Vickers Valiants arrived for No. 543 Squadron in 1955 and a Handley Page Victor arrived for the Radar Reconnaissance Flight in 1959.

In 1974, three Nimrod R1s belonging to No. 51 Squadron arrived for use in the Elint and Sigint role, and in 1975, the T17 and T17A Canberras of No. 360 Squadron arrived: this was a joint RAF and RN Squadron specialising in Electronic countermeasures training.

The following squadrons were posted to Wyton between 1946 and 2011:

21st century

In the early 1990s one of its pilots was rugby union player Flight Lieutenant Rory Underwood.

During a four-month period in 1989, two squadrons of U.S. Air Force Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II jets were operated out of RAF Wyton while the runway at their base, nearby RAF Alconbury, was resurfaced.

In May 1995 both RAF Wyton and RAF Alconbury airfields were decommissioned and Wyton was formally amalgamated with RAF Brampton, and later with RAF Henlow to make all three locations a single RAF Station under a single station commander for administrative purposes. The airfield continued to host light aircraft for the Cambridge and London University Air Squadrons until they both moved to RAF Wittering in 2015.

2011–present

Following the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review the RAF Brampton Wyton Henlow formation was disbanded: RAF Henlow subsequently became a separate station again and RAF Brampton was demolished.

The Joint Forces Intelligence Group, a unit which is responsible for the collection of signals, geospatial, imagery and measurement and signature intelligence, moved from Feltham in Middlesex to RAF Wyton in 2013. 42 Engineer Regiment relocated from Denison Barracks in Hermitage to RAF Wyton to co-locate with the Joint Forces Intelligence Group in July 2014 and No. 1 Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance Squadron moved from RAF Marham to Wyton in April 2017.

Wyton hangars 2013
Hangars in 2013

Former units

Other units moved (now disbanded)

The following other units were posted to Wyton at some point:

  • No. 1 Photographic Reconnaissance Unit RAF (June 1982 - July 1992)
  • No. 2 Group Communication Flight RAF (January 1940 - May 1943)
  • No. 4 Blind Approach Training Flight RAF became No. 1504 (Beam Approach Training) Flight RAF (December 1940 - August 1942)
  • No. 7 Group Communication Flight RAF (July 1940 - September 1941)
  • 8th Aero Squadron
  • No. 8 Group Communication Flight RAF (August 1942 - October 1945)
  • No. 8 (Pathfinder Force) Group RAF (August 1942 - May 1943)
  • No. 13 Aircraft Modification Unit RAF (March - August 1946)
  • No. 70 (Bomber) Wing RAF
  • No. 231 Operational Conversion Unit RAF (July 1982 - December 1990, May 1991 - April 1993)
  • No. 1323 (Canberra) Flight RAF (October 1953 - November 1955)
  • No. 1409 (Meteorological) Flight RAF (January - July 1945)
  • No. 1499 (Bombing) Gunnery Flight RAF (March - June 1943)
  • No. 1655 Mosquito Training Unit RAF
  • No. 2730 Squadron RAF Regiment
  • No. 2763 Squadron RAF Regiment
  • No. 2781 Squadron RAF Regiment
  • No. 2844 Squadron RAF Regiment
  • Canberra Air Race Flight RAF (June - October 1953)
  • Canberra Standardisation and Training Flight RAF (December 1990 - May 1991)
  • Electronic Warfare Division RAF became Electronic Warfare Detachment RAF (Unknown - December 1994)
  • Electronic Warfare Engineering and Training Unit RAF (-1976) became Electronic Warfare and Avionics Unit RAF (1976-1993)
  • Electronic Warfare Operational Support Establishment RAF (1983-1995) becoming part of Air Warfare Centre 1993
  • Equipment Support (Air) Group RAF (November 1999 - unknown)
  • Ground Controlled Approach Operators School RAF (March 1952)
  • Logistics Command RAF (April 1995 - April 2000)
  • Radar Reconnaissance Flight RAF (October 1955 - September 1961)
  • Cambridgeshire Police Air Operations Unit

Currently operational units moved

On 25 March 2013 it was decided to relocate the following flying units from Wyton due to the high maintenance costs of the airfield.

  • 57(R) Squadron relocated to RAF Cranwell in Summer 2013.
  • Cambridge University Air Squadron relocated to RAF Wittering in mid-2014.
  • University of London Air Squadron relocated to RAF Wittering in mid-2014.
  • 5 Air Experience Flight also relocated to RAF Wittering in mid-2014.

Based units

Notable units based at RAF Wyton.

See also

  • List of Royal Air Force stations
  • RAF Wyton Area Voluntary Band
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