- Royal Air Force station
A Royal Air Force Station is a permanent
Royal Air Force operations location. Many RAF stations areaerodrome s, orairbase s, being the home to one or more flyingsquadrons . Other RAF stations aretraining units,administrative units,Headquarters (HQ), or carry out ground-based operational tasks. Although many RAF units are often called stations, they can only be properly classified as an RAF station if they are self-accounting with their own station commander and headquarters. Units without a station commander or headquarters staff will ordinarily be a satellite of an RAF station proper.History
In the early years of the RAF, very few of its bases were classified as stations. Some bases which were locally known as RAF "location name" were officially listed under the unit's title. For example, No. 1 Stores Depot was at
RAF Kidbrooke which was described as No. 1 Stores Depot in the official lists.In the years before
World War II the RAF when through a period of rapid expansion. One means of achieving this expansion was to group several units together at one location which then required a separate headquarters staff. This resulted in a considerable growth in the number of stations. [http://www.rafweb.org/Org-index.htm#Commands]tructure
The
Commanding Officer (CO) in charge of an RAF station is titled as theStation Commander . On flying units the station commander normally holds the rank ofGroup Captain . Most RAF stations are administratively sub-divided into Wings, and are controlled by aStation Headquarters (SHQ). On a flying station the subordinate Wings have usually been calledOperations Wing ,Engineering Wing (or Engineering and Supply Wing), andAdministration Wing . Engineering Wings are being split intoForward Support Wing andDepth Support Wing s, while many Administration Wing have been renamedBase Support Wing .RAF stations typically have a
fence dperimeter , and flying stations have the airfield - with itsrunway s, perimeter track,dispersal areas,hangar s, technical buildings,office s andaccommodation for personnel who live on the unit. Flying stations are typically inremote orrural areas, and are geographically quite large in area.Non-flying RAF stations are often much smaller in area than flying stations. They may be close to
urban conurbation s, and may sometimes be situated inhistoric mansion s,manor house s, or other notable buildings of fine architectural quality.Locations
Current RAF stations are mainly in the
United Kingdom ; howeverRAF Akrotiri is in the UK Sovereign Base Area ofCyprus ,RAF Gibraltar is inGibraltar , andRAF Mount Pleasant is in theFalkland Islands .Over the last 88-years, there have been hundreds of RAF stations around the
world , a reflection on the involvement of the RAF inwar s andconflicts , and colonialpolicing in many areas across the globe.Heraldry RAF Station Crests are similar to Squadron Crests; the emblem is surrounded by a light blue ring containing the words "Royal Air Force Station", and the station name, surmounted by a Crown, and with the
motto in a scroll underneath.ee also
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Royal Air Force
*List of RAF stations
*Airbase
*Airfield
*Naval Air Station External links
* [http://www.raf.mod.uk Royal Air Force official site]
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