The Station

RAF Honington in Suffolk is home to some 1600 personnel including RAF, Army and MOD Civil Servants and Contractors.

The Station provides a home for the Headquarters responsible for delivery of RAF Police and RAF Regiment activities across the globe under Air Officer Global Enablement.

RAF Honington hosts initial and further training for RAF Regiment and specialist professional training across both RAF Regiment and RAF Police and pre deployment training for whole force RAF personnel.

Outside of Global Enablement staff, Honington is home to a Specialist Police Wing and several squadrons of RAF Regiment and RAF Police including RAuxAF reservist units.

No 611 Volunteer Gliding Squadron flies the Viking T1 Glider from RAF Honington in support of the RAF Air Cadets.

28 Regiment Royal Engineers provides the Defence Counter-Chemical Biological Radiological and Nuclear capability from its Headquarters Squadron also based at RAF Honington.

Valiant for England

Commander

Wing Commander Max Hayward BEng(Hons) MSc RAF

Wing Commander Max Hayward is a Joint Staff Officer, Logistician, and experienced commander of Whole Force personnel.

He was commissioned into the RAF in October 2003. Following Supply Officer Training he went on to staff appointments at (the now closed) RAF Stanbridge and then Headquarters Strike Command. He has been on operational deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan, Abu Dhabi and the Falkland Islands among others.

He was promoted to Squadron Leader in 2015, followed by further promotion in 2022, and then becoming the Station Commander of RAF Honington at the beginning of 2023.

Who's based here

Squadrons

Units

History

RAF Honington opened in 1937 during the expansion of the RAF due to the growing threat of War.

Home to RAF and Czechoslovakian Bomber Squadrons, the Station was handed to the USAAF in 1942 as a repair depot for B-17s, joined in 1944 by P-38 and then P-51 of the 364 FG.

After several years as a Transport Command station, it returned to its operational flying role in 1955 with the arrival of Canberras and, for a short time, Shackleton’s.

In 1969 Honington became home to the Buccaneer until 1984 overlapping with the Tornado Weapons Conversion Unit formed in 1981. No lX(B) Squadron stood up in 1982 as the world first operational Tornado squadron before departing for Germany in 1986.

In 1994 the Station was handed over to the RAF Regiment which relocated its Depot from RAF Catterick to Honington and joined subsequently by the RAF Police in . The station is pivotal to the planning, training and delivery of security to the UKs Air and Space Power assets across the Globe.

Key dates

1937   Station founded.

1942   Station handed over to the United States 8th Army Air Force and the Advanced Air Depot.

1946   Station returned to the RAF.

1994   Station became the Home of the RAF Regiment.

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