RAF Henlow is a
Royal Air ForceThe Royal Air Force is the United Kingdom's air force, the oldest independent air force in the world. Formed on 1 April 1918, the RAF has taken a significant role in British military history ever since, playing a large part in World War II and in more recent conflicts.The RAF operates almost 1,109...
station in
BedfordshireBedfordshire is a ceremonial county of historic origin in England that forms part of the East of England region....
,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, equidistant from
BedfordBedford is the county town of Bedfordshire, in the East of England. It is a large town and the administrative centre for the wider Borough of Bedford. According to Bedfordshire County Council's estimates, the town had a population of 79,190 in mid 2005, with 19,720 in the adjacent town of Kempston...
,
LutonLuton is a town and unitary authority of Bedfordshire, England, 32 miles north of London. Luton, along with its near neighbours of Dunstable and Houghton Regis, form the Luton/Dunstable Urban Area with a population of over 230,000.Luton is home to non-league Luton Town Football Club, whose...
and
StevenageStevenage is a town and district in Hertfordshire, England. It is to the east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1, and is between Letchworth Garden City to the north, and Welwyn Garden City to the south....
. It houses the Centre of Aviation Medicine, the RAF Signals museum and the 616 Volunteer Gliding Squadron.
Henlow was chosen as a military aircraft repair depot in 1917. The Officers Engineering School moved there in 1927. During
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
Henlow was used as a repair base.
Hawker HurricaneThe Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd. Some production of the Hurricane was carried out in Canada by the Canada Car and Foundry Co Ltd....
fighters were dismantled there to be shipped to
MaltaMalta , officially the Republic of Malta , is a densely populated developed European country in the European Union. The Southern European island nation is an archipelago that includes the inhabited islands of Malta, Gozo and Comino, along with a number of smaller, uninhabited islands...
.
RAF Henlow is a
Royal Air ForceThe Royal Air Force is the United Kingdom's air force, the oldest independent air force in the world. Formed on 1 April 1918, the RAF has taken a significant role in British military history ever since, playing a large part in World War II and in more recent conflicts.The RAF operates almost 1,109...
station in
BedfordshireBedfordshire is a ceremonial county of historic origin in England that forms part of the East of England region....
,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, equidistant from
BedfordBedford is the county town of Bedfordshire, in the East of England. It is a large town and the administrative centre for the wider Borough of Bedford. According to Bedfordshire County Council's estimates, the town had a population of 79,190 in mid 2005, with 19,720 in the adjacent town of Kempston...
,
LutonLuton is a town and unitary authority of Bedfordshire, England, 32 miles north of London. Luton, along with its near neighbours of Dunstable and Houghton Regis, form the Luton/Dunstable Urban Area with a population of over 230,000.Luton is home to non-league Luton Town Football Club, whose...
and
StevenageStevenage is a town and district in Hertfordshire, England. It is to the east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1, and is between Letchworth Garden City to the north, and Welwyn Garden City to the south....
. It houses the Centre of Aviation Medicine, the RAF Signals museum and the 616 Volunteer Gliding Squadron.
History
Henlow was chosen as a military aircraft repair depot in 1917. The Officers Engineering School moved there in 1927. During
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
Henlow was used as a repair base.
Hawker HurricaneThe Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd. Some production of the Hurricane was carried out in Canada by the Canada Car and Foundry Co Ltd....
fighters were dismantled there to be shipped to
MaltaMalta , officially the Republic of Malta , is a densely populated developed European country in the European Union. The Southern European island nation is an archipelago that includes the inhabited islands of Malta, Gozo and Comino, along with a number of smaller, uninhabited islands...
. After the war Henlow became the RAF Signals Engineering Establishment, but was reduced to a Radio Engineering Unit in 1980.
A major RAF technical training college was also formed at Henlow after World War II and this was amalgamated with RAF College Cranwell in 1965. The RAF Officer Cadet Training Unit then moved in, but this also moved to Cranwell in 1980. In 1983 the
Land RegistryLand Registry is a British Governmental organisation created in 1862. Land Registry is responsible for publicly recording interests in registered land in England and Wales and reports to the Ministry of Justice...
took over part of the site.
Present
Today, RAF Henlow houses the Directorate of Engineering Interoperability (DEI), which is part of the
Defence Communication Services AgencyThe Defence Communication Services Agency was responsible for the delivery of Information and Communication Services across the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence from 1 April 1998 to March/April 2007...
(DCSA) within the
Defence Logistics OrganisationThe Defence Logistics Organisation , was a key element of the UK Ministry of Defence, responsible for supporting the armed forces throughout the various stages of an operation or exercise; from training, deployment, in-theatre training and conduct of operations, through to recovery and recuperation...
. In addition it houses the Joint Arms Control Implementation Group (JACIG), HQ Specialist Police Wing (including the newly-formed Tactical Provost Wing), the RAF Centre for Aviation Medicine (RAF CAM) and No 616
Volunteer Gliding SquadronVolunteer Gliding Squadrons are Royal Air Force flying training units, operating military Viking TX.1 and Vigilant T.1 gliders to train Air Cadets from the Combined Cadet Force and the Air Training Corps....
which operates Vigilant T1 motor gliders. A civilian airstrip and flying school also operate from the site.
Administratively RAF Henlow is now part of a combined base,
RAF Brampton Wyton HenlowRAF Brampton Wyton Henlow is an RAF unit covering 3 distinct sites in Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire. The three sites, separately known as RAF Brampton, RAF Wyton and RAF Henlow, house a number of flying training, intelligence, security and other RAF support organisations.-RAF Brampton:**Joint Air...
.
Facilities
Facilities include a fully fitted gym and swimming pool, small bowling alley and a 9 hole golf course, open to the public.
Operational units
-
- RAF Centre for Aviation Medicine
- Joint Arms Control Implementation Group
- Tactical Provost Wing (TPW)
- No 1 Specialist Police Wing
- No 8 RAF Force Protection Wing HQ
External links