Royal Air Force Fairford or more simply RAF Fairford (IATA: FFD, ICAO: EGVA) is a Royal Air Force (RAF) station in Gloucestershire, United Kingdom. While being an RAF station, Fairford hosts United States Air Force personnel. Since 2019, the base has played host to a Lockheed U-2S Dragon Lady detachment from the 99th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron. It is the USAF's only European airfield for heavy bombers and routinely supports Bomber Task Force operations. Its most prominent use in recent decades has been as an airfield for United States Air Force B-52s during the first Gulf War in 1991, the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999, the 2003 Iraq War, and the 2026 Iran war.
RAF Fairford was the only TransOceanic Abort Landing site for NASA's Space Shuttle in the UK. Its runway is sufficiently long for a shuttle landing (3,045 m (9,990 ft)), and it also had NASA-trained fire and medical crews stationed on the airfield. The runway is rated with an unrestricted load-bearing capacity, meaning that it can support any aircraft with any type of load.
RAF Fairford is also the home of the Royal International Air Tattoo, an annual air display, which is one of the largest airshows in the world, with the 2003 show recognised by Guinness World Records as the largest military airshow ever, with an attendance of 535 aircraft.
Contents
History
Second World War
Construction started in 1943 as part of a programme to open 14 airfields in southern England to be used by British and American troop-carrier transports and gliders. The station opened on 18 January 1944. Initially intended to be operated by the United States forces, the first occupants arrived on 18 March when the RAF's No.620 Squadron equipped with the Short Stirling Mk.IV moved from RAF Leicester East, soon to be accompanied on 25 March by No. 190 Squadron also operating the Stirling. The aircraft were used for airborne forces operations, performing parachute drops of troops and supplies and towing Airspeed Horsa assault gliders. Troop carriers and gliders from Fairford were used for the D-Day invasion of Normandy. The RAF used it to lift British troops for Operation Market Garden.
These units were also based here at some point:
Cold War
In the early years of the Cold War, the British and American governments reached an agreement under which elements of the USAF Strategic Air Command (SAC) would be based in the UK. Bases had already been established in East Anglia, at RAF Mildenhall and RAF Lakenheath, but they were considered to be vulnerable to bomber attack and airfields further behind the RAF fighter defences were sought. Four RAF airfields were selected to receive SAC units: RAF Brize Norton, RAF Fairford, RAF Greenham Common, and RAF Upper Heyford. In 1948, the Americans occupied RAF stations including Fairford, Brize Norton, Burtonwood, Greenham Common, Mildenhall, Lakenheath, and Woodbridge to build up a deterrent in Europe against the Soviets.
RAF Lyneham's position as the primary tactical transport base for the RAF was emphasised in February 1971 when Nos. 30 and 47 Squadrons were transferred from their old base at RAF Fairford. In 1965, RAF Fairford was the first home base of the RAF Aerobatic Team The Red Arrows.
In 1950, as a result of the beginning of the Cold War, the airfield was transferred to the United States Air Force for strategic bomber operations. A 10,000-foot (3,000 m) runway was constructed for long-range bomber operations.
The runway was completed in 1953 and served as a forward airbase for the first Convair B-36 Peacemaker aircraft from Carswell Air Force Base, Texas. The airfield later received B-47s, which were maintained at a heightened state of alert because of increased tensions with the Soviet Union.
Due to its long runway, Fairford was chosen in 1969 as the British test centre for the Concorde aircraft until 1977.
The USAF returned with Boeing KC-135 Stratotankers deployed on rotation from the many KC-135 bases in the USA. On 15 November 1978 the 11th Strategic Group (11 SG) was activated at RAF Fairford. It was not manned until the following February and used KC-135 aircraft and crews from SAC, Air National Guard, and USAF Reserve units until the 11 SG received its own aircraft in September 1979. It soon began aerial refueling support for all USAF operations, deployments, and redeployments, as well as participating in NATO exercises.
21st century
In the 2003 Iraq War, Operation Iraqi Freedom included B-52s based at Minot AFB, but flying from Fairford. In recent years, the airfield has been occasionally used by American B-2 Spirit stealth bombers and is frequently visited by U-2 aircraft.
Due to the deteriorating airfield facilities and its unique NATO heavy bomber mission, RAF Fairford underwent a $100 million upgrade of its runway and fuel systems in the largest NATO-funded airfield construction project within a NATO country since the end of the Cold War. This work lasted from May 2000 through May 2002. Additional improvements continued until 2008, including the construction of two climate-controlled hangars for B-2 stealth bombers and a low-observability maintenance dock.
On 14 January 2004, the 420th Air Base Group (420 ABG) was established at RAF Fairford to improve the control of its geographically separated units (GSUs) that had been aligned beneath the 100th Air Refueling Wing at RAF Mildenhall. These units are assigned to airfields at RAF Fairford, RAF Croughton, RAF Alconbury, and RAF Molesworth. The 420 ABG reported directly to Third Air Force until 26 May 2004, when the 38th Combat Support Wing (38 CSW) was established at Sembach Annex, Germany.
The construction of two climate-controlled hangars was completed in December 2004. At a cost of £12.2 million ($19 million), the hangars were designed to accommodate the B-2A Spirit and allow for maintenance of its specialist low-observable coating.
On 12 May 2005, USAFE activated the 501st Combat Support Wing, with headquarters at RAF Alconbury, to provide support to its GSUs in the UK.
In 2010, USAF withdrew all its uniformed staff from the station by September 2010, leaving a civilian operating unit to maintain the base on a "care and maintenance" basis. The base remains a designated standby airfield for heavy bomber operations, though, capable of immediate reactivation within 24–48 hours, and it continues to host the Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT) every July.
In September 2014, Fairford was used as the staging base for US President Barack Obama's trip to the NATO conference held in Newport, Wales. VC-25A "Air Force 1" (AF1) aircraft carrying the President and his entourage and support aircraft arrived on 3 September, the US Secretary of State John Kerry also arrived in his own USAF C-32 aircraft. Air Force One with President Obama departed for Washington 5 September after an impromptu visit to Stonehenge on his way from Newport back to RAF Fairford.
Role and operations
Ownership and administration
RAF Fairford is owned by the British Ministry of Defence. Although designated as an RAF station, it is made available to the US Department of Defense under the 1951 NATO Status of Forces Agreement and other arrangements. The use of the station for combat operations is a joint decision between the British and US governments.
Security
Security outside the perimeter of the station is the responsibility of the Ministry of Defence Police, whereas security within the station is provided by the US Visiting Forces.
On 1 April 2006, RAF Fairford was designated as a protected site for the purposes of Section 128 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005. The effect of the act was to make a person trespassing into the station a specific criminal offence.
Operations
RAF Fairford is a forward operating location made available to the United States by the UK government. It is the only such location in Europe and is predominately used by USAF deployments of the B-1B Lancer, B-2A Spirit, and B-52H Stratofortress aircraft taking part in Air Force Global Strike Command's bomber task force missions.
Since September 2019, Fairford has hosted a detachment of Lockheed U-2S Dragon Lady reconnaissance aircraft, operated by the 99th ERS.
Base and mission support is provided by the 420th Air Base Squadron, a GSU of the 501st Combat Support Wing (headquartered at Fairford), based at RAF Alconbury in Cambridgeshire.
Based units
Notable units based at RAF Fairford:
United States Air Force
United States Air Forces in Europe - Air Forces Africa (USAFE-AFAFRICA)
501st Combat Support Wing
422nd Air Base Group - originally constituted and activated January 1942 as 22 Air Depot Group
420th Air Base Squadron
420th Munitions Squadron
Air Combat Command (ACC)
Sixteenth Air Force
9th Reconnaissance Wing
9th Operations Group
99th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron – Lockheed U-2S Dragon Lady
Royal International Air Tattoo
The Royal International Air Tattoo is held annually at Fairford over the third weekend in July. RIAT is held in support of the RAF Charitable Trust and has attracted an attendance of up to 185,000 spectators over the weekend, with several hundred military aircraft belonging to air-arms from around the world taking part in static and flying displays.