RAF Bruntingthorpe

Royal Air Force Station Bruntingthorpe or more simply RAF Bruntingthorpe is a former Royal Air Force station located 4.2 mi north east of Lutterworth, Leicestershire and 10 mi south of Leicester, Leicestershire, England.

It was operational between 1942 and 1962 and it is currently known as Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome.

Royal Air Force use
The station was opened in 1942 as home of No. 29 Operational Training Unit RAF (OTU) operating the Vickers Wellington. Bruntingthorpe was not used between 1946 and 1957 when it transferred to the United States Air Force as a satellite of RAF Alconbury.

United States Air Force use
The United States Air Force used Bruntingthorpe from 1957 until 1962 as a heavy bomber base.

The facility was transferred from RAF control to the Strategic Air Command in the mid-1950s, and the airfield was almost totally rebuilt. The wartime, one mile long runway was removed and a new almost two mile long one was constructed on totally new, deep foundations, strong enough to take the Boeing B-47 Stratojet nuclear bomber. A new hangar was constructed, large enough to take two Stratojets for servicing. The first B-47E bomber aircraft of the 100th Bomb Wing flew from the USA arriving in January, 1959. Following General de Gaulle's requirement for all foreign nuclear forces to leave France, there was a major readjustment of USAF deployments in Western Europe, and the B-47s returned to the USA.

The Stratojets were replaced by the Douglas RB-66B Destroyers of the 19th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron of the 10th TR Wing in August, 1959. The 10th TR Wing was based at RAF Alconbury near Huntingdon, but it could not accommodate all three squadrons of the wing, so one was based at Bruntingthorpe, which became its satellite. RAF Bruntingthorpe was closed when the USAF left in August 1962.

Present day
The airfield is now known as Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome, and is no longer the home of the airworthy Avro Vulcan XH558, the aircraft leaving at the start of the 2009 display season, she is currently at Robin Hood Airport. It is also home to the Lightning Preservation Group whose pair of English Electric Lightning F6s can be seen carrying out fast taxi and takeoff runs on open days.