RAF Fairford is a Royal Air Force station in Gloucestershire, England, near to Fairford. It is a standby airfield , not in everyday use. Its most prominent use in recent years has been as a base for United States Air Force heavy bombers during the Gulf War in 1991, the Kosovo War in 1999 and the 2003 campaign in Iraq.

RAF Fairford is the only TransOceanic Abort Landing site for NASA's Space Shuttle in the UK. As well as having a sufficiently long runway for a shuttle landing (the runway is 3 km long), it also has NASA trained fire and medical crews stationed on the base.

RAF Fairford is host to the annual air display, the Royal International Air Tattoo. The Air Tattoo is the largest display of its kind in the UK.

History

Between 2000 and 2002 major refurbishment work was carried out on the runway, taxiways, hard standings and fuel systems. The work has ensured that RAF Fairford remains NATO's premier forward operating location in Europe.

Peace camp

A peace camp was set up in a field adjacent to RAF Fairford on 17th February 2003, protesting against the military presence.

See Also

• List of RAF stations

External links

• Unofficial RAF Fairford and RAF Welford websites
• http://www.cynatech.co.uk/gwi/peace-camp.htm