RAF Uxbridge - History - Post-war Years

Post-war Years

RAF Uxbridge served as an athlete's village for the male competitors in the 1948 Summer Olympics. Swimmers trained at nearby Uxbridge Lido, and female athletes were housed at RAF West Drayton. Personnel from RAF Uxbridge were moved out to RAF Stanmore Park and transported back to the station daily for their shifts. In 1949, the RAF Cricket Association opened on Vine Lane on the western boundary of the station. Also moving into the stations grounds in October of that year were the 14F squadron or the Air Training Corps,their access also being via Vine Lane.The station's crest was approved in April 1953, incorporating a drill sergeant's pace stick to symbolise the training of recruits, and a bugle to represent the Central Band of the RAF; Uxbridge was the first RAF station in Middlesex to have a crest approved.

The ceremonial entrance to the north-west of the station, St Andrew's Gate, was officially opened on 16 December 1957 to mark the link between Uxbridge and the Royal Air Force. A memorial to the personnel of No. 11 Group, made of Cornish granite, was placed in the ground above the Operations Room in 1957. No. 11 Group moved to RAF Martlesham Heath on 14 April 1958 and the room was soon sealed in its original condition. The memorial was unveiled by Air Chief Marshal Lord Dowding on 23 April 1958 in a ceremony attended by Group Captain Douglas Bader and Wing Commander Lord Willoughby de Broke, among others, and marked by a flypast of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight. Control of RAF Hillingdon passed from Fighter Command to Technical Training Command that year, at which time the entire site became known as RAF Uxbridge. The RAF School of Education moved into Hillingdon House from RAF Spitalgate on 10 November 1958, and the station was subsequently merged with No. 22 Group RAF.

The station was granted the Freedom of the London Borough of Hillingdon on 19 March 1960, an honour allowing the station's personnel to march throughout the borough in uniform. On 1 November that year, the Queen's Colour Squadron of the RAF Regiment moved to Uxbridge and the Southern Region Air Traffic Services headquarters moved into Hillingdon House. After the war, the station was already home to the London Area Control Centre, renamed the London Air Traffic Control Centre in 1948 and the Uxbridge Air Traffic Control Centre in 1957. This eventually transferred to RAF West Drayton but remained under the parentage of RAF Uxbridge.

The 11 Group Operations Room was extensively surveyed in order for a replica to be built at Pinewood Studios for the 1969 film Battle of Britain. Scenes for the 1996 television miniseries Over Here and an episode of Richard Holmes' War Walks were filmed in the Operations Room itself. The reinforced Uniter building was built on the site in the 1970s to house communications equipment. Although no longer used for this purpose, the building contains two fuel storage tanks. The main entrance to the station was moved in 1972 from beside the station cinema to its present location roughly 50 yards (46 m) south.

Over nine months in 1975, the 11 Group Operations Room was restored by No. 9 Signals Unit. The original map was repaired and returned to the table by the RAF Cartography unit, and the board detailing the readiness and activities of each sector squadron was rebuilt to resemble its status on 15 September 1940. A museum was created within the bunker and the Operations Room opened for group visits.

In January 1981, the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) planted a bomb in the Suvla barrack block at RAF Uxbridge. The device was discovered and the 35 RAF musicians and 15 airmen living there were evacuated before it exploded. Following the incident, an enquiry began and security at all RAF stations was reviewed. The following year, many RAF personnel from the station were deployed during the Falklands War. The station went on to celebrate its 70th anniversary in 1987 by staging several events that raised £30,000 for the RAF Benevolent Fund.

RAF Uxbridge also became involved in Operation Granby following the Iraqi Invasion of Kuwait in August 1990. Personnel at Uxbridge were prepared for service in the Gulf at that time, and deployed that year in December. During the aerial assault on Iraq in January 1991, support group meetings began at the station for the families of service personnel serving during the Gulf War. Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, visited one of these groups in February 1991.

The station church, St Luke's, became structurally unsound on 21 November 1990 after the foundations failed. The building dated back to 1933 and had been constructed of wood; the walls were pushed out and the floor rose by 4 inches (100 mm). In March 1993, the Leigh-Mallory bridge was opened across the River Pinn, and the church moved into a new permanent home, Building 231, in March 1995. Jim Bolger, then Prime Minister of New Zealand, visited the station in May, and in October, the station's new sports centre opened.

RAF Uxbridge personnel were once more prepared for action in the Gulf in 2003 in readiness for Operation Telic in Iraq. A support network for the families of service personnel sent into action was again established at the station. In March 2003 the Under-Secretary of State for Defence was briefed at Uxbridge as part of preparations for a visit to the Gulf.

Personnel paraded through Uxbridge town centre on 28 November 2007, exercising the freedom of the borough granted to the station in 1960. RAF Uxbridge became a satellite station of RAF Northolt on 1 April 2008, in preparation for the eventual closure. In the final years of RAF ownership, the Service Prosecuting Authority and Civil Aviation Authority's UK Airprox Board (investigating air proximity incidents) was based in Hillingdon House. The final of the national Carnegie Champions schools rugby tournament was held at the station in August 2008. The link between RAF Uxbridge and the Royal Observer Corps was renewed in 2008 with the closure of RAF Bentley Priory and the relocation to Uxbridge of ROC memorabilia from the Priory Officers' Mess for safekeeping and display. The Royal Observer Corps had been stood down from operational duties in December 1995.

The Queen's Colour Squadron returned from a six-month tour of duty in Afghanistan in 2009, marked by a homecoming parade through Uxbridge town centre held on 5 August 2009. More than 20,000 people watched the parade, which started from Uxbridge Magistrates Court, passing along the town's High Street to the RAF station.