Wideawake Airfield

RAF Ascension
Wideawake Airfield
Part of British Forces South Atlantic Islands
Near Georgetown in Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha
A RAF Tristar at RAF Ascension Island.
Auxilium Trans Mare (Latin for Support across the Sea)
RAF Ascension Island Shown within Ascension Island
Coordinates	07°58′10″S 014°23′38″W / 7.96944°S 14.39389°W / -7.96944; -14.39389Coordinates: 07°58′10″S 014°23′38″W / 7.96944°S 14.39389°W / -7.96944; -14.39389
Type	Permanent Joint Operating Base
Area	55 hectares
Site information
Owner	Ministry of Defence
Operator	Royal Air Force
Controlled by	Joint Forces Command
Website	www.ascension-flights.com/ascension-flights-info.htm
Site history
Built	1939 (1939)
In use	1939 – present
Airfield information
Identifiers	IATA: ASI, ICAO: FHAW, WMO: 61902
Elevation	78.6 metres (258 ft) AMSL
Runways Direction Length and surface 13/31 3,054 metres (10,020 ft) Asphalt
No Instrument landing system (ILS)

RAF Ascension (IATA: ASI, ICAO: FHAW) (more commonly known as RAF Ascension Island, and sometimes known as Wideawake Airfield or Ascension Island Base), is a British Royal Air Force station on Ascension Island in the Atlantic Ocean, near the Equator.

In 1939 Ascension became important as a HF/DF radio station covering trade routes. The first aircraft to land on Ascension Island was a Fairey Swordfish from HMS Archer in June, 1942. On 18 November 2017 SA Airlink commenced a scheduled weekly charter from Jamestown St Helena to the island.

Wideawake Airfield (named for a noisy colony of sooty terns nearby) was a World War II US military installation built in 1942 by arrangement with the British government. The airfield was built using a US task force and went on to be used by more than 25,000 aircraft as a staging point during the war. The airfield was abandoned at the end of the war and fell into disuse.

Ascension Island Auxiliary Field was being built by 181 men from Saint Helena for the United States Air Force (USAF) by 1957 (official activation as a satellite of Patrick Air Force Base in Florida was on 25 June 1956).

The Target Tracking Radar Station was a Nike Zeus test facility for tracking reentry vehicles from Cape Canaveral missile launches. Built from 1960-1961 for anti-ballistic missile measurement, the "Golf Ball" was on Cat Hill, and a collimation tower for radar calibration was towards English Bay.