RAF Chicksands

RAF Chicksands
Near Shefford, Bedfordshire in England
RAF Chicksands Shown within Bedfordshire
Coordinates	52°02′29″N 000°21′31″W / 52.04139°N 0.35861°W / 52.04139; -0.35861Coordinates: 52°02′29″N 000°21′31″W / 52.04139°N 0.35861°W / 52.04139; -0.35861
Type	Royal Air Force station
Site information
Owner	Ministry of Defence
Operator	Royal Air Force United States Air Force
Site history
Built	1936 (1936)
In use	1936-1997 (1997)

Royal Air Force Chicksands or more simply RAF Chicksands is a former Royal Air Force station located 7.7 miles (12.4 km) south east of Bedford, Bedfordshire and 11.6 miles (18.7 km) north east of Luton, Bedfordshire.

It closed in 1997 when responsibility for the camp was taken over by the British Army Intelligence Corps. Near the town of Shefford it is named after Chicksands Priory, a 12th-century Gilbertine monastery located within the perimeter of the camp.

The Crown Commissioners bought the Chicksands estate on 15 April 1936, later being rented to Gerald Bagshawe, who lived there until it was requisitioned by the Royal Navy. After nine months the RAF took over operations and established a signal intelligence collection (SIGINT) unit there, known as a Y Station.

The site operated as a SIGINT collection site throughout the Second World War, intercepting German traffic and passing the resulting material to the Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park.

United States Air Force Europe In 1950 the site was subleased to the United States Air Force serving as the base of the 6940th Radio Squadron, responsible for continued communications and SIGINT operation through the Cold War. The RAF continued to act as a host unit for the resident USAF units, including over time the 6950th United States Air Force Security Squadron, later becoming the 6950th Electronic Security Group and the 7274th Air Base Group.