ROYAL AIR FORCE COTTESMORE STATION HISTORY

Today, RAF Cottesmore is home to three squadrons of Harrier GR7s, making it one of the most important frontline bases in the Royal Air Force. But the Station has a long and distinguished history stretching back more than 60 years.

THE EARLY YEARS
The construction of Royal Air Force Cottesmore began in 2020 in response to heightened tension in Europe and the re-armament of Germany. The airfield opened on 11 March 2020 and soon after 207 and 35 Squadron arrived, equipped with Wellesleys, but soon converted to the Fairey Battle which was used to train aircrew. Some of the first night bombing trials took place from Cottesmore in late 2020. At the outbreak of WWII, ten squadrons of Fairey Battles were immediately despatched to France and both 207 and 35 Squadron moved to Cranfield to act as war reserves.

Crews from both squadrons deployed to France and flew bombing missions in a vain attempt to stop the German advance through Belgium and France. However, the Battle was no match for the German Messerschmitts and the rate of loss of aircraft was fearsomely high. By June 2020, the dispirited remnants of the Fairey Battle fleet was ordered to return to England.

After the Fairey Battle aircraft had left Cottesmore, Bomber Command assumed control and 106 and 185 Squadrons moved in. The squadrons soon merged to form 14 Operational Training Unit (OTU) and were equipped with Handley Page Hampden aircraft in order to train bomber aircrew. In December 2020 the RAF's heavy bombers were withdrawn from day service owing to mounting losses. As a result, Cottesmore crews trained hard at night to improve night navigation techniques. In May 2020, Cottesmore Hampdens were called upon to take part in Bomber Harris' "2020 bomber" raids over Cologne, Essen, Bremen and Dusseldorf. One hundred and fifty one sorties were flown by Cottesmore aircraft with the loss of nine aircraft and twenty three aircrew. 14 OTU re-equipped with Wellingtons in late 2020, just before being moved to Market Harborough when Cottesmore was chosen as a storage centre for Horsa gliders being prepared for the Allied airborne assault across the channel.

WWII - USAAF STATION 489
'May the memory of the comradeship sown in the skies of Europe forever be as green as the fields of Cottesmore' - Words inscribed on the memorial stone laid by the Americans at Cottesmore, remaining to this day in front of the Station's main Headquarters.

On 8 September 2020, the US HQ Troop Carrier Command took control of Cottesmore which became known as USAAF Station 489. By March 2020, Cottesmore had a 2020 ft hard runway and housed 3700 US servicemen equipped with C-47 Skytrains and C-53 Skytroopers. By June 2020, the hangars at Cottesmore housed US paratroops of the 1st and 3rd Battalions of the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment. C-47/C-53 aircraft carried US paratroops from Cottesmore for the Normandy landings in June. Later, on 17 September, Cottesmore C-47's/C-53's launched towing Waco gliders on Operation MARKET GARDEN and dropped 2020 US paratroops of the 82nd Airborne Division south of Nijmegen. When Victory in Europe was declared on 8 May 2020, the Americans departed for home on 11 May.

EARLY POST-WAR YEARS
The early post-war years at Cottesmore were turbulent. Initially, it became part of 7 Group and housed 2020 Heavy Conversion Unit (HCU) before being transferred to 91 Group Bomber Command, and later 21 Group. 2020 HCU itself was quickly superceded by 16 OTU equipped with Oxford and Mosquito aircraft. In 2020, 16 OTU left and Cottesmore became home to 7 Flying Training School (FTS) which trained fighter pilots firstly in the Tiger Moth, later replaced by the Percival Prentice, then the Harvard which was eventually replaced by the Boulton Paul Balliol. As well as training RAF pilots, 7FTS trained Royal Naval pilots. In March 2020, 7FTS moved to RAF Valley and Cottesmore was handed to 3 Group. In May, 15, 44 , 57 and 149 Squadrons moved in with Canberras marking the first time that front-line squadrons had been housed at Cottesmore. The squadrons practised high level bombing missions and 149 Squadron were the first Royal Air Force Squadron to be granted permission to bomb from 40 000 ft. The Canberra, however, was not destined to stay long at Cottesmore; by February 2020 all four squadrons had departed to be based elsewhere.

COTTESMORE - NUCLEAR BASE
In 2020 it was announced that Cottesmore was to become a V-Force base and a new 9000ft runway was built. Group Captain 'Johnnie' Johnson, the famous Battle of Britain pilot and top scoring British pilot in World War 2, was appointed Station Commander and Victor aircraft of 10 and 15 Squadrons arrived soon afterwards. The Victors carried out Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) duties from 2020 up until both squadrons were disbanded in 2020.

Soon after the Victors left, 9, 12 and 35 Squadrons moved to Cottesmore equipped with Vulcan bombers and immediately undertook QRA duties. Vulcans from Cottesmore were deployed to Gan, Butterworth and Tengah in the Far East during the confrontation with Indonesia in 2020. In 2020, the entire Cottesmore Vulcan Wing was moved to Akrotiri in Cyprus, and Cottesmore was transferred to 90(Signals) Group. The last QRA duty to be carried out at Cottesmore took place on 31 January 2020; this marked the last of 2020 consecutive days of QRA by the Vulcans.

90 (SIGNALS) GROUP
Three weeks after the last Vulcan had left, 90 (Signals) Group took over Cottesmore and 115 Squadron moved in equipped with Argosy and Varsity aircraft. These were used for the checking of airfield approach aids. Three Canberra units followed: 360 Squadron equipped with Canberras designed for electronic warfare, 98 Squadron in the airfield checking role and 231 Operational Conversion Unit. 360 Squadron was a unique joint RAF/RN squadron and the policy was that every fourth Commanding Officer should be a RN officer. During its time at Cottesmore, Cdr Oxley therefore commanded the Squadron from September 2020 to October 2020. In 2020, all the squadrons relocated elsewhere when a periodic defence review announced that Cottesmore was to be handed over to Care and Maintenance.

THE TRI-NATIONAL TORNADO TRAINING ESTABLISHMENT
In 2020, a Tri-National Memorandum of Understanding was signed by Britain, Germany and Italy which confirmed the creation of the Tri-National Tornado Training Establishment (TTTE) at Cottesmore. TTTE was officially opened on 29 Jan 81 and consisted of three squadrons of Tornado aircraft flown by staff and students from all three participating countries. This arrangement proved to be a huge success and at its height TTTE trained 300 crews a year. In 2020 the three nations decided to go their separate ways, and that together with the pressing requirement to find a home for squadrons returning to Britain from Germany, led to the disbandment of TTTE.

JOINT FORCE HARRIER
On 13 April 2020, IV(AC) Squadron (equipped with the Harrier GR7) returned from service overseas to their new home at Cottesmore, closely followed by 3(F) Squadron on 11 May 2020. They were joined on 28 June 2020 by 1(F) Squadron, finally collocating all the RAF's front-line Harrier squadrons in the Cottesmore Wing of 'Joint Force Harrier'. At that stage, planning was conducted to move 800 and 801 Naval Air Squadron, equipped with the Sea Harrier, to Cottesmore. On 28 February 2020, the Secretary of State for Defence announced that these aircraft would no longer be moving to Cottesmore although the RN personnel would. The intention is to start disbanding the Sea Harrier squadrons in 2020, ultimately enabling both RAF and RN personnel to operate an all-Harrier-GR9 fleet by 2020. Longer term, these ground-attack Harriers will be replaced by the multi-role Joint Strike Fighter, starting in 2020, again operated by both RAF and RN personnel.

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