RAF West Drayton was a non-flying
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
station in
West Drayton
West Drayton is a suburban town in the London Borough of Hillingdon. It was an ancient parish in the county of Middlesex and from 1929 was part of the Yiewsley and West Drayton Urban District, which became part of Greater London in 1965. The se ...
, within the
London Borough of Hillingdon, which served as the main centre for military
air traffic control
Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled airs ...
in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
. It was co-located with the civilian
London Air Traffic Control Centre to provide a vital link between civil and military flying and airspace requirements. Following the departure of the remaining civil and military air traffic control systems by 2008, the site was closed and demolished for a new residential development.
History
West Drayton RAF station was operating in 1918 as an RAF Air Construction Corps (A.C.C.) depot and was located in the
Stockley area of the
Yiewsley Urban District. Before the creation of the RAF on 1 April 1918, buildings at Stockley were occupied by the
Royal Naval Air Service
The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was the air arm of the Royal Navy, under the direction of the Admiralty's Air Department, and existed formally from 1 July 1914 to 1 April 1918, when it was merged with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps t ...
(R.N.A.S.). By October 1920 the depot accommodation buildings used by the R.N.A.S. had been vacated and both the Yiewsley Urban District Council and the
Uxbridge Rural District
Uxbridge Rural District was, from 1894 to 1929, a local government district in Middlesex, England.
Prior sanitary and poor law bodies
This entity amounted to a widening of the functions and powers of Uxbridge rural sanitary district formed in 1 ...
Council requested for the buildings to be used for the housing of demobilised soldiers and sailors. However this was declined by the Secretary of State for War and Air,
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...
.
Between 1920 and 1923 public sales by auction of large quantities of the depot stores were held on behalf of the U.K. Government.
On 1 September 1924 the West Drayton RAF Station became an reception depot for new entrants. Wing Commander Alexander Shekleton D.S.O. took command of the depot.
On 30 October 1939 it became a
Women's Auxiliary Air Force
The Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF), whose members were referred to as WAAFs (), was the female auxiliary of the Royal Air Force during World War II. Established in 1939, WAAF numbers exceeded 180,000 at its peak strength in 1943, with over 2 ...
(WAAF) new-entrant depot.
The station was used to house 700 athletes competing at the
1948 Summer Olympics
The 1948 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and also known as London 1948) were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, England, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus ca ...
in London, together with
RAF Uxbridge and Richmond.
From 1951 until 1962 the station accommodated the 3911th Air Base Group
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...
in addition to RAF personnel.
Air Traffic Control Operations
The station became a unit of
No. 11 Group RAF
No. 11 Group is a group in the Royal Air Force first formed in 1918. It had been formed and disbanded for various periods during the 20th century before disbanding in 1996 and reforming again in 2018. Its most famous service was in 1940 in the Ba ...
in January 1965.
RAF West Drayton was also the home of the
Linesman System, hence the main Operations Building being known as the L1. The system used Link 1 to exchange Air Defence data between the UK and Europe. There were links to Continental Early Warning (CEW) sites at: Reitan, Maakeroy, Vaedbek,
Nieuw-Milligen
Nieuw-Milligen is a hamlet in the municipality of Apeldoorn in the province of Gelderland, the Netherlands. Nieuw-Milligen is best known for Air Operations Control Station Nieuw-Milligen, a military air traffic control centre in the Netherlands. T ...
,
Glons and Doulons.
Aerospace System Operators (ASOps or Scopies) were responsible for the tracking and identification of every flight – military and civil, that entered or left the UK Air Defence Region (UKADR). This was a labour-intensive task in the days before automatic initiation and tracking systems, but a big improvement on the plotting table and small perspex plaques with information written on them. The School of Fighter Control continued to teach plotting and writing backwards until 1990.
The School of Fighter Control moved to RAF West Drayton from
RAF Bawdsey, training junior officers to be Fighter Controllers. In addition to teaching RAF officers, foreign and commonwealth students also attended, and there was even one course of Yugoslavian MiG pilots.
The station also became responsible for collecting and analysing many reports of
UFO
An unidentified flying object (UFO), more recently renamed by US officials as a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon), is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. On investigation, most UFOs are id ...
s after information was received by the
Ministry of Defence
{{unsourced, date=February 2021
A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...
.
Closure and redevelopment
![Bus passes RAF West Drayton - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/Bus_passes_RAF_West_Drayton_-_geograph.org.uk_-_76380.jpg)
West Drayton ceased being an RAF station in April 1994. At this time the
English Electric Lightning
The English Electric Lightning is a British fighter aircraft that served as an interceptor during the 1960s, the 1970s and into the late 1980s. It was capable of a top speed of above Mach 2. The Lightning was designed, developed, and manufa ...
acting as a
gate guardian
A gate guardian or gate guard is a withdrawn piece of equipment, often an aircraft, armoured vehicle, artillery piece, or locomotive, mounted on a plinth and used as a static display near to and forming a symbolic display of "guarding" the main ...
was scrapped; only the nose section was retained and sent to the
Malta Aviation Museum. Air traffic control services remained, although the section responsible for airspace outside London moved to
Swanwick in Hampshire in 2002. The remaining operation was named the
London Terminal Control Centre
The London Terminal Control Centre (LTCC) was an air traffic control centre based in West Drayton, in the London Borough of Hillingdon, England, approximately north of London Heathrow Airport. Operated by National Air Traffic Services (NATS) it ...
. RAF personnel remained on the site, as military air traffic control functions for the eastern side of England remained. In November 2007 the remaining civil air traffic control services moved to Swanwick and were joined by the military operation in January 2008.
National Air Traffic Services vacated the site in 2008. The MT section of the
Queen's Colour Squadron
The King's Colour Squadron, formerly the Queen's Colour Squadron, is the unit of the Royal Air Force charged with the safe-keeping of the King's Colour for the Royal Air Force in the United Kingdom. Since its formation, it has been formed excl ...
relocated to
RAF Northolt
("Ready to carry or to fight")
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, pushpin_label = RAF Northolt
, pushpin_map_caption = Shown within Greater London
, coordinates =
, type = Royal Air Force station
, code =
, site_area =
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, owners ...
.
Plans for 773 homes, a nursing home, shops and offices were approved by the London Borough of Hillingdon in July 2010. Inland Homes named the new development "Drayton Garden Village", aiming to create a 1930s style village. Demolition work of the former air traffic control site was carried out between 2010 and 2011. The Drayton Garden Village development opened officially on 21 October 2011, with a ceremony led by the Mayor of Hillingdon.
A later housing development, Park West, was constructed on the western side of the site.
See also
*
Linesman/Mediator
Linesman/Mediator was a dual-purpose civil and military radar network in the United Kingdom between the 1960s and 1984. The military side (Linesman) was replaced by the Improved United Kingdom Air Defence Ground Environment (IUKADGE), while the ...
*
London Area Control Centre
The London Area Control Centre (LACC) is an air traffic control centre based at Swanwick near Fareham in Hampshire, southern England. It is operated by National Air Traffic Services (NATS), starting operations on 27 January 2002, and handles a ...
*
ACE High
Allied Command Europe Highband, better known as ACE High, was a fixed service NATO radiocommunication and early warning system dating back to 1956. After extensive testing ACE High was accepted by NATO to become operational in 1964/1965.
The fr ...
References
External links
Photographs of the stationClosure ceremony for RAF West Drayton (YouTube)
{{Coord, 51.5049, -0.4615, type:landmark_region:GB-HIL, display=title
1924 establishments in the United Kingdom
Former buildings and structures in the London Borough of Hillingdon
West Drayton
West Drayton is a suburban town in the London Borough of Hillingdon. It was an ancient parish in the county of Middlesex and from 1929 was part of the Yiewsley and West Drayton Urban District, which became part of Greater London in 1965. The se ...
Transport in the London Borough of Hillingdon
West Drayton
West Drayton is a suburban town in the London Borough of Hillingdon. It was an ancient parish in the county of Middlesex and from 1929 was part of the Yiewsley and West Drayton Urban District, which became part of Greater London in 1965. The se ...