RAF West Freugh 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 ...

station located in

Wigtownshire Wigtownshire or the County of Wigtown (, ) is one of the historic counties of Scotland, covering an area in the south-west of the country. Until 1975, Wigtownshire was an administrative county used for local government. Since 1975 the area has f ...

, south east of Stranraer, Dumfries and Galloway,

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. It has always been an armaments training school, either for handling or deployment of

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 ...

. The site is now known as MOD West Freugh and is operated by defence contractor QinetiQ, on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

History

During the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

the site was a base for naval

airship An airship or dirigible balloon is a type of aerostat or lighter-than-air aircraft that can navigate through the air under its own power. Aerostats gain their lift from a lifting gas that is less dense than the surrounding air. In early ...

s, known as RNAS Luce Bay. The base was provided with one huge

airship hangar Airship hangars (also known as airship sheds) are large specialized buildings that are used for sheltering airships during construction, maintenance and storage. Rigid airships always needed to be based in airship hangars because weathering was a ...

. RAF West Freugh opened in 1937 as an armament training camp. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, it expanded to include training facilities for observers, navigators, and bomb aimers; and served as a base for the Bombing Trials Unit. The known history of units known at West Freugh is: *22 October 1939 – 10 Service Flying Training School formed. Moved November *4 November 1939 – 4 Air Observer School formed *11 January 1940 – re-designated 4 Bombing & Gunnery School *14 June 1941 – 4 Air Observer School reformed *11 June 1943 – re-designated 4 Observer Advanced Flying Unit *21 June 1945 – 4 Observer Advanced Flying Unit disbanded *April 1957 – RAF West Freugh incident *2001 – Airfield closed, all RAF operations cease *2001 – operations taken over by QinetiQScottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
/ref> In addition to the units listed above (and with manpower possibly drawn from some of them) a Mountain Rescue Team was based at West Freugh from 1945 to 1956. After 1956 the MRT at RAF Leuchars assumed responsibility for the area covered by West Freugh. The team was part of the RAF's Mountain Rescue Service. The following units were also here at some point: ;Squadrons ;Units

Satellite Earth Station

satellite earth station A ground station, Earth station, or Earth terminal is a terrestrial radio station designed for extraplanetary telecommunication with spacecraft (constituting part of the ground segment of the spacecraft system), or reception of radio waves fro ...

is located at West Freugh and was established to receive and distribute data from the European Space Agency's ERS radar satellites. In September 2005 it was announced that the earth station at West Freugh was the first outside Canada to be certified to provide imagery from the Canadian RADARSAT commercial satellite.

Present day

In 1987, Exercise Purple Warrior forces utilised West Freugh. West Freugh, operated by QinetiQ since 2001, is used as a test range for bombs and Air-to-Ground missiles. Its ranges extend over

Luce Bay Luce Bay is a large bay in Wigtownshire in southern Scotland. The bay is 20 miles wide at its mouth and is bounded by the Rhins of Galloway to the west and the Machars to the east. The Scares are rocky islets at the mouth of the bay. Bombing r ...

, and an area of land at Torrs Warren. In 1988 and 1990 its ranges were used to test

Phalanx CIWS The Phalanx CIWS (often spoken as "sea-wiz") is a gun-based close-in weapon system to defend military watercraft automatically against incoming threats such as aircraft, missiles, and small boats. It was designed and manufactured by the Gen ...

weapons system with depleted uranium rounds. A subsequent radiological survey of beach, sand and seawater by staff from the

Atomic Weapons Establishment The Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) is a United Kingdom Ministry of Defence research facility responsible for the design, manufacture and support of warheads for the UK's nuclear weapons. It is the successor to the Atomic Weapons Research ...

concluded that there was no detectable contamination. The airfield is no longer licensed or active, however it is available for military exercises. West Freugh has also been used on several occasions for exercises by 16 Air Assault Brigade under the

Exercise Joint Warrior Exercise Joint Warrior is a major biannual multi-national military exercise which takes place in the United Kingdom, predominately in north west Scotland. It is the successor of the Neptune Warrior exercises and Joint Maritime Course. Joint W ...

banner.

References

Citations

Bibliography

External links

MOD West Freugh – LPTA
{{DEFAULTSORT:West Freugh, RAF Airports established in 1936 Bombing ranges Buildings and structures in Dumfries and Galloway Royal Air Force stations in Scotland Royal Air Force stations of World War II in the United Kingdom