RAF Scampton

Royal Air Force Scampton or RAF Scampton (formerly ) is a former Royal Air Force station located adjacent to the A15 road near to the village of Scampton, Lincolnshire, and north of the city of Lincoln, England.

RAF Scampton stood on the site of a First World War Royal Flying Corps landing field, which had been called Brattleby. The station was closed and returned to agriculture following the First World War, and reactivated in the 1930s. It has provided an airfield for fighters in the First World War, bombers during the Second World War and V-force Avro Vulcans during the Cold War.

The station was temporarily closed in 1996, but subsequently re-opened to provide a home for the RAF Aerobatic Team the Red Arrows, and to private companies, temporarily, such as Hawker Hunter Aviation, for the maintenance and storage of aircraft.

In July 2018, the Ministry of Defence announced that Scampton would close and be sold, with all units relocated elsewhere. The station closed on 31 March 2023.

History

First World War

Home Defence Flight Station Brattleby (also known as Brattleby Cliff) was opened on the site of the current RAF Scampton in late 1916. The airfield was bounded to the east by Ermine Street, to the south by Pollyplatt Lane, to the west by Middle Street, and to the north by Aisthorpe House.

Inter-war period

By 1936, the Royal Air Force Expansion Scheme had overseen a period of rapid increases both in terms of new squadrons and the development of new stations.

Second World War

1939–1942

thumb|right|An 83 Squadron Handley Page Hampden and crew, pictured at Scampton, October 1940

At the outbreak of the Second World War, Scampton transferred to No. 5 Group within RAF Bomber Command, playing host to the Hampdens of No. 49 Squadron and No. 83 Squadron. On 3 September 1939, six hours after the declaration of war, RAF Scampton launched the first offensive by the RAF when six Hampdens of No. 83 Squadron, led by (the then) Flying Officer Guy Gibson and three No. 49 Squadron Hampdens, one piloted by Flying Officer Roderick Learoyd, were despatched to conduct a sweep off Wilhelmshaven in Germany. Further operations involving Scampton's squadrons concerned them with the hazardous task of low level minelaying (code named 'Gardening').

For a short time the station was home to the Avro Manchester, operated by No. 49 Squadron and No. 83 Squadron. This was a brief liaison, with the squadrons subsequently converting to the Avro Lancaster. Forming No. 83 Conversion Flight (CF) on 11 April 1942, which in turn was followed by No. 49 CF on 16 May, both squadrons were fully equipped with the Lancaster by the end of June. It was during this period that No. 83 Squadron took delivery of Lancaster Mk.I R5868 which would one day become the Station's gate guardian.

On the night of 16–17 May 1943, No. 617 Squadron despatched nineteen Lancasters from Scampton. Led by Wing Commander Guy Gibson, the main bulk of the squadron attacked the Sorpe, Eder and Möhne dams with an additional aircraft tasked to perform an attack on the Schwelm Dam. Both the Eder and Möhne dams were breached, however eight of the Lancasters despatched failed to return and fifty-three aircrew were lost. Following the raid Wing Commander Gibson was awarded the Victoria Cross, becoming Scampton's third recipient of the award. On the day of the raid, Wing Commander Gibson's dog, Nigger, was run over and killed on the A15 outside the entrance to the base. He was buried later that night, his grave situated outside Gibson's office at No. 3 Hangar.

thumb|left|One of a series of iconic images of the members of 617 Squadron taken at RAF Scampton on 22 July 1943, and featuring (left to right) Wing Commander Guy Gibson; Pilot Officer P.M. Spafford; Flight Lieutenant R. E. G. Hutchinson; Pilot Officer G. A. Deering and Flying Officer H. T. Taerum.

In July 1943, No. 617 Squadron was again involved in a precision operation, when twelve aircraft of the squadron took off from Scampton to attack targets in Northern Italy, following which the aircraft continued on to North Africa. The operation met little opposition but the targets were obscured by valley haze and they were not destroyed. The twelve crews returned to Scampton on 25 July from North Africa after bombing Leghorn docks on the return journey. Later in the month nine aircraft took off from Scampton to drop leaflets on Milan, Bologna, Genoa and Turin in Italy. All aircraft completed the mission and landed safely in Blida, Algeria.

At the end of August 1943, No. 57 Squadron and No. 617 Squadron moved to RAF East Kirkby and RAF Coningsby respectively, so that Scampton's runways could be upgraded. With the increased all up weight of the Lancaster it was apparent that the load bearing of hardened runways would be required. The airfield closed at the end of August 1943 for the work to take place re-opening in October 1944. Three concrete runways were laid out. The three runways available were: 05/23 at , 01/19 at and 11/29 at . A total of eleven loop hard-standings were laid down along the perimeter track to replace those lost or isolated by the construction. The work also saw new bomb stores constructed on land north of the north-west corner of the airfield. The personnel at Scampton at this time was given as 1,844 males and 268 females. On completion of the required work the area of land which the base occupied had now increased to . with a new arrival following the upgrade being No. 1690 Bomber Defence Training Flight (BDTF) which arrived on 13 July 1944. The BDTF operated the Supermarine Spitfire, Hawker Hurricane and Miles Martinet, the flight undertaking fighter affiliation against bombers. This unit stayed at the station until September 1944, when it moved to RAF Metheringham. It was replaced by No. 1687 BDTF, which arrived in early December 1944, and departed for RAF Hemswell in April 1945. Two Lancaster squadrons, No. 153 Squadron, and later No. 625 Squadron, of No. 1 Group also arrived at Scampton.

The last bombing mission of the Second World War launched from RAF Scampton was on 25 April 1945, when aircraft from No. 153 Squadron and No. 625 Squadron were despatched as part of the Bombing of Obersalzberg. During the war RAF Scampton lost a total of 551 aircrew and 266 aircraft.

Cold War

1950s

During this period RAF Scampton was supporting four English Electric Canberra squadrons; No. 10 Squadron, No. 18 Squadron, No. 21 Squadron and No. 27 Squadron. and extended to . This caused the runway to project beyond the north east corner of the base and required the re-routing of Ermine Street (A15), the most noticeable artificial landscape feature in the area and the historic boundary for such elements as parish boundaries and field systems. Trees along the former tree-lined avenue to Hackthorn Park were also removed between the old line of Ermine Street and the end of the runway. The eastward bulge in the A15 road can still be seen north of Lincoln.

thumb|right|Aerial view of RAF Scampton, March 2016. The developments undertaken at the station during the [[Cold War are evident, including the alteration to the course of the A15 (Ermine Street).]]

During the Cold War, the airfield developed its current form, imposing on the landscape in a much more spectacular way. Its extent was no longer bounded by existing field boundaries, but by the shape required for the runway extension. This caused the south-west and north-west corners of the base to jut out from the earlier rectangular plan. Areas of hard standing with associated Operational Readiness Platforms (ORPs) were also provided as were technical buildings. The Unit Storage buildings to the far north of the site were constructed for storage and maintenance of nuclear bombs. Upon the introduction of the Blue Steel stand-off missile, new buildings were constructed just to the north-east of the hangars, to develop, maintain and fuel the missiles. A new control tower was constructed close to these buildings to provide a view of the newly expanded runway.

The work undertaken increased the land area of the station to acres. On completion No. 617 Squadron returned to their former home, re-forming in May 1958. Together with No. 27 Squadron and No. 617 Squadron, who by this time had also taken delivery of the Vulcan, the "Scampton Wing" was formed, the aircraft equipped with the Blue Steel stand-off missile.

On 30 June 1968, Blue Steel operations at Scampton were terminated, as the Royal Navy, with the submarine launched Polaris missile, assumed responsibility for the UK nuclear deterrent. Scampton squadrons were assigned to the tactical nuclear and conventional bombing roles. This led to the disbandment of No. 83 Squadron in August 1969, however in December 1969 No. 230 Operational Conversion Unit moved to RAF Scampton from RAF Finningley.

thumb|right|Avro 698 Vulcan B.2 XH534 of 230 Operational Conversion Unit

Part of the post-war development and upgrading of the station, in common with many other RAF stations at the time, saw the establishment of a primary school for the children of those personnel stationed on the base. Located to the south of the base entrance, and adjacent to the eastern perimeter fence, the current school was built in 1961 and replaced the makeshift schooling which had been provided in the Officer's Mess since 1951. The official opening of the school took place on 24 November 1961, and the first children attended the school in January 1962. The buildings are typical of small primary schools built in the 1960s, with a flat roof, large windows and uniformly one storey high. There are several prefabricated extensions which present an informal building layout.

Individual unit allocations were re-introduced in 1971, and throughout the decade Scampton continued to be home to No. 27 Squadron, No. 617 Squadron and No. 230 Operational Conversion Unit, with No. 35 Squadron joining them from RAF Akrotiri in 1975.

In 1996, Scampton was mothballed under the Front Line First programme, with the CFS moving to RAF Cranwell. The decision was initially taken to close the base completely along with RAF Finningley, this being confirmed by Nicholas Soames MP in a statement to the House of Commons on 25 March 1995. This would end the Red Arrows 12 year residency (1983 to 1995), and began a 6 year period of "Care & Maintenance" inactivity with the base largely unused.

2000s and the second closure

Opposition to the planned closure was strong and a group was formed called "Save our Scampton" (SOS), backed by the Lincolnshire Echo, the County Council and the MP for Gainsborough and Horncastle, Edward Leigh.

The Red Arrows, though, continued to train in the airspace surrounding the airfield (Restricted Zone EG R313) and accommodation at Scampton continued to be used as overflow from RAF Waddington. During this intervening period 110 of the post-war non-commissioned officer married quarters were sold to Welbeck Estate Group who had previously acquired technical and domestic sites at RAF Hemswell, married quarters at RAF Faldingworth and RAF Strike Command Headquarters at RAF Bawtry.

RAF Scampton received the Freedom of Lincoln on 14 May 1993.

21st century

Following concerns over capacity and flight safety at RAF Cranwell, the then current home of the Red Arrows, several other training and flying squadrons and units, the decision was taken to remove RAF Scampton from "Care & Maintenance" status and reopen the base, and initially return the Red Arrows, as well as introduce and relocate over time other functions and units, heightening the importance and presence of this historic base. The great influx in personnel and units into Scampton demanded a degree of upgrades and modernisation to much of the office and domestic housing, but during in-depth investigations a further report by the Defence Estates Organisation was published, citing the original cost estimate had more than doubled to £4.5Bn as a result of the substantial amount of remedial work needed as significant amount of the facilities being unused since the reopening in 2001, and some since the mid 1980s, forcing a halt to the overall scheme.

From January 2001 until early 2023, two years after the UK Ministry of Defence announced that RAF Scampton would permanently close as an RAF base, the Red Arrows were the sole RAF Flying unit stationed there, although a private military aviation contractor, Hawker Hunter Aviation, also shared the airfield. Immediately prior to closure, the Red Arrows relocated to RAF Waddington, and HHA relocated to RAF Leeming.

In 2005 Scampton was again placed under the control of RAF Strike Command, becoming home to the UK Air Surveillance and Control System (ASACS) Control and Reporting Centre (CRC) and Mobile Meteorological Unit (MMU). The No.1 Air Control Centre (No.1 ACC) deployed to Afghanistan in 2006 as part of Operation Herrick, the deployment lasting until 2009. A decision was taken by the then Labour Government that the base would be "downsized", the Red Arrows would move to RAF Waddington by July 2011 and ASACS would also be relocated from the base However the Strategic Defence Spending Review and operations in Libya meant the plan was suspended with the decision put on hold pending a further review in 2011.

In April 2022, the Aviation Medicine Flight, part of the RAF Centre of Aviation Medicine relocated to Scampton from MOD Boscombe Down after retiring their BAE Systems Hawk T1 aircraft. The moves allowed the flight to continue its work using Hawks operated by the Red Arrows.

On 6 September 2022 a fly past of the Red Arrows and Avro Lancaster bomber aircraft took place in anticipation of the closure of the base in December 2022. During October 2022 the Red Arrows left the base for RAF Waddington. The station closed on 31 March 2023. During September 2024, it was announced that the plans have been scrapped.

Role and operations

thumb|right|[[BAe Hawk|Hawks of the Red Arrows pictured on the flight line at RAF Scampton]]

RAF Scampton was home to the Control and Reporting Centre Scampton, and the Mobile Meteorological Unit. The reason for this being that No. 1 Air Control Centre is a No. 1 Group air defence radar unit, with its permanent operations room, Control and Reporting Centre Scampton, providing assistance to the coverage at RAF Boulmer. Operators usually train at the Control and Reporting Centres of Boulmer and Scampton before putting their training into practice at No. 1 ACC or on the Boeing E-3D Sentry.

In 2015, part of the accommodation facilities at Scampton underwent significant refurbishment, particularly those of Gibson Barracks. The improvements consisted of replacement of windows, refurbishment and repair of external concrete areas and provision of new escape stairs. The barracks had lain unused for over twenty years, and as a consequence of the neglect had fallen into a state of disrepair. The building was converted into teaching space in the 1980s, but with the subsequent lack of investment on the station the block was allowed to fall into disuse. Following a re-examination of the viability of the base undertaken following the closure of RAF Kirton in Lindsey and the resulting transfer of personnel, as well as the realisation by English Heritage of the importance of the structure and its association with the Dams Raid, it was decided to convert the block back to residential use. Although the building is not listed, it is situated within a site of significant heritage value due to its links to Operation Chastise. beating not only the previous local record of from a three-day heatwave on 26 July 2019, but also the former national record of , also from July 2019.

The absolute minimum temperature of was recorded on 7 December 2010, during the record-breaking winter of 2010–11 in Great Britain and Ireland. In a year, 48.98 nights register an air frost.

The length of the day varies extremely over the course of the year at Scampton. The shortest day may have 7 hours and 30 minutes of daylight, and the longest as much as 17 hours of daylight. The earliest sunrise is at around 4:30 am in June, and the latest sunrise is at 8:30 am in December. The earliest sunset is at 3:30 pm in December, and the latest is at 9:30 pm in June. Daylight saving time (DST) is observed at Scampton, starting in the spring, lasting about 7 months, and ending in the autumn.

Winters are generally cool with little temperature variation. Heavy snow is rare but snow usually falls at least once each winter. Spring and autumn can be pleasant.

RAF Scampton Victoria Cross recipients

During the station's history, three personnel based at RAF Scampton have been recipients of the Victoria Cross.

Roderick "Babe" Learoyd

125px|Wing Commander. Roderick Alastair Brook Learoyd VC|right

On 12 August 1940, No. 83 Squadron's aircraft were part of a raid against the Dortmund-Ems Canal. Two aircraft had been lost due to anti-aircraft fire prior to Wing Commander Roderick 'Babe' Learoyd making his attack, which would involve an attack at low level. On 15 September 1940 his aircraft was involved in a raid on a target near Antwerp during which the Hampden received a hit in the bomb bay, leading to an explosion and serious fire.

Afterwards he circled very low for 30 minutes, drawing the enemy fire on himself in order to leave as free a run as possible to the following aircraft which were attacking the dam in turn. Wing Commander Gibson then led the remainder of his force to the Eder Dam where, with complete disregard for his own safety, he repeated his tactics and once more drew on himself the enemy fire so that the attack could be successfully developed.

Group Captain Tim L J Bishop (2005–06)
Wing Commander Archie McCallum
Wing Commander Alex Stylianides
Wing Commander Richard D Turner
Wing Commander Michael Harrop (2014–16)
Wing Commander Joanne Campbell (2016–2018)
Wing Commander James Parker (2018–2020)
Group Captain Neill Atkins (2020–2023)

Scampton Airshow

On 19 February 2016, an announcement was made concerning plans for the creation of an airshow to take place at Scampton in 2017.

In the wake of the decision to discontinue with a display at RAF Waddington following the 2014 airshow, there was a high degree of dissatisfaction regarding the announcement.

Following on from the announcement in February 2016 of the station staging an airshow in 2017, it was announced that the Royal Air Force Charitable Trust, organisers of the Royal International Air Tattoo had agreed to organise a new event at Scampton. However, the requirements for the upgrading of the base's infrastructure so as to be able to stage such an event meant that no airshow was able to take place until 2017. The dates for the airshow were confirmed on 10 November, been set for 9–10 September 2017. Aircraft types ranged from a display by a vintage Avro Anson to a modern Typhoon, with visitor numbers in the region of 50,000. Guests of honour at the event were Battle of Britain veteran Terry Clark, and former Scampton resident Johnny Johnson.

The station's motto () is in Latin and translates as "An armed man is not attacked".

1993

A special commemorative BBC television broadcast of Songs of Praise marking the 50th anniversary of Operation Chastise was staged at Scampton in 1993, in which Boeing 747-400 City of Lincoln returned to the base. Presented by Sally Magnusson, the event was attended by 2,500 invited guests, including several veterans of the raid as well as Richard Todd.

2013

Marking the 70th anniversary of the raid in 2013, the BBC again featured a programme from Scampton, hosted by Dan Snow. Attended by Les Munro and "Johnny" Johnson, the telecast featured the Lancaster of the BBMF as well as two Panavia Tornados of No. 617 Squadron.

In addition there was also a broadcast by BBC Radio 2 of The Chris Evans Breakfast Show in which Evans conducted interviews with various station personnel and current members of No. 617 Squadron. Following the show Evans boarded Lancaster PA474 of the BBMF and flew from Scampton to Biggin Hill which was the venue for a special edition of Friday Night is Music Night as part of the commemoration. It was placed on display at the main gate of Scampton in No. 467 Squadron markings in 1960. With the arrival of 83 Squadron at Scampton in October 1960,

Hawk XX306

thumb|left|XX306 during its service lifeThe last gate guardian at Scampton was a former Red Arrows Hawk T.1 XX306. Positioned in front of the Station Headquarters, it was unveiled by the then Station Commander Wing Commander Michael Harrop during a ceremony on 12 October 2015. This project was driven by Lincolnshire County Council. It had been estimated that the total investment required for the complete plan would be £80 million, of that total £40 million would be required to complete the first phase, which concerned two hangars and an exhibition hall.

Exhibitions would focus on the Red Arrows, aviation in the First and Second World Wars, the Cold War as well as Lincolnshire's aviation engineering heritage and the Dambusters Raid.