RAF Coningsby | |||||||
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| NearConingsby,Lincolnshire in England | |||||||
 AEurofighter Typhoon takes off from RAF Coningsby. | |||||||
 Loyalty binds me[1] | |||||||
| Site information | |||||||
| Type | Main Operating Base | ||||||
| Owner | Ministry of Defence | ||||||
| Operator | Royal Air Force | ||||||
| Controlled by | No. 1 Group (Air Combat) | ||||||
| Open to the public | Access to BBMF Hangar only | ||||||
| Condition | Operational | ||||||
| Website | Official website | ||||||
| Location | |||||||
  RAF Coningsby Shown within Lincolnshire | |||||||
| Coordinates | 53°05′35″N000°09′58″W / 53.09306°N 0.16611°W /53.09306; -0.16611 | ||||||
| Grid reference | TF225565[2] | ||||||
| Area | 420 hectares (1,000 acres)[3] | ||||||
| Site history | |||||||
| Built | 1940 (1940) | ||||||
| In use | 1940 – present | ||||||
| Garrison information | |||||||
| Current commander | Group Captain Andrew Hampshire | ||||||
| Occupants |
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| Airfield information | |||||||
| Identifiers | IATA: QCY,ICAO: EGXC,WMO: 03391 | ||||||
| Elevation | 24 feet (7 m)AMSL | ||||||
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| Source: RAF Coningsby Defence Aerodrome Manual[4] | |||||||
Royal Air Force Coningsby orRAF Coningsby (IATA:QCY,ICAO:EGXC), is aRoyal Air Force station located 13.7 kilometres (8.5 mi) south-west ofHorncastle, and 15.8 kilometres (9.8 mi) north-west ofBoston, in theEast Lindsey district ofLincolnshire,England. It is a Main Operating Base of the RAF and home to three front-lineEurofighter Typhoon FGR4 units,No. 3 Squadron,No. 11 Squadron andNo. 12 Squadron. In support of front-line units,No. 29 Squadron is the Typhoon Operational Conversion Unit andNo. 41 Squadron is the Typhoon Test and Evaluation Squadron. Coningsby is also the home of theBattle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF) which operates a variety of historic RAF aircraft.
Plans for an airfield at Coningsby began in 1937 as part of the RAF's expansion plan. However progress in the compulsory purchase of the land was slow and delayed the start of work for two years.[5] The station opened during theSecond World War on 4 November 1940 underNo. 5 Group, part ofRAF Bomber Command.[6][7][8] The first flying unit,No. 106 Squadron with theHandley Page Hampden medium bomber, arrived in February 1941, with active operations taking place the following month when four Hampdens bombedCologne inGermany.[8] The squadron was joined in April 1941 byNo. 97 Squadron equipped withAvro Manchester medium bombers.[7][6] In May 1942, aircraft from Coningsby participated in the'Thousand Bomber' raid on Cologne.[8]
The original grass runways were found to be unsuitable for heavy bomber operations so the station was closed for nearly a year between September 1942 and August 1943, whilst paved runways were laid in preparation for accommodating such aircraft. At the same time further hangars were constructed.[5][6]
The first unit to return was the now-famousNo. 617 'Dambusters' Squadron. Equipped withAvro Lancaster heavy bombers, the squadron was stationed at Coningsby from August 1943. Due to its specialist nature, the Dambusters carried out limited operations whilst at Coningsby, with the most notable beingOperation Garlic, a failed raid targeting theDortmund-Ems canal in Germany, when five out of the eight Lancasters on the mission failed to return home. As the squadron required more space, it moved to nearbyRAF Woodhall Spa in January 1944, swapping places with another Lancaster unit,No. 619 Squadron, which itself later moved on toRAF Dunholme Lodge.[5][9]
Further Lancaster squadrons were based at Coningsby during the final months of the war, includingNo. 61 Squadron fromRAF Skellingthorpe,No. 83 Squadron andNo. 97 Squadron.[6]
Following the Second World War, Coningsby was home to theMosquito-equippedNo. 109 Squadron andNo. 139 Squadron, then became part ofNo. 3 Group, withBoeing Washington aircraft from 1950. On 17 August 1953 52-year-old Air Vice-Marshal William Brook, theAir Officer Commanding ofNo. 3 Group, took off from the base in aGloster Meteor, and crashed into aDutch barn atBradley, Staffordshire.[10]
The airfield received its first jet aircraft—theEnglish Electric Canberra—in 1953.[11] During 1956, the station expanded with the runway being extended.[11]Avro Vulcans arrived in 1962, then transferred toRAF Cottesmore in November 1964.[11]
From 1964 to 1966, the station had been initially designated to receive the proposed RAF strike aircraft, the advancedBAC TSR-2,[11] which was cancelled in April 1965 by the Labour Government. The TSR2 was planned to joinNo. 40 Squadron at Coningsby in 1968 to replace the Canberra.[12]
The TSR2's intended replacement—the AmericanGeneral Dynamics F-111 Aardvark—was shelved on 16 January 1968[13] when its costs overshot the UK's budget (it would have cost £425m for 50 aircraft). The TSR2 had large development costs, whereas the F-111 (also known as Tactical Fighter Experimental, or TFX) could be bought off the shelf. Coningsby was planned to get theF-111K, the RAF version of the F-111; also in the1966 Defence White Paper, it was intended that the Anglo-FrenchAFVG, later the UKVG, would replace the TSR2 (it did eventually as thePanavia Tornado). 50 F-111Ks were planned with 100 AFVGs (to enter service by 1970);Denis Healey claimed the F-111s and AFVGs would be cheaper than the TSR2 programme (158 aircraft) by £700m. AsMinister of Aviation throughout 1965, the Labour MPRoy Jenkins had also wanted to similarly cancel theOlympus-poweredConcorde, but the 1962 Anglo-French treaty imposed prohibitively steep financial penalties for cancellation; theHawker Siddeley P.1154 andHS.681 were cancelled at the same time.[14]
AFVGs were also planned to replace theBuccaneer in theRoyal Navy—Tornados were never flown by the Royal Navy, as the carriers for them, theCVA-01s, were cancelled. But the Royal Navy did operate fourteen Phantoms onHMSArk Royal, until the new smaller carriers entered service—48 Phantoms had been designated for theFleet Air Arm, with twenty of these ending up atRAF Leuchars, andArk Royal's Phantoms ended up at Leuchars in 1978.HMSEagle was never converted to Phantom use as it was deemed too expensive, and the carrier was scrapped in January 1972, with itsSea Vixen aircraft. Another alternative considered by the Labour government in July 1965 for the TSR-2 was to orderRolls-Royce Spey-engined FrenchMirage IV aircraft, to be known as the Mirage IVS; it would have avionics from the TSR-2, and be partly made byBAC atWarton.[15]
Spey-enginedPhantoms (the plane the government eventually bought, having been ordered in February 1964 for the Fleet Air Arm, instead of the P.1154) were chosen in 1966 for the station's future as with the scrapping of aircraft carriers the Phantoms were not needed for the Fleet Air Arm,[11] with all RAF Phantom training taking place on the airfield, and the station became part ofFighter Command[11] until December 1967, when it joinedAir Support Command as the Phantoms were initially in a ground attack role. Phantoms first saw operational service with the Fleet Air Arm in 1970. The firstPhantom FGR2 (Fighter/Ground attack/Reconnaissance) arrived at Coningsby on 23 August 1968, with the first aircrewOCU course (No. 228 OCU) beginning in October 1968. Air-defence Phantoms (FG1) also entered service in 1969 at RAF Leuchars. On 18 May 1970, a Phantom flew from the base non-stop toRAF Tengah in Singapore, covering 8,680 mi (13,970 km) in 14 hours and 14 minutes at an average speed of 602 mph (969 km/h). In April 1968,RAF Strike Command was formed and the airfield was transferred toNo. 38 Group.[16]
No. 41(F) Squadron joined in April 1972, and stayed until 1977. The other ground-attack Phantom squadrons (four of them) were atRAF Bruggen.No. 111(F) Squadron replaced their Lightnings (fromRAF Wattisham) with Phantoms from 1 October 1974. On 1 January 1975,No. 29(F) Squadron joined and stayed until 1987, when disbanded. On 1 November 1975,No. 23(F) Squadron joined until February 1976, when moved to RAF Wattisham. In March 1976,No. 56(F) Squadron joined until July 1976, then went to Wattisham.[17]
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The Phantom's role changed to air defence in October 1974 when the airfield transferred toNo. 11 Group in Strike Command, when theSEPECAT Jaguar (situated in Norfolk) took over the ground attack role. No. 111(F) Squadron were the first to take the new air defence Phantoms. During 1975, the UK's air defence transferred to the Phantom FGR.2 from five squadrons ofEnglish Electric Lightnings. The UK was covered by NATO Early Warning Area 12. Three Sector Operations Centres were atRAF Buchan,Boulmer andNeatishead; in the 1960s, the UK had theLinesman/Mediator radar system, which was obsolete by the 1970s. No. 29(F) Squadron formed with Phantoms at Coningsby on 1 January 1975; until then the Phantom FG.1 had been operating with the Royal Navy only. On 3 March 1975, a Phantom crashed into a nearby house, with both pilot and navigator ejecting. The Queen visited the station on 30 June 1976.[18]
Panavia Tornado F3 squadrons began to form from November 1984, namelyNo. 229 OCU/No. 65 Squadron.[19] Tornado training took place until April 1987, when the Phantoms left (to RAF Leuchars) and Coningsby had the first (No. 29(F) Squadron) Tornado air defence squadron.[20][21]
To accommodate these new aircraft, extensivehardened aircraft shelters (HAS) and support facilities were built.[19]No. 5 Squadron arrived in January 1988, having previously operated the English Electric Lightning.[22]
Exercise Priory took place in October 1985.[23]
During theGulf War, Tornados from Coningsby were based for three months atDhahran International Airport to participate inOperation Granby. Tornado engines were serviced on the northern section of the formerRAF Woodhall Spa, denoted as RAF Woodhall.[24][25]
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With the running down ofRAF Coltishall in Norfolk, No. 6 Squadron relocated with their SEPECAT Jaguars to Coningsby on 1 April 2006, where it was planned they would operate from until October 2007.[26] However, on 25 April 2007 it was announced by theMinistry of Defence that the Jaguars would be withdrawn from service on 30 April.[27] May 2007 saw No. 6 Squadron flying their Jaguars toRAF Cosford where they would be utilised byNo. 1 SoTT.[28] No. 6 Squadron disbanded on 31 May 2007.[29] Deliveries continued in June and July, with the last Jaguar to arrive at Cosford from Coningsby beingXX119 on 2 July 2007.[26]
Coningsby was the first airfield to receive the Phantoms,[11] the Tornado ADV[11] and was the first to receive its replacement, the Eurofighter Typhoon. Typhoon arrived in May 2005 withNo. 17 Squadron, after the RAF first publicly displayed the aircraft at Coningsby in December 2004.[30]No. 3(F) Squadron moved to RAF Coningsby where it became the first operational front line RAF Typhoon squadron in July 2007[31] andNo. 11(F) Squadron became operational at RAF Coningsby shortly thereafter.[32]
No. 12 Squadron reactivated in July 2018 and is temporarily integratingQatar Emiri Air Force air and ground crews in order to provide training and support as part of the Qatari purchase of twenty-four Typhoons from the UK.[33]In October 2019, RAF Coningsby signed a twinning agreement withFighter Wing 73 (Jagdgeschwader 73) of theGerman Air Force (Luftwaffe) to enhance opportunities to meet and train with one another. The wing, based atLaage in north-eastern Germany, also operates the Eurofighter Typhoon.[34]
As part of the Atlantic Eagles mission conducted by theJapan Air Self-Defense Force, RAF Coningsby was selected as the location of the JASDF's first fighter aircraft deployment to Europe in its 71-year history, with air bases in North America and Germany also selected as part of the mission. On 18 September 2025, twoMitsubishi F-15J fighter jets, supported byBoeing KC-767 &KC-46Aaerial refueling aircraft andKawasaki C-2 transport planes arrived at Coningsby, marking the start of the deployment.[35]
RAF Coningsby's mission statement is 'To develop the future, deliver the present and commemorate the past of the Royal Air Force's combat air power.'[36] The station is home to nearly 3,000 military personnel, civil servants, and contractors.[37]BAE Systems Military Air Solutions, who produce the Typhoon, are also stationed on the airfield with the contract to maintain the aircraft.[38]
The station commander isGroup Captain Billy Cooper.[39]William, Prince of Wales served as the station'sHonorary Air Commandant from 2008 till 2023.[40] His wife,Catherine, took over the role in August 2023.[41] The station is under the command ofNo. 1 Group (Air Combat).[42]
TheEurofighter TyphoonFGR4 provides the RAF with a multi-role combat capability for air policing, peace support and high intensity conflict. RAF Coningsby is the home to three front-line Typhoon units,No. 3(F) Squadron andNo. 11 Squadron as well asNo. 12 Squadron which is a joint RAF/Qatar Emiri Air Force squadron. They are accompanied byNo. 29 Squadron which is the Typhoon Operational Conversion Unit which trains new crews.[43]
Since June 2007, Coningsby's Typhoons have been responsible for maintaining theQuick Reaction Alert (Interceptor) South mission (QRA(I)S). Aircraft and crews are held at a high state of readiness, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, to respond to unidentified aircraft approaching UK airspace. QRA missions range from civilian airliners which have stopped responding to air traffic control, to intercepting Russian aircraft such as theTupolev Tu-95 Bear andTu-160 Blackjack.[44]
The fourth Typhoon unit isNo. 41 (Test and Evaluation) Squadron which is part of theAir Warfare Centre. The squadron develops operational tactics and evaluates new avionics and weapons systems. Formerly the Fast Jet and Weapons Operational Evaluation Unit (FJWOEU), which was formed by merging theStrike Attack OEU (previously based atMOD Boscombe Down) and the Tornado F3 OEU (now returned back to its home base of RAF Coningsby[45] after a temporary 'lay-over' atRAF Waddington) and the Air-Guided Weapons OEU (previously based atRAF Valley).[46]
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Coningsby has been home of theBattle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF) and the associated visitor centre since March 1976 when it arrived fromRAF Coltishall.[11][47] The BBMF operate one of two remaining airworthyAvro Lancaster bombers in the world, alongside; sixSpitfires of various types; twoHurricanes; aDakota and twoChipmunks, the latter type being used for pilot training.[48]
No. 7 Force Protection Wing Headquarters provides operational planning, command and control to twoRAF Regiment field squadrons attached to the wing,No. 63 (Queen's Colour) Squadron (based atRAF Northolt) andNo. 2623 (East Anglian) Squadron (RAuxAF) (based atRAF Honington) whose purpose is to protect RAF bases at home and abroad from ground attack.[49] Part of No. 4RAF Police Squadron, under the command of No. 2 RAF Police & Security Wing atRAF Waddington, is also based at the station and provides policing, security and guarding.[50]
No. 7 Force Protection Wing includes the Air Land Integration (ALI) Cell, which provides aforward air control capability. The ALI Cell trains and providesJoint Terminal Attack Controllers (JTACS) andTactical Air Controller Parties (TACPS) to support RAF and joint operations. The ALI Cell moved to Coningsby from RAF Honington in Suffolk and came under the control of the wing in June 2018.[51]
No. 121 Expeditionary Air Wing was formed at Coningsby on 1 April 2006 to create a deployable air force structure.[52][53]
Flying and major non-flying units based at RAF Coningsby.[54][55]
No. 2 Group (Air Combat Support)
RAF Coningsby'sbadge, awarded in December 1958, features a depiction ofTattershall Castle. The local landmark, dating from the 15th century, is about 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) north-west of the station.[57]
The station'smotto isLoyalty binds me.[57]
Two preserved aircraft are located at the main gate of RAF Coningsby and act asgate guardians for the station. The first isMcDonnell Douglas F-4M Phantom FGR.2 'XT891' wearing No. 41 Squadron markings and the secondPanavia Tornado F3'ZE760' inNo .5 Squadron markings.[58][59]
Within the No. 3 Squadronhardened aircraft shelter (HAS) complex,Hawker Siddeley Harrier GR.3'XW924' is on display and within the No.11 Squadron HAS complex isEnglish Electric Lightning F.6'XT753'. A further Lightning F.6, 'XS897' (wearing 'XP765') is preserved in the No. 29 Squadron site.[58]
1974 Norfolk mid-air collision: On 9 August 1974, the station commander 42-year-old Group Captain David Blucke, and his navigatorFlight Lieutenant Terence Kirkland (aged 28 and fromDerry), were killed whilst piloting the Phantom XV493 of41 Squadron. Flying at low level, it hit aPiper Pawnee crop-spraying plane (fromSouthend-on-Sea) overFordham, Norfolk, nearDownham Market. Blucke was son of Air Vice-MarshalRobert Blucke who was known for the 1935Daventry Experiment.[60]
2024 Spitfire crash: On 25 May 2024, Supermarine Spitfire LF Mk.IXeMK356 of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight crashed shortly after takeoff in a field off Langrick Road, to the east of the station.[61][62] The sole pilot, Squadron Leader Mark Long, was killed in the accident.[63] He had been a pilot with the team for four years, and was set to become Officer Commanding BBMF in October 2024.[63][64] Along with a BBMF Hawker Hurricane, the aircraft was due to display at theLincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre inEast Kirkby, Lincolnshire as a part of the centre's "Lanc, Tank and Military Machines" event.[65][66]
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The following Station Commanders are listed in the rank held at the time of appointment:
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