RAF Gibraltar

RAF Gibraltar, also formerly known as North Front, is a Royal Air Force station on Gibraltar. No military aircraft are currently stationed there, but RAF, Commonwealth and aircraft of other NATO nations will periodically arrive for transient stopovers, exercises, or other temporary duty. Administered by British Forces Gibraltar, the station is a joint civil-military facility that also functions as the Rock's civilian airport – Gibraltar Airport, with the civilian airport's passenger terminal building and apron facilities located on the north side of the runway while the apron and hangar of RAF Gibraltar are located on the south side of the runway.

History
A Royal Naval Air Service seaplane base was opened at Gibraltar during the First World War.

The airport was constructed during World War II when Gibraltar was an important naval base for the British. Originally opened in 1939, it was only an emergency airfield for the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. However, the runway was later extended by reclaiming some land from the Bay of Gibraltar using rock blasted from the Rock of Gibraltar while carrying out works on military tunnels. This last major extension of the runway allowed larger aircraft to land at Gibraltar. At this time the airfield completely obliterated the former Gibraltar horse racing track. RAF North Front opened in 1942 and RAF New Camp opened around the same time.

The airfield played a major part in Operation Torch, the Anglo-American invasion of French North Africa (French colonial possessions in Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco) during the war.

Following the major reorganization of the Allied air forces at the Casablanca Conference in January 1943, RAF Gibraltar became a major sub-command of the Mediterranean Air Command under Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder in February 1943.

The station officially became "RAF Gibraltar" in 1966.

Units stationed
Anti-submarine warfare was a major priority of RAF Gibraltar during World War II and some of their aircraft were equipped with special detectors to locate German U-boats in the relatively shallow waters around Gibraltar. United States Navy Fleet Air Wing 15 based at Port Lyautey coordinated its antisubmarine warfare operations with RAF Gibraltar and assigned a ZP-14 Squadron blimp pilot/liaison officer to Gibraltar.

On July 18, 1944, the Commander of RAF Gibraltar, Air Vice-Marshal Alick Stevens, was introduced to the antisubmarine technology of a USN K-ship when ZP-14 Commander Emmett J. Sullivan took him for a short blimp ride. The Goodyear K-112 was the first K-ship to land in Europe earlier the same day.



The airfield, which today is used mainly for civil flights, is unusual in that the main access road from Gibraltar to Spain crosses the airfield, necessitating the road to be closed whenever aircraft movements are in progress. When the RAF holds an exercise, this causes significant disruption to traffic flow. RAF Gibraltar used to have an Avro Vulcan K2 as a gate guard, but this was later scrapped.

On February 4, 2011, The new RAF headquarters in Gibraltar was officially opened by The Chief of Joint Operations, Air Marshal Sir Stuart Peach. 'The Jaguar Building' is the result of several years of planning and follows the enhancement of transport links with Spain, which will include a tunnel under the runway. The old RAF site was needed for a new air terminal, so the Gibraltar Government agreed to pay for the new Headquarters and it was the perfect opportunity to put all sections under one roof.

Commanding officers

 * Air Vice-Marshal Sturley Simpson - AOC, AHQ Gibraltar December 1941 to Feb 1944
 * Air Vice Marshal William Elliott - AOC, RAF Gibraltar Feb 1944 to June 1944
 * Air Vice Marshal Alick Stevens - AOC, RAF Gibraltar June 1944 - August 1945

Gibraltar squadrons

 * No. 202 Squadron RAF
 * No. 224 Squadron RAF (Disbanded)