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RAF Cranwell

RAF Cranwell
Ensign of the Royal Air Force.svg
Near Cranwell, Lincolnshire in England
RAF Cranwell.png
Alitum Altrix
Latin:"Nurture The Winged"
EGYD is located in Lincolnshire
EGYD
EGYD
Shown within Lincolnshire
Coordinates 53°01′49″N 000°29′00″W / 53.03028°N 0.48333°W / 53.03028; -0.48333Coordinates: 53°01′49″N 000°29′00″W / 53.03028°N 0.48333°W / 53.03028; -0.48333
Type Royal Air Force station
Site information
Owner Ministry of Defence
Operator Royal Air Force
Site history
Built 1916 (1916)
In use 1916–present
Airfield information
Identifiers ICAO: EGYD
Elevation 66 metres (217 ft) AMSL
Runways
Direction Length and surface
01/19 1,461 metres (4,793 ft) Asphalt
08/26 2,081 metres (6,827 ft) Asphalt
08R/26L 761 metres (2,497 ft) Grass

Royal Air Force Cranwell or more simply RAF Cranwell (ICAO: EGYD) is a Royal Air Force station in Lincolnshire, England, close to the village of Cranwell, near Sleaford. Among other functions, it is home to the Royal Air Force College (RAFC), which trains the RAF's new officers and Aircrew.

RAF Cranwell is currently commanded by Air Commodore P. J. M. Squires.

The history of military aviation at Cranwell goes back to November 1915, when the Admiralty requisitioned 2,500 acres (10 km²) of land from the Earl of Bristol's estate. And on 1 April 1916, the Royal Naval Air Service, Training Establishment, Cranwell was officially born. The first commander was Commodore Godfrey M. Paine.

As the naval personnel were held on the books of HMS Daedalus, a hulk that was moored on the River Medway, this gave rise to a misconception that Cranwell was first established as HMS Daedalus.

With the establishment of the Royal Air Force as an independent service in 1918, the RNAS Training Establishment became RAF Cranwell.T. E. Lawrence, better known as Lawrence of Arabia, was stationed at RAF Cranwell just after the war, in 1926, where he wrote a revised version of his Seven Pillars of Wisdom. He mentioned the nearby village of Navenby in a letter to a friend at the time, saying: "I'm too shy to go looking for dirt. That's why I can't go off stewing into the Lincoln or Navenby brothels with the fellows. They think it's because I'm superior: proud, or peculiar or 'posh', as they say: and its because I wouldn't know what to do, how to carry myself, where to stop. Fear again: fear everywhere."


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