RAF Jurby Head is a former

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) an ...

air weapons range, on the north west coast of the

Isle of Man ) , anthem = "O Land of Our Birth" , image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg , image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg , mapsize = , map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe , map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green) in Europe ...

. The range operated between 1939 and 1993.

History

As part of the RAF Expansion Scheme the Manx Government was approached by the

Air Ministry The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the Secretary of State ...

in 1937 with a view to establishing an Aircraft Armament Training Camp for air crew in the sparsely populated Parish of Jurby. This opened as

RAF Jurby Royal Air Force Station Jurby or more simply RAF Jurby is a former Royal Air Force station built in the north west of the Isle of Man. It was opened in 1939 on of land acquired by the Air Ministry in 1937, under the control of No. 29 Group, ...

in September, 1939. RAF Jurby Head - Isle of Man

World War II

As operations at RAF Jurby commenced, the station was re-designated as the No. 5 Bombing and Gunnery School and saw the arrival of various aircraft to undertake the training sorties such as the

Bristol Blenheim The Bristol Blenheim is a British light bomber aircraft designed and built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company (Bristol) which was used extensively in the first two years of the Second World War, with examples still being used as trainers until ...

s and

Armstrong Whitworth Whitley The Armstrong Whitworth A.W.38 Whitley was a British medium bomber aircraft of the 1930s. It was one of three twin-engined, front line medium bomber types that were in service with the Royal Air Force (RAF) at the outbreak of the Second World ...

s which would undertake their practice missions on the ranges operated by RAF Jurby Head.

Post World War II

Following the end of the Second World War the RAF began its post-war period of contraction, and on 17 September 1946, No. 5 Air Navigation School moved out from RAF Jurby and transferred to

RAF Topcliffe Royal Air Force Topcliffe or RAF Topcliffe is a Royal Air Force station in North Yorkshire, England. It was established as a RAF Bomber Command station in 1940. The British Army took over a large part of the site in 1974 and the airfield beca ...

in Yorkshire. This was followed by the transfer of No. 11 Air Gunnery School following which most of the bombing and gunnery ranges were closed. In the late 1940s RAF Jurby Head oversaw the use of a new air weapons range, which stretched along the shoreline from Bluepoint to Ballabane and out to sea. Bombing practices were carried out at sea with the use of dummy bombs, including inert nuclear weapons. From 1956 - 1965 the range was operated by personnel from 1243 Signals Unit, Royal Air Force. Many weapon types were used at Jurby Head ranging in weight up to 1,000 lbs. The range was used during 1982 by Vulcan bombers of the

RAF Waddington Royal Air Force Waddington otherwise known as RAF Waddington is a Royal Air Force (RAF) station located beside the village of Waddington, south of Lincoln, Lincolnshire in England. The station is the RAF's Intelligence Surveillance Target ...

Wing, comprising aircraft from Nos 44, 50 and 101 Squadrons, as part of their practice bombing sorties for

Operation Black Buck Operations Black Buck 1 to Black Buck 7 were seven extremely long-range ground attack missions conducted during the 1982 Falklands War by Royal Air Force (RAF) Vulcan bombers of the RAF Waddington Wing, comprising aircraft from 44, 50 an ...

. The main user of the range was the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, 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 ...

(USAF), but the

RAF 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 ...

and other

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

air forces used the range regularly. In addition the range was also used in the 1950s by personnel of 515 (Isle of Man) L.A.A.

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

( T.A.) for training exercises with 40mm

Bofors gun AB Bofors ( , , ) is a former Swedish arms manufacturer which today is part of the British arms concern BAE Systems. The name has been associated with the iron industry and artillery manufacturing for more than 350 years. History Located i ...

Closure

With the ending of the Cold War and the subsequent reduction of USAF operations in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

the requirement for RAF Jurby Head reduced significantly and the station closed on 6 July 1993. At the time it was the smallest RAF station in the

British Isles The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...

, staffed by eight military and two civilian personnel. During the latter lifetime of its operation RAF Jurby Head became the focus of protest from the Isle of Man Branch of the

Celtic League The Celtic League is a pan-Celtic organisation, founded in 1961, that aims to promote modern Celtic identity and culture in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany, Cornwall and the Isle of Man – referred to as the Celtic nations; it places part ...

. Today the area of the bombing range is still a source of concern regarding environmental issues.

Ordnance Ordnance may refer to: Military and defense *Materiel in military logistics, including weapons, ammunition, vehicles, and maintenance tools and equipment. **The military branch responsible for supplying and developing these items, e.g., the Unit ...

periodically continues to be washed ashore onto adjacent beaches or brought up in fishing nets.

References

External links