Holbeach Air Weapons Range

Holbeach Air Weapons Range is a United Kingdom Ministry of Defence academic air weapons range (AWR) situated between Boston and King's Lynn in the civil parish of Gedney on The Wash, in Lincolnshire, eastern England.^[1][2][3]

Holbeach Air Weapons Range
Near Gedney Drove End, Lincolnshire in England
The range control tower at Holbeach AWR
Site information
Type	Air weapons range
Owner	Ministry of Defence
Operator	Defence Infrastructure Organisation
Controlled by	Defence Training Estate
Open to the public	Yes, unless red warning flags or red lights are shown
Condition	Operational
No. of targets	Eight
Website	GOV.UK (Air weapons ranges activity times)
Location
Holbeach AWR Location in the Lincolnshire
Coordinates	52°51′17.42″N 0°10′14.71″E
Area	3,875 hectares (39 km2; 15 sq mi)
Site history
Built	1926 (1926)
In use	1926 – present
Designations	Ramsar site Site of Special Scientific Interest Special Areas of Conservation Special Protection Area
Airfield information
Identifiers	ICAO: EGYH, WMO: 034690
Helipads Number Length and surface H 15 metres (49 ft)

It was originally associated with RAF Sutton Bridge, but in the 1950s was named Royal Air Force Holbeach before adopting its current name in the mid 2000s when control was passed to the Defence Training Estate.

History

The remote air range opened in 1926 as an air gunnery range attached to and established by Royal Air Force Practice Camp Sutton Bridge (later named RAF Sutton Bridge).^[4][5][6][7] Use of the range began on 27 September 1926, with biplanes firing and dropping bombs over the area formally known as "Holbeach Air Gunnery and Bombing Range",^[6][7] and colloquially simply as Holbeach Marsh Range.^[5]

During the late 1950s, when RAF Sutton Bridge was reduced to a care and maintenance role, the coastal marshland air gunnery range was renamed to RAF Holbeach Bombing Range and it became later parented to RAF Marham as an Air Weapons Range (AWR) within RAF Strike Command. On 1 April 2006 the defence estates' administration was transferred to the Ministry of Defence—Defence Training Estate East (DTE East), located at West Tofts Camp in West Tofts near Thetford in Norfolk; now renamed Defence Infrastructure Organisation East (DIO East).^[1]

DIO are responsible for operational support—planning, building, maintaining and servicing the 'Holbeach Air Weapons Range' infrastructure.^[8] The air range estate is administered at a local level by a DIO Training Safety Officer (TSO), who is responsible for the day-to-day delivery of a safe training environment. RAF Air Command, who is the top level budget holder, control the core RAF station site which encompasses an area of 716 hectares.^[9][10] RAF air traffic control personnel staff the air range control tower supported by civilian range staff outsourced to Landmarc Solutions.^[11]

Facilities

The range extends over an area of 3,875 ha (14.96 sq mi), which includes 3,100 hectares of intertidal mudflats and 775 hectares of salt marsh,^[1][2] the air weapons range provides facilities for RAF and NATO-allied aircraft to practise dropping bombs and firing their aircraft weapons, including pre-deployment training.^[3] Since 1993 this has included night bombing and helicopter operations.^[1] The range training facilities are used by air force squadrons stationed in the United Kingdom and occasionally by units flying directly from airbases in Europe. An array of eight static range targets,^[1] include several retired merchant ships which have been beached on the sands of The Wash for this purpose. Observation towers ("Quadrants") parallel to the target line are manned and allow the fall of aircraft ordnance to be calculated for accuracy by means of triangulation.^[11] The range includes a helicopter landing pad near the main control tower and since 2010 a new range headquarters building.^[3]

Most of the air range, including the control tower and four observation towers (Quadrants)^[11] are in the parish hamlets of Dawsmere and Gedney Drove End, but it does overlap with Holbeach to the west.^[2] On UK Civil Aviation Authority issued aeronautical charts the military Danger Area is found marked and identified by the code WRDA D207/II^[12] or the ICAO code EG D207 (Weapons Range Danger Area or United Kingdom Danger – 207), the danger altitude is usually up to twenty-three thousand feet AMSL.

Past activity

In the past Holbeach Air Gunnery Bombing Range has served the intense activity of many types of British and foreign military aircraft using its target training range facilities. For example, from now historical propeller biplane types such as the Armstrong Whitworth Siskin, Hawker Woodcock, Gloster Grebe, Gloster Gamecock, Fairey III, Fairey Flycatcher, Bristol Bulldog, Hawker Fury and Gloster Gauntlet.^[13] Then the Bristol Blenheim, Fairey Battle, Hawker Hurricane, Supermarine Spitfire, de Havilland Mosquito, Westland Lysander, North American P-51 Mustang and Grumman Avenger, to now decommissioned succeeding jet aircraft types such as the Gloster Meteor, English Electric Canberra, de Havilland Venom, Hawker Hunter, USAF F-100D Super Sabre, Blackburn Buccaneer, McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II, USAF General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark, Harrier jump jet, SEPECAT Jaguar and Panavia Tornado, to name a few. Including, the still in service USAF F-16 Fighting Falcon, USAF B-1 Lancer, USAF B-2 Spirit,^[14] IAF Sukhoi Su-35, USAF HH-60G Pave Hawk (from 56th Rescue Squadron) and USAF A-10 Thunderbolt.^[11]

Present activity

At the present time current aircraft types such as the Eurofighter Typhoon, Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II (No. 617 Squadron RAF), USAF McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle/F-15E Strike Eagle (from 48th Fighter Wing), BAE Hawk trainer^[15] and AgustaWestland Apache AH1 helicopters can be seen operating on the range at various times of the day, including on occasions USAF Bell Boeing CV-22B Osprey (from 7th Special Operations Squadron), USAF Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II (495th Fighter Squadron), Boeing Chinook, AgustaWestland AW159 Wildcat, AugustaWestland Merlin and Aerospatiale Puma HC helicopters.^[1][16] The range also hosts frequent forward air control (FAC) or joint terminal attack controller (JTAC) exercises.^[11]

Strafing target courts

USAF F-15E aircraft seen over the range discharging flares

RAF Holbeach also has facilities (strafing courts) for scoring aircraft strafing runs (aircraft firing runs on ground targets) using acoustic sensor scoring systems.^[11] The ground strafing targets consist of several four-metre square nets, each with an orange centred square bullseye. The Acoustic Air Weapons Scoring System (AWSS) which is located beneath a protection berm focus on the target screen and run at high speed, catching the supersonic profile of the incoming projectile, and triangulating its position concurrent with counting the event. The AWSS sensor modes can display rounds per minute results and the location of the strafe projectiles in the target area. The angle of attack and the horizontal approach angle are also calculated. This result is transmitted to the control tower, where it is displayed to the Air Traffic Controller for relaying to the pilot. The range also has semi-automatic bomb and rocket scoring systems.^[11]

Heraldic badge

The station's RAF heraldic badge features a vertical sword through a crown. The circular frame coloured with RAF blue reads 'Royal Air Force Station Holbeach' and the motto is Defend and Strike.^[17]

Incidents

1941 air incident

On 4 December 1941 at 15:30, Fairey Battle L57841 of No. 56 Operational Training Unit, RAF Sutton Bridge, overshot its target during a training exercise at the Holbeach Air Gunnery and Bombing Range and force-landed in a nearby field. The pilot, Sergeant G.L. Bradley, was uninjured.^[18]

1979 air incident

On 8 November 1979, Hawker Siddeley Harrier GR.3 XV756 crashed into the Holbeach Air Weapons Range. Flight Lieutenant Ross Boyens successfully ejected.^[19] Following an RAF investigation, Boyens described the incident as resulting from engine failure caused by damage inflicted by a 30mm practice "ball" ammunition round fired from his own aircraft during a strafing run.^[20] Practice "ball" ammunition—unlike high-explosive (HE) or armour-piercing (AP) variants—is solid and prone to ricochet.^[20] The round struck a hard object near the target area and deflected back into the aircraft, damaging the engine blades and causing disintegration.^[20] At the time, the aircraft was firing from a position outside the minimum ricochet range as designated by the RAF—at approximately 610 yards (1,830 ft)—and the incident was subsequently attributed to misfortune.^[20] Boyens later served in the Falklands War and, in 1984 at the age of 33, joined the Red Arrows as Red 3.^[21] In 1985, he flew as Red 6, one of the Synchro Pair. Originally from New Zealand, he resided in Scothern.^[22][23]

1983 air incident

On 28 October 1983, Hawker Siddeley Harrier GR.3 XV742 crashed during a training exercise at the Holbeach Air Weapons Range.^[24][25] The pilot, 24-year-old Flying Officer John Richard Sewell of Blundellsands, was killed in the incident.^[24] The aircraft had departed from RAF Wittering and was reportedly struck by a ricochet—possibly from its own 30mm ADEN cannon—during weapons practice.^[24] Flying Officer Sewell did not attempt to eject, and the aircraft impacted the ground fatally.^[24][26][27]

2006 air incident

On 24 October 2006 at approximately 11:15–11:17 am, during a routine weapons training session, Panavia Tornado GR4A ZG711 from RAF Marham crashed into the intertidal mudflats at Holbeach Air Weapons Range.^[28] The incident was attributed to a bird strike. Both aircrew—pilot and navigator—ejected safely and were rescued by Westland Sea King helicopters from RAF Wattisham and Leconfield. They were taken to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King's Lynn with non-life-threatening spinal injuries.^[29][30]