Marne Barracks |
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Summary | |||||||||||||||||||
Airport type | Military | ||||||||||||||||||
Owner | Ministry of Defence | ||||||||||||||||||
Operator |
Royal Flying Corps 1914-1918 Royal Air Force 1918-1994 British Army 1994 - Present |
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Location | Catterick, North Yorkshire, England | ||||||||||||||||||
Elevation AMSL | 171 ft / 52 m | ||||||||||||||||||
Coordinates | 54°21′55″N 001°37′11″W / 54.36528°N 1.61972°WCoordinates: 54°21′55″N 001°37′11″W / 54.36528°N 1.61972°W | ||||||||||||||||||
Map | |||||||||||||||||||
Location in North Yorkshire | |||||||||||||||||||
Runways | |||||||||||||||||||
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Marne Barracks, formerly RAF Catterick, is a former Royal Air Force airfield located near Catterick, North Yorkshire in England. It is located alongside the A1 on the outskirts of Catterick Village. Operationally it falls under the command of Catterick Garrison. It currently houses 5th Regiment Royal Artillery and 32 Engineer Regiment.
Catterick airfield first opened in 1914 as a Royal Flying Corps aerodrome with the role of training pilots and to assist in the defence of the North East of England. It came under RAF administration in 1918 and housed Number 49 Training Depot.
In 1927, it temporarily came under the administration of the British Army, under the Army Air Co-Operation Command which would supply the army with any air support needs that would be required. This continued until 1939 when the station was handed back to the RAF.
During the Second World War, the airfield operated a small satellite station called RAF Scorton near the village of Scorton.
Catterick's runway could not be extended from its existing 3,350 ft (1,020 m) for the jet age due to the perimeter being bounded by the Great North Road (A1) and the River Swale. Therefore, Catterick's importance declined after the Second World War, though it still housed training institutes for many years.
The following squadrons have at some points been stationed at RAF Catterick:
Catterick served as a RAF Regiment depot occupied by operational Squadrons and was the training base for the RAF Regiment from 1946-1994 when the Regiment's training facilities moved to RAF Honington. Catterick was also the training centre for the RAF Fire Service until the 1990s. As a fire school it had a "rescue set" the mock up of a house to simulate search and rescue scenarios. It also had a burning area where ex service aircraft were covered in fuel and set alight including in 1983 a complete Avro Vulcan Bomber. There were also a number of retired airframes used for practice rescues and deployments. The Fire Fighting & Rescue squadron moved to RAF Manston in 1989.