History
RAF Linton-on-Ouse opened on 13 May 1937 as a bomber airfield and was the home of No. 4 Group RAF until 1940. The base's first commander was Wing Commander A D Pryor (1938 Air Force Lists).
When the Second World War began, bombers were launched from Linton to drop propaganda leaflets over Germany and the base was eventually used to launch bombing raids on Norway, The Netherlands, Germany, and Italy. Linton was one of 11 stations allocated to No. 6 Group, Royal Canadian Air Force during the war.
At the end of the war the station was involved with transporting passengers and freight back to the UK. After which it became a Fighter Command station operating the Gloster Meteor, Canadair Sabre and Hawker Hunter until it was closed for maintenance in 1957.
On 9 September 1957, the base was reopened as the home of No 1 Flying Training School (FTS) and was responsible for training pilots for both the RAF and the Navy.
In 1985, engineering and supply services were contracted out to private firms. The contract for this is currently held by VT Aerospace.
Today, Linton-on-Ouse is used to provide fast jet pilot training before they move onto the BAE Hawk T.1 aircraft at No 4 FTS, RAF Valley in Wales. Weapon Systems Operators receive part of their training here also. In addition, the base is used by 642 VGS (Volunteer Gliding Squadron) to teach Air Cadets how to fly the Grob Vigilant aircraft. The station houses a memorial room which recounts the history of the base and the units which have been associated with it.
Read more about this topic: RAF Linton-on-Ouse
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“History ... is, indeed, little more than the register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind.
But what experience and history teach is this—that peoples and governments have never learned anything from history, or acted on principles deduced from it.”
—Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)
“Let us not underrate the value of a fact; it will one day flower in a truth. It is astonishing how few facts of importance are added in a century to the natural history of any animal. The natural history of man himself is still being gradually written.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The history of mankind interests us only as it exhibits a steady gain of truth and right, in the incessant conflict which it records between the material and the moral nature.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)