RAF Ternhill

RAF Ternhill
IATA: none – ICAO: EGOE
Summary
Airport type		Military
Operator		Royal Air Force
Location		Ternhill
Elevation AMSL		272 ft / 83 m
Coordinates		52°52′16″N 2°32′1″W / 52.87111°N 2.53361°W / 52.87111; -2.53361Coordinates: 52°52′16″N 2°32′1″W / 52.87111°N 2.53361°W / 52.87111; -2.53361
Map
EGOE Location in Shropshire
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
	m	ft
04/22	980	3,215	Asphalt
10/28	948	3,110	Asphalt
17/35	822	2,693	Grass

RAF Ternhill (ICAO: EGOE) is a small Royal Air Force station at Ternhill in Shropshire, near the towns of Newport and Market Drayton. The station, home of Volunteer Gliding Squadron 632, was a helicopter base but is now principally used as an outpost for the tri-service helicopter training establishment at RAF Shawbury. Training flights use the airfield (as do gliders at the weekends) but many of the buildings and some local Ministry of Defence housing (much of which was sold off, some people queueing for days to buy a property) are now part of the army base known as Clive Barracks (after Robert Clive, 1st Baron Clive). In the fifties and sixties, buildings which were originally used as airfield dispersals were renamed RAF Stoke Heath and used to house third line servicing facilities. Wireless- 291 MU - engine and rescue MUs.In the fifties Tern Hill was the home of No 6 Flying Training School and in 1954 was equipped with Percival Provost T1 piston engine training aircraft. It was one of the RAF stations that provided the first stage of the, then, new Provost/Vampire pilot training programme.

IRA bomb attack

On 20 February 1989, two IRA bombers activated two bombs within the accommodation barracks at Tern Hill. At that time the 2nd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment and the 1st Battalion, The Duke Of Wellingtons Regiment were located at the base. A sentry spotted two men behaving suspiciously and raised the alarm, the barracks were evacuated shortly before the bombs exploded therefore preventing certain loss of life. One of the accommodation blocks was destroyed in the blast (which was reported to have been heard 20 mi (32 km) away in Shrewsbury). The bombers escaped by hijacking a car from a house down the road from the barracks.

External links

• Airport information for EGOE at World Aero Data. Data current as of October 2006.