About Raf Bruntingthorpe
Royal Air Force Bruntingthorpe or more simply RAF Bruntingthorpe is a former Royal Air Force station located north east of Lutterworth, Leicestershire and south of Leicester, Leicestershire, England. It was operational between 1942 and 1962 and it is currently known as Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome. HistoryRoyal Air Force useThe station was opened in November 1942 as home of No. 29 Operational Training Unit RAF (OTU) operating the Vickers Wellington. After World War II ended, the airfield was used to test Meteor jet fighters. It was placed into RAF care and maintenance status and remained unused until January 1957. United States Air Force useOn 13 November 1953, control of Bruntingthorpe was allocated to the United States Air Force, however the airfield remained unused for most of the decade. In 1955, a massive reconstruction plan was approved to transform the airfield and station into a Strategic Air Command (SAC) bomber base. The USAF planned to use Bruntingthorpe as an advanced "Reflex" base for forward deployment of the new Boeing B-47 Stratojet medium range nuclear bomber. SAC wanted to disperse its nuclear bomber force and have about half of its B-47s stationed at forward bases in Western Europe and North Africa. Because the borders of the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact controlled areas were within the range of the B-47, the "Reflex" deployments would base the bombers for 90-day rotations of crews and aircraft.
Raf Bruntingthorpe Description
Royal Air Force Bruntingthorpe or more simply RAF Bruntingthorpe is a former Royal Air Force station located north east of Lutterworth, Leicestershire and south of Leicester, Leicestershire, England. It was operational between 1942 and 1962 and it is currently known as Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome. HistoryRoyal Air Force useThe station was opened in November 1942 as home of No. 29 Operational Training Unit RAF (OTU) operating the Vickers Wellington. After World War II ended, the airfield was used to test Meteor jet fighters. It was placed into RAF care and maintenance status and remained unused until January 1957. United States Air Force useOn 13 November 1953, control of Bruntingthorpe was allocated to the United States Air Force, however the airfield remained unused for most of the decade. In 1955, a massive reconstruction plan was approved to transform the airfield and station into a Strategic Air Command (SAC) bomber base. The USAF planned to use Bruntingthorpe as an advanced "Reflex" base for forward deployment of the new Boeing B-47 Stratojet medium range nuclear bomber. SAC wanted to disperse its nuclear bomber force and have about half of its B-47s stationed at forward bases in Western Europe and North Africa. Because the borders of the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact controlled areas were within the range of the B-47, the "Reflex" deployments would base the bombers for 90-day rotations of crews and aircraft.