RAF Chicksands

Last updated

RAF Chicksands
Ensign of the Royal Air Force.svg United States Air Forces in Europe.svg
Near Shefford, Bedfordshire in England
RAF Chicksands - geograph.org.uk - 382483.jpg
An entrance to RAF Chicksands
Bedfordshire UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
RAF Chicksands
Location within Bedfordshire
Coordinates 52°02′29″N000°21′31″W / 52.04139°N 0.35861°W / 52.04139; -0.35861
TypeSignals intelligence station
Area172 hectares [1]
Site information
Owner Ministry of Defence
Operator Royal Air Force (1936–1950)
United States Air Force (1950–1996)
ConditionClosed
Site history
Built1936 (1936)
In use1936–1997 (1997)
FateTransferred to the British Army and became the Defence Intelligence and Security Centre (DISC) and the headquarters of the Intelligence Corps. Now the Joint Intelligence Training Group (JITG)).

Royal Air Force Chicksands or more simply RAF Chicksands, was a 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. [2] Near the town of Shefford it is named after Chicksands Priory, a 12th-century Gilbertine monastery located within the perimeter of the camp. [3]

Contents

Now the location of the Defence Intelligence and Security Centre (DISC), it is now named MOD Chicksands.

Site history

The Crown Commissioners bought the Chicksands estate on 15 April 1936, later renting it 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. [4]

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. [5]

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. [6]

In 1962, a 1,443 feet (440 m) diameter AN/FLR-9 Wullenweber antenna array was constructed at Chicksands to form part of the Iron Horse HF direction finding network. This antenna array, dubbed the Elephant Cage, was dismantled in 1996 when the USAF withdrew from the site, handing it back to the British Armed Forces. [7]

During the annual airshow, on 7 July 1979, Colonel Thomas Thompson piloting a Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II crashed approximately 1.5 miles (2.4 km) north of the site and was killed. [8]

Return to British Armed Forces control

In 1997 the Intelligence Corps assumed responsibility for the site, moving the Corps Headquarters from Ashford, Kent along with Intelligence Training. [9]

Current use

Since 1997 the site has been the home of the Defence Intelligence and Security Centre (DISC) and the Headquarters of the Intelligence Corps. In January 2015, the site became home to the Joint Intelligence Training Group (JITG). [10]

JITG conducts training for personnel of all three arms of the British Armed Forces, members of the Civil Service and others. Courses are delivered across the range of Intelligence disciplines.

HMS Ferret is a Royal Naval Reserve training centre formed in 1989 at the Intelligence Corps centre in Ashford. The unit transferred with the Corps and the Defence Intelligence and Security Centre in 1997. [11]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Defence Intelligence</span> Intelligence agency of the United Kingdom

Defence Intelligence (DI) is an organisation within the United Kingdom intelligence community which focuses on gathering and analysing military intelligence. It differs from the UK's intelligence agencies in that it is an integral part of a government department – the Ministry of Defence (MoD) – rather than a stand-alone organisation. The organisation employs a mixture of civilian and military staff and is funded within the UK's defence budget. The organisation was formerly known as the Defence Intelligence Staff (DIS), but changed its name in 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RAF Fairford</span> Royal Air Force station in Gloucestershire, United Kingdom

Royal Air Force Fairford or more simply RAF Fairford is a Royal Air Force (RAF) station in Gloucestershire, United Kingdom. While being an RAF station, Fairford hosts United States Air Force personnel. Since 2019, the base has played host to a Lockheed U-2S Dragon Lady detachment from the 99th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron. It is the USAF's only European airfield for heavy bombers and routinely supports Bomber Task Force (BTF) operations. Its most prominent use in recent years has been as an airfield for United States Air Force B-52s during the 2003 Iraq War, Operation Allied Force in 1999, and the first Gulf War in 1991.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RAF Henlow</span> Royal Air Force support station in Bedfordshire, England

Royal Air Force Henlow or more simply RAF Henlow is a Royal Air Force station in Bedfordshire, England, equidistant from Bedford, Luton and Stevenage. It houses the RAF Centre of Aviation Medicine, the Joint Arms Control Implementation Group (JACIG), elements of Defence Equipment and Support, and the Signals Museum. It formerly hosted light aircraft flying and 616 Volunteer Gliding Squadron. The Ministry of Defence announced on 6 September 2016 that the base is set to be closed following a consultation. Flying activity ceased in July 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RAF Spadeadam</span> Royal Air Force station in Cumbria, England

RAF Spadeadam is a Royal Air Force (RAF) station in Cumbria, England, close to the border with Northumberland. It is the home of the 9,000 acre (36 km2) electronic warfare (EW) tactics range, making it the largest RAF base in the United Kingdom. Its primary use is for EW training to the RAF and NATO allies. The site and course of Hadrian's Wall runs a few miles south of the range.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intelligence Corps (United Kingdom)</span> Intelligence arm of the British Army

The Intelligence Corps is a corps of the British Army. It is responsible for gathering, analysing and disseminating military intelligence and also for counter-intelligence and security. The Director of the Intelligence Corps is a brigadier.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sculthorpe Training Area</span> Former Royal Air Force station, now military training site in Norfolk, England

Sculthorpe Training Area, previously Royal Air Force Station Sculthorpe and commonly abbreviated RAF Sculthorpe, is a training site owned by the British Ministry of Defence (MoD). It is approximately 3 miles west of Fakenham in the county of Norfolk in England. It forms part of the Defence Training Estate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RAF Intelligence</span> British air force intelligence services (1939–1964)

Intelligence services in the Royal Air Force are delivered by Officers of the Royal Air Force Intelligence Branch and Airmen from the Intelligence Analyst Trade and Intelligence Analyst (Voice) Trade. The specialisation has around 1,200 personnel of all ranks posted to operational air stations, HQs and other establishments of the British Armed Forces, both in the United Kingdom and overseas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chicksands Priory</span>

Chicksands Priory is a former monastic house at Chicksands in Bedfordshire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Strategic Command (United Kingdom)</span> Military unit

The United Kingdom's Strategic Command (StratCom), previously known as Joint Forces Command (JFC), manages allocated joint capabilities from the three armed services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chicksands</span> Human settlement in England

Chicksands is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Campton and Chicksands in the Central Bedfordshire district of Bedfordshire, England. The village is on the River Flit and close to its parish village of Campton and the town of Shefford.

The Joint Services School of Intelligence - officially known as the School of Service Intelligence (SSI) - was formed in around 1969 by adding Royal Navy and Royal Air Force elements to the former School of Military Intelligence. It was based at Templer Barracks in Ashford, Kent, United Kingdom alongside the Headquarters and Depot of the British Army's Intelligence Corps and the Joint Service Interrogation Wing.

Ministry of Defence Chicksands, or more simply MOD Chicksands, is a tri-service British Armed Forces facility in Bedfordshire, approximately 35 miles (56 km) north of London. The site was formerly the home of the Defence Intelligence and Security Centre (DISC) after it moved from Ashford in 1997. The Joint Intelligence Training Group (JITG) is based at MOD Chicksands.

RAF Brampton Wyton Henlow is a former Royal Air Force unit covering three distinct sites in Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire. The three sites, separately known as RAF Brampton, RAF Wyton and RAF Henlow, housed a number of flying training, intelligence, security and other RAF support organisations. On 2 April 2012 the unit was disbanded with RAF Brampton being renamed Brampton Camp RAF Wyton.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Defence Survive, Evade, Resist, Extract Training Organisation</span> British military unit

The Defence Survive, Evade, Resist, Extract (SERE) Training Organisation (DSTO), is a military training organisation based at RAF St Mawgan, Cornwall, in the United Kingdom. It is tri-service and trains personnel in survival techniques, evading capture and resistance from interrogation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">450th Intelligence Squadron</span> Military unit

The United States Air Force's 450th Intelligence Squadron is an intelligence unit located at Ramstein Air Base, Germany. The squadron was first activated in July 1974 as the 6950th Security Squadron and served as an intelligence gathering unit in the United Kingdom until inactivating in 1995. It was reactivated in 2007. The Squadron's motto is Warbirds Never Quit!

<span class="mw-page-title-main">693rd Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Group</span> Military unit

The United States Air Force's 693rd Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Group is an intelligence unit located at Ramstein Air Base, Germany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RAF Cosford</span> Royal Air Force training base in Shropshire, England

Royal Air Force Cosford or RAF Cosford is a Royal Air Force station in Cosford, Shropshire, England just to the northwest of Wolverhampton and next to Albrighton.

The Defence School of Photography (DSoP) is a training centre for all photographers drawn from the three arms of the British Military and the Civil Service. The School has been located at RAF Cosford in Shropshire, England since 1963 and in its own purpose built building at Cosford since 1965. The school has gone through several iterations being firstly a Royal Flying Corps school, then a Royal Air Force School, then a Joint school before becoming the DSoP in 2003.

References

  1. ↑ "Defence Estates Development Plan (DEDP) 2009 - Annex A" (PDF). GOV.UK. Ministry of Defence. 3 July 2009. p. 17. Retrieved 7 June 2018.
  2. ↑ Beatty, Gavin (2010). "Bedfordshire Defence Intelligence and Security Centre". Sanctuary. No. 39. Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom). p. 67. ISSN   0959-4132.
  3. ↑ "MOD". Friends of Chicksands Priory. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
  4. ↑ "Defence Intelligence and Security Centre". Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom) . Retrieved 16 June 2016.
  5. ↑ "History of the Intelligence Corps" (PDF). Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom) . Retrieved 16 June 2016.
  6. ↑ "The Military at Chicksands Priory". Bedford Council. Retrieved 15 June 2016.
  7. ↑ "The Military at Chicksands Priory". bedsarchives.bedford.gov.uk. 21 June 2019. Retrieved 19 June 2020.
  8. ↑ "ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 56116". Aviation Safety Network. 26 February 2015. Retrieved 15 June 2016.
  9. ↑ Van Der Bijl, Nick (2013). "The Coalition Years; the 1990s". Sharing the Secret; the history of the Intelligence Corps. Barnsley: Pen & Sword. p. 311. ISBN   9781848844131.
  10. ↑ "Bedfordshire - Joint Intelligence Training Group Chicksands". Sanctuary (44): 74. 2015. ISSN   0959-4132.
  11. ↑ "HMS Ferret". Royal Navy. Retrieved 15 June 2016.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.