RAF Wittering News

RAF WITTERING has been awarded the prestigious Stainforth Trophy, the Royal Air Force’s top award for one of its Stations.

The Stainforth Trophy is awarded annually to the Station whose overall performance in the preceding calendar year has been most effective in the delivery of: support to operations, the development of its people, and its readiness to respond and adapt. The Station must also demonstrate that it has enhanced the Royal Air Force’s reputation and core values.

2018 was a busy year for Royal Air Force Wittering and the A4 Force. In March 2018 the Beast from the East poured deep snow onto Lincolnshire and the Station’s drivers rescued trapped healthcare and emergency service workers, making sure they were able to get into work. RAF Wittering also made huge logistics contributions to RAF100 and hosted the Hawk jets that took part in the epic flypast over London.

The Cambridgeshire Station is home to the RAF’s specialist engineering and logistics squadrons that support UK air operations and exercises at home and abroad, collectively known as the A4 Force. Units from Wittering are currently deployed to Estonia in support of the NATO Baltic air-policing mission.

Wittering’s spacious airfield welcomed many aircraft in 2018. Heavy transport aircraft arrived for the first iterations of Exercise Swift Pirate and there were visits from military helicopters of almost every current type. RAF Wittering’s core flying role, the training of new pilots, continued throughout.

Wing Commander George Hedley Stainforth (1899 – 1942) was a Royal Air Force Pilot and the first man to exceed 400 miles per hour. The trophy bearing his name was last awarded to RAF Wittering in 2014 and, in recent years has been won by RAF Marham and RAF Lossiemouth.

Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) subjects also featured at RAF Wittering 2018. In addition to holding a hugely successful residential camp, where cadets learnt about STEM subjects in a military setting, the Station was the venue for the Race for the Line national finals. Over 300 secondary school students designed and built rocket-powered micro-dragsters in teams and competed to find the fastest.    

Group Captain Tony Keeling was Station Commander throughout 2018. He said: “2018 was a very busy year for RAF Wittering, but we have exceptional people who rose to the challenges with absolute professionalism and delivered everything that was asked of them. It’s important to remember that everything we did to support RAF100 and STEM learning was in addition to our core duties.”

The award comes at a significant moment for Group Captain Keeling as he prepares to leave RAF Wittering in August, on promotion to Air Commodore. He concluded: “I am filled with pride, this is a fantastic recognition for a brilliant team of Regulars, Reservists, Civil Servants and Contractor colleagues across the Station and the wider A4 Force who work exceptionally hard to support Defence operations and exercises, flying training, our families and community. Thank you.”