RAF Holbeach

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RAF Holbeach / Holbeach Air Weapons Range
Ensign of the Royal Air Force.svg
Royal Air Force Holbeach
Near Gedney Drove End, Sutton Bridge, Long Sutton and Holbeach in England
RAF Holbeach Range Control Tower
RAF Holbeach Bombing Range Control Tower
RAF Holbeach is located in Lincolnshire
RAF Holbeach
RAF Holbeach
Location of RAF Holbeach Bombing Range within Lincolnshire
Coordinates52°51′17.42″N 0°10′14.71″E / 52.8548389°N 0.1707528°E / 52.8548389; 0.1707528Coordinates: 52°51′17.42″N 0°10′14.71″E / 52.8548389°N 0.1707528°E / 52.8548389; 0.1707528
TypeBombing range
Area3,875 hectares (3,875 ha; 14.96 sq mi)
Site information
OwnerMinistry of Defence (United Kingdom)
OperatorDefence Infrastructure Organisation East
Controlled by Royal Air Force
Open to
the public		Yes (Public footpath only)
Site history
Built1926 (1926)
Built byThe En-Tout-Cas Co. (Syston) Ltd., (Aviation Dept.) of Leicester
In use1926–present ()
Garrison information
Current
commander		WO2 (retired) John Boisson,[1] the range Training Safety Officer (TSO)
OccupantsRAF ATC (TG7 & TG9) NCCs and contracted civilian staff from Landmarc Solutions
Airfield information
IdentifiersICAO: EGYH
Elevation5 metres (16 ft) AMSL

RAF Holbeach also Holbeach Air Weapons Range,[2][3] is a United Kingdom Ministry of Defence academic air weapons range (AWR) situated between Boston and King's Lynn in the civil parish of Gedney on The Wash, in Lincolnshire, eastern England. Most of the range, including the control tower and four observation towers (Quadrants)[4] are in the parish hamlets of Dawsmere and Gedney Drove End, but it does overlap with Holbeach to the west. On UK Civil Aviation Authority issued aeronautical charts the military Danger Area is found marked and identified by the code WRDA D207/II[5] or the ICAO code EG D207 (Weapons Range Danger Area or United Kingdom Danger - 207), the danger altitude is usually up to twenty-three thousand feet AMSL.

History[]

The remote range opened in 1926 as an air gunnery range attached to and established by Royal Air Force Practice Camp Sutton Bridge (later named RAF Sutton Bridge).[6][7][8][9] Use of the range began on 27 September 1926, with biplanes firing and dropping bombs over the area formally known as "Holbeach Air Gunnery and Bombing Range",[8][9] and colloquially simply as Holbeach Marsh Range.[7]

During the late 1950s, when RAF Sutton Bridge was reduced to a care and maintenance role, the coastal marshland air gunnery range was renamed to RAF Holbeach Bombing Range and it became later parented to RAF Marham as an Air Weapons Range (AWR) within RAF Strike Command. On 1 April 2006 control was transferred to the Ministry of Defence—Defence Training Estate East (DTE East), located at West Tofts Camp in West Tofts near Thetford in Norfolk; now renamed Defence Infrastructure Organisation East (DIO East).[2]

DIO are responsible for operational support—planning, building, maintaining and servicing the infrastructure, the RAF are responsible for safe practice on the Range. The Range is administered at a local level by the DIO Training Safety Officer (TSO), who has an office at the Range. RAF air traffic control personnel staff the Weapons Range Control Tower supported by civilian range staff outsourced to Landmarc Solutions.[4]

Facilities[]

Extending over an area of 3,875 hectares, which includes 3,100 hectares of intertidal mudflats and 775 hectares of salt marsh,[2] the air weapons range provides facilities for RAF and NATO-allied aircraft to practise dropping bombs and firing their aircraft weapons, including pre-deployment training.[3] Since 1993 this has included night bombing and helicopter operations.[2] The range training facilities are not only used by air force squadrons stationed in the United Kingdom but occasionally also fly over directly from airbases located throughout Europe. An array of static range targets, 8 in total,[2] include several retired merchant ships which have been beached on the sands of The Wash for this purpose. Observation towers (Quadrants) parallel to the target line are manned and allow the fall of aircraft ordnance to be calculated for accuracy by means of triangulation.[4] The range includes a helicopter landing pad near the main control tower and since 2010 a new range headquarters building.[3]

Past activity[]

In the past Holbeach Air Gunnery Bombing Range has served the intense activity of many types of British and foreign military aircraft using its target training range facilities. For example, from now historical propeller biplane types such as the Armstrong Whitworth Siskin, Hawker Woodcock, Gloster Grebe, Gloster Gamecock, Fairey III, Fairey Flycatcher, Bristol Bulldog, Hawker Fury and Gloster Gauntlet.[10] Then the Bristol Blenheim, Fairey Battle, Hawker Hurricane, Supermarine Spitfire, de Havilland Mosquito, Westland Lysander, North American P-51 Mustang and Grumman Avenger, to now decommissioned succeeding jet aircraft types such as the Gloster Meteor, English Electric Canberra, de Havilland Venom, Hawker Hunter, USAF F-100D Super Sabre, Blackburn Buccaneer, McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II, USAF General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark, Harrier Jump Jet, SEPECAT Jaguar and Panavia Tornado, to name a few. Including, the still in service USAF F-16 Fighting Falcon, USAF B-1 Lancer, USAF B-2 Spirit,[11] IAF Sukhoi Su-35, USAF HH-60G Pave Hawk (from 56th Rescue Squadron) and USAF A-10 Thunderbolt.[4]

Present activity[]

At the present time current aircraft types such as the Eurofighter Typhoon, F-35B Lightning II (No. 617 Squadron RAF), USAF F-15 Eagle/F-15E Strike Eagle (from 48th Fighter Wing), Hawk Trainer[12] and AgustaWestland Apache AH1 helicopters can be seen operating on the range at various times of the day, including on occasions USAF CV-22B Osprey (from 7th Special Operations Squadron), Boeing Chinook, AgustaWestland AW159 Wildcat, Merlin and Puma HC helicopters.[2][13] The range also hosts frequent Forward Air Control (FAC) or Joint Terminal Attack Controller (JTAC) exercises.[4]

Strafing target courts[]

USAF F-15E aircraft seen over the range discharging flares

RAF Holbeach also has facilities (strafing courts) for scoring aircraft strafing runs (aircraft firing runs on ground targets) using acoustic sensor scoring systems.[4] The ground strafing targets consist of several four-metre square nets, each with an orange centred square bullseye. The Acoustic Air Weapons Scoring System (AWSS) which is located beneath a protection berm focus on the target screen and run at high speed, catching the supersonic profile of the incoming projectile, and triangulating its position concurrent with counting the event. The AWSS sensor modes can display rounds per minute results and the location of the strafe projectiles in the target area. The angle of attack and the horizontal approach angle are also calculated. This result is transmitted to the control tower, where it is displayed to the Air Traffic Controller for relaying to the pilot. The range also has semi-automatic bomb and rocket scoring systems.[4]

Heraldic badge[]

The station's RAF heraldic badge features a vertical sword through a crown. The circular frame coloured with RAF blue reads 'Royal Air Force Station Holbeach' and the motto is Defend and Strike.[14]

Miscellaneous[]

The UK Ministry of Defence currently uses five Air Weapons Ranges for essential military operational training: RAF Holbeach and RAF Donna Nook in Lincolnshire (England), RAF Pembrey in Carmarthenshire (Wales), RAF Tain in Rossshire and Cape Wrath in Sutherland (Scotland). A former air weapons range RAF Wainfleet in Lincolnshire was decommissioned in 2009, it had been in use since 1890 for artillery training by the 1st Lincolnshire Artillery Volunteers.[2]

References[]

  1. ^ Beake, Jenny (2021). "Sutton Bridge RAF memorial service". King's Lynn: Lynn News. Retrieved 8 December 2021. Photo caption: RAF memorial service at Sutton Bridge....Commander John Boisson RAF Holbeach. Photo No's: (50928542) & (50928543)
  2. ^ a b c d e f g "Defence Training Estates East, Public Information Leaflet, Air Weapons Range RAF Holbeach" (PDF).
  3. ^ a b c "New HQ for Lincolnshire air weapons range". GOV.UK.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g "Planes, bombs and weather reporting…..it's all in a day's work for RAF veteran Leroy Blake". Tilshead, Wiltshire: Landmarc Solutions. Retrieved 22 September 2021.
  5. ^ Map code as on aeronautical map issued by the UK Civil Aviation Authority, printed by Ordnance Survey, print date 1987.
  6. ^ The official naming used and found in official Air Ministry notices, the London Gazette and other publications is "R.A.F. Practice Camp Sutton Bridge". One example publication: "Air Ministry Announcements The Royal Air Force, Royal Air Force Intelligence, Appointments, I.W.C. Mackenzie to "R.A.F. Practice Camp, Sutton Bridge"". Flight. 24 May 1928. p. 394.
  7. ^ a b Airfield Focus 65: Sutton Bridge, Alastair Goodrum, 1997, ISBN 9781904514152
  8. ^ a b "GOV.UK Publications, Ministry of Defence: Holbeach Air Gunnery and Bombing Range Bylaws; Statutory Rules and Orders 1939 No. 1608" (PDF).
  9. ^ a b "GOV.UK Publications, Ministry of Defence: Holbeach Air Gunnery and Bombing Range Bylaws; Statutory Rules and Orders No. 311 of 1935" (PDF).
  10. ^ Publication: FLIGHT, 26 May 1938, Page 516, "A pair of Gloster Gauntlet single-seaters over the ranges at No. 3 Armament Training Station, Sutton Bridge"
  11. ^ Newdick, Thomas (20 July 2017). "AFGSC IN THE UK". Stamford, Lincolnshire: Key Publishing Ltd. Retrieved 23 September 2021.
  12. ^ "Video Footage: July 2013 - showing aircraft Tornado GR4 and Hawk Trainer aircraft practising at RAF Holbeach Bombing Range".
  13. ^ "Video Footage: March 2013 - F-15Es, Apache & Tornado aircraft practising over RAF Holbeach Bombing Range".
  14. ^ "RAF Holbeach". RAF Lincolnshire.info. Retrieved 24 November 2021.

External links[]

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