The RAF’s Force Protection Hub
The role of the RAF Regiment is to protect military assets at home and abroad, ensuring that the force’s operations can continue without interference from malicious outside agencies. RAF Honington has served as the British centre for this specialist corps since the early 1990s.
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The station is home to three front-line RAF Regiment field squadrons. It also serves as the headquarters responsible for deploying RAF Regiment and RAF Police personnel across the globe, providing vital training for those who ensure RAF assets are protected from harm.
With a mission statement of “Delivering Air Force Protection Capability for the RAF and Defence”, Honington is staffed by more than 1,500 military and civilian personnel. This is a far cry from the mid-1930s, when work first began to transform an area of Suffolk farmland into a basic grass airfield with a few hangars.
The site officially opened as RAF Honington on May 3, 1937, more than two years before the outbreak of World War II, and two years after initial construction began at the remote location around nine miles northeast of Bury St Edmunds. Originally a grass airfield featuring four Type C aircraft hangars, it operated as one of six airfields assigned to No. 3 Group Bomber Command. In the buildup to the war, it played host to a variety of aircraft and units, including Nos. 77 and 102 Squadrons operating Vickers Wellesleys and Handley Page Heyfords.
However, it was the Vickers Wellington that became the mainstay of the station and Bomber Command during the early years of the war. On September 4, 1939, Number IX (Bomber) Squadron set out from Honington to conduct the first British bombing raid of the conflict—an attack on German warships stationed at Brunsbüttel at the mouth of the River Elbe.
The extreme dangers facing Bomber Command became apparent almost immediately. On October 30, 1939, two of IX Squadron’s Wellingtons were involved in a fatal mid-air collision shortly after taking off on a low-altitude formation practice sortie. Nine RAF airmen were killed, five of whom were laid to rest at the nearby Honington (All Saints) Churchyard.
Because the crash site was initially inaccessible to vehicles, a recovery exercise was launched nearly 30 years later. This effort successfully recovered a Pegasus XVIII engine, though further debris was not found until the 1980s, despite the two aircraft having come down in marshy land just three miles east of the Honington runway.
In July 1940, the first Allied unit composed of foreign nationals to fly operationally in Bomber Command was formed at the station. No. 311 (Czech) Squadron RAF was made up of aircrew who had escaped their homeland following the German invasion.
Overseas aircrews were a common sight at many local airfields, and in June 1942, command of Honington was handed over to the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF). The site initially served as a repair depot for B-17 bombers before evolving into an operational fighter unit utilizing P-38 Lightnings and P-51 Mustangs.
These American aircraft and crews flew a wide range of missions across mainland Europe. They patrolled the English Channel during the D-Day operations in June 1944 and provided vital long-range escort protection for heavy bombers striking targets deep inside the continent.
Honington remained under American control until well into 1946, making it one of the last USAAF stations to be returned to the RAF. A formal ceremony was held at the station to mark the handover on February 26, 1946.
Upon returning to British control, the station was initially used by Transport Command to support the Berlin Airlift in the late 1940s, before reverting to its original role under Bomber Command in 1949. A number of squadrons arrived in the 1950s operating English Electric Canberras, prompting the construction of a new, extended 9,000-foot concrete runway. By 1956, Honington had become a prominent V-bomber base, with squadrons flying Vickers Valiants and Handley Page Victors.
The first scouting force 1945 plaque
In the late 1960s, the station began its long association with the Buccaneer jet. On October 1, 1969, the reformed No. 12 Squadron arrived as the first RAF unit to operate the attack aircraft, which was built by the Blackburn company at Brough in East Yorkshire.
While No. 12 Squadron was among several units that relocated to RAF Laarbruch in Germany during the early 1970s, Honington’s Buccaneer legacy remained secure. The formation of No. 237 Operational Conversion Unit (OCU) at the Suffolk site marked the official transfer of the aircraft's training role from the Royal Navy to the RAF.
The station also provided a short-term home to the Avro Shackletons of No. 204 Squadron from April 1971 to April 1972, which conducted long-range search and rescue duties around the UK from the base.
The 1980s saw the Buccaneers head north of the border to RAF Lossiemouth as Honington was selected to become a main centre for the RAF’s new Tornado aircraft. In 1982, IX(B) Squadron reformed at the station as the RAF's very first operational Tornado unit.
In the early 1990s, the station’s flying role diminished as the remaining Tornado units departed. The site subsequently transitioned into the RAF Regiment Depot, relocating from RAF Catterick as that base was transferred to the British Army.
RAF Honington aerial
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Today, the station welcomes all branches of the armed services in its role as a specialist Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (CBRN) warfare training centre. Alongside the RAF, the Army's 28 Engineer Regiment offers advanced point and area reconnaissance capabilities to detect hazards like nerve and biological agents.
While the airfield itself remains active—serving as home to the 611 Volunteer Gliding Squadron in support of the RAF Air Cadets—the base is best known today as the premier home of the RAF Regiment. Its proud history is preserved on-site at the RAF Regiment Heritage Centre, which displays an extensive collection of artefacts and documents tracking its legacy from the Second World War to the modern day.
