Royal Air Force High Wycombe or more simply RAF High Wycombe is a

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

station, situated in the village of Walters Ash, near

High Wycombe High Wycombe, often referred to as Wycombe ( ), is a market town in Buckinghamshire, England. Lying in the valley of the River Wye, Buckinghamshire, River Wye surrounded by the Chiltern Hills, it is west-northwest of Charing Cross in London, ...

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (, abbreviated ''Bucks'') is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-east, Hertfordshir ...

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. It houses Headquarters Air Command, and was originally designed to house RAF Bomber Command in the late 1930s. The station is also the headquarters of the European Air Group and the United Kingdom Space Command. The location of the station was originally suggested by Wing Commander Alan Oakeshott when 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 and civil aviation that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the ...

was seeking a new, secure, site for Bomber Command away from

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. Wing Commander Oakeshott was killed in combat in 1942 and is commemorated on the Naphill War Memorial and in the name of the station's welfare centre, opened in 2011. The motto of RAF High Wycombe in

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

is 'Non Sibi', which translates as 'not for ourselves'.

History

Construction

Prior to the outbreak of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the

sought a safe location for RAF Bomber Command away from London. The wooded area near Naphill, Walters Ash and Lacey Green was suggested by Wing Commander Alan Oakeshott as ideal for this purpose, since the trees could provide natural

camouflage Camouflage is the use of any combination of materials, coloration, or illumination for concealment, either by making animals or objects hard to see, or by disguising them as something else. Examples include the leopard's spotted coat, the b ...

from the air. Buildings were designed to resemble other uses, such as the Officers' Mess which was built to look like a manor house. The fire station was built with a tower to resemble a village church. Trees were preserved as much as possible to maintain the camouflage they provided. Roads were laid out so as to avoid most trees. The building work was carried out by John Laing and Son, with 400 workmen and 80 specialists involved. Tunnels were dug to connect each block on the station, linked to an Operations Block built below ground. To preserve secrecy, the station was known as "Southdown" in March 1940, as part of a directive by the Air Ministry. The site's postal address was given as " GPO High Wycombe." Whilst High Wycombe was not an official flying station, a small airfield was used in the nearby village of Lacey Green, to the north. The airfield was unpaved and was used for small flights into and out of RAF High Wycombe and was only used between June 1944 and late 1945. High Wycombe was also used by the 325th Photographic Wing,

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

, from 9 August 1944 until 20 October 1945.

Post-War

Headquarters,

7th Air Division The 7th Air Division (7 AD) served the United States Air Force with distinction from early 1944 through early 1992, earning an outstanding unit decoration and a service streamer along the way. History Hawaii As the 7th Fighter Wing, the divis ...

of the Strategic Air Command, supporting SAC operations in UK relocated to High Wycombe from RAF South Ruislip in 1958, and commanded all SAC operations from there until 1965. The station badge, incorporating a thunderbolt and two pillars to symbolise the support the station gave to Bomber Command, was approved on 23 November 1966. RAF Bomber Command merged with RAF Fighter Command to form RAF Strike Command at RAF High Wycombe on 30 April 1968.RAF Timeline 1960–1968
RAF The station's title, Royal Air Force Station High Wycombe, was officially approved on 1 January 1969. From 1983 to 1984 there was a peace camp protesting against the building of a bunker there at that time to house RAF Strike Command. On 1 July 1994, Headquarters Allied Forces North Western Europe (AFNORTHWEST) of

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

was established at High Wycombe. RAF Strike Command merged with RAF Personnel and Training Command to form RAF Air Command at RAF High Wycombe on 1 April 2007. Since 2009, the station has been responsible for reviewing UFO sightings as part of efforts to identify any possible unauthorised military incursions into UK airspace. Civil servants tasked with reviewing such sightings relocated to the station from the Ministry of Defence Main Building in London. The Ministry of Defence and Serco agreed a ten-year contract in February 2010 whereby Serco would provide support services at RAF High Wycombe and RAF Halton, including leisure services, general engineering and catering. The actor David Jason officially opened the station's new welfare centre, named after Wing Commander Alan Oakeshott, in July 2011. An Armed Forces Community Covenant between the station and Wycombe District Council was signed on 16 April 2012, designed to strengthen the links between the military and the local community. Personnel exercised the station's

Freedom Freedom is the power or right to speak, act, and change as one wants without hindrance or restraint. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving oneself one's own laws". In one definition, something is "free" i ...

of Wycombe District on 29 May 2012, parading through Princes Risborough.

Based units

The following notable units are based at RAF High Wycombe.

Royal Air Force

Air Command * Headquarters Air Command * RAF Safety Centre * RAF Digital No. 1 Group (Air Combat) * Headquarters No. 1 Group (Air Combat) No. 2 Group (Air Combat Support) * Headquarters No. 2 Group (Air Combat Support) No. 11 Group (Multi-domain Operations) Headquarters No. 11 Group (Multi-domain Operations) * Joint Force Air Component Commander *National Air & Space Operations Centre (NASOC) No. 22 Group (Training) * Headquarters No. 22 Group (Training)

Other

European Air Group * Headquarters European Air Group United Kingdom Space Command * Headquarters UK Space Command ** UK Space Operations Centre *** 1 Space Operations Squadron

References

Sources

External links

*
Wycombe World
– RAF High Wycombe station magazine {{DEFAULTSORT:High Wycombe Military airbases established in 1938 Royal Air Force stations in Buckinghamshire High Wycombe Cold War military history of the United Kingdom 1938 establishments in England