Former RAF Wainfleet (Range)

United Kingdom / England / Wainfleet All Saints /
 RAF - Royal Air Force, draw only border, closed / former military, target (military), firing range
RAF Wainfleet is a Royal Air Force weapons range on The Wash on the east coast of England near Wainfleet, in the civil parish of Friskney, although the north-east part of the range is in Wainfleet St Mary. Other ranges nearby include RAF Holbeach, also on The Wash, and Donna Nook. It is also known as The Wash (North side) Bombing Range. It is only a few miles south-west of Gibraltar Point.

The range opened in August 1938. However usage of the site as a range dated back to 1890 by the 1st Lincolnshire Artillery. During the 1920s and 1930s it was also used by the RAF and Royal Artillery. The range was administered by RAF Coningsby as an Air Weapons Range within RAF Strike Command. On 1 April 2006 control was transferred to Defence Estates and the range was then administered by Defence Training Estates (East) from their headquarters at West Tofts Camp near Thetford. It was used by both fixed wing and rotary aircraft from NATO. During the Second World War, it was used by 617 Squadron to test the Stabilizing Automatic Bomb Sight. Due to funding cuts the range was closed for operations on 2 December 2009 and finally closed in July 2010.

www.raf.mod.uk/organisation/stations.cfm?selectStation=...

www.phantomii.plus.com/rafwainfleet/wainrange.html
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Wainfleet
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   53°3'47"N   0°16'25"E

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This article was last modified 9 years ago