RAF West Drayton
| Royal Air Force West Drayton | |
|---|---|
Station Crest
|
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| Active | 1924 to 2008 |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Branch | Royal Air Force |
| Garrison/HQ | West Drayton, Middlesex |
| Motto(s) | "Protect" |
| Royal Air Force Ensign |  |
RAF West Drayton was a non-flying Royal Air Force station in West Drayton, within the London Borough of Hillingdon, which served as the main centre for military air traffic control in the United Kingdom. It was co-located with the civilian London Terminal Control Centre to provide a vital link between civil and military flying and airspace requirements. Following the departure of the remaining civil and military air traffic control systems by 2008, the site was closed and demolished for a new residential development.
The station was used to house 700 athletes competing at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, together with RAF Uxbridge and Richmond.
The station became a unit of No. 11 Group RAF in January 1965.
RAF West Drayton was also the home of the Linesman System, hence the main Operations Building being known as the L1. The system used Link 1 to exchange Air Defence data between the UK and Europe. There were links to Continental Early Warning (CEW) sites at: Reitan, Maakeroy, Vaedbek, Niew Milligan, Glons and Doulons.
Aerospace System Operators (ASOps or Scopies) were responsible for the tracking and identification of every flight - military and civil, that entered or left the UK Air Defence Region (UKADR). This was a labour-intensive task in the days before automatic initiation and tracking systems, but a big improvement on the plotting table and small perspex plaques with information written on them. The School of Fighter Control continued to teach plotting and writing backwards until 1990.
The School of Fighter Control moved to RAF West Drayton from RAF Bawdsey, training junior officers to be Fighter Controllers. In addition to teaching RAF officers, foreign and commonwealth students also attended, and there was even one course of Yugoslavian MiG pilots.
The station also became responsible for collecting and analysing many reports of UFOs after information was received by the Ministry of Defence.
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