RAF Barkway

RAF Barkway
Near Royston, Hertfordshire in England
RAF Barkway Shown within Hertfordshire
Coordinates	52°00′30″N 000°00′37″E / 52.00833°N 0.01028°E / 52.00833; 0.01028Coordinates: 52°00′30″N 000°00′37″E / 52.00833°N 0.01028°E / 52.00833; 0.01028
Type	Royal Air Force station - Non Flying Military Communications
Site information
Owner	Ministry of Defence
Operator	Royal Air Force United States Air Force
Condition	Intact
Site history
Built	1941 (1941)
In use	1942-2011 (2011)

Royal Air Force Station Barkway or more simply RAF Barkway was one of the smallest Royal Air Force stations in the United Kingdom. It was a Communications Station and was a small collection of buildings and a large radio mast.^[1][2]

History

It was originally opened as a monitor station on 22 June 1942 for the Gee (navigation) network in the Eastern area.

The site was used by the United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE).^[3] It was part of communications network linking:

• RAF Chicksands
• RAF Mildenhall
• RAF Lakenheath
• RAF Feltwell
• RAF Molesworth (via RAF Chelveston)
• RAF Alconbury
• RAF Croughton

In September 2008 the station was broken into by a BASE jumper who climbed the mast and then jumped off and deployed his parachute.^[4]

Current use

The site was sold in early 2011 as surplus to the Ministry of Defence (MOD) requirements.

See also

• List of former Royal Air Force stations

References

External links

• Photo of RAF Barkway accessed 2008-10-02

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