Places
Runways, dispersals, and the human geography of wartime flying. Each place connects to the aircraft and squadrons that passed through it.
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Airfield
Bomber Station · Lincolnshire · England
RAF Waddington, just south of Lincoln in Lincolnshire, began in 1916 as a Royal Flying Corps training aerodrome and reopened in 1937 as a bomber station under the RAF's pre-war expansion. Its squadrons flew Hampdens into the Second World War, and on 2 March 1942 No. 44 Squadron became the first in Bomber Command to fly the Avro Lancaster operationally from the station.
After the war Waddington served through the Lancaster, Lincoln and Canberra eras before joining the V-bomber force: from 1957 its Avro Vulcans stood at nuclear readiness until the last squadron disbanded in March 1984. Three of those Vulcans flew Operation Black Buck during the 1982 Falklands War, and one of them, XM607, guards the station gate today.
Since the 1990s Waddington has been the RAF's intelligence hub, operating today the RC-135W Rivet Joint and Shadow R1 alongside the Protector RG1, and home to the Red Arrows since 2022.
History
RAF Waddington’s history spans more than a century of British military aviation, from its First World War origins through Bomber Command and the V-Force era to its modern role at the heart of RAF intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.
Explore historyRunways
RAF Waddington’s runways and infrastructure reflect its long development from a pre-war RAF station into a major operational base, shaped by changing aircraft, technologies and strategic demands.
Squadrons
RAF Waddington has hosted a succession of notable RAF squadrons, from the Hampden crews of No. 44 and No. 50 Squadrons in 1939 to the Vulcan squadrons of the Cold War — No. 83, the first to receive the aircraft — and the intelligence units of today, including No. 51 Squadron's RC-135W Rivet Joints.
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From wartime Hampdens and Lancasters to the V-force Vulcans and today's Rivet Joint spyplanes, Waddington's flying history spans eight decades of RAF heavy and intelligence-gathering aircraft.
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From 5 Group's wartime bombing campaign to Cold War Vulcan readiness and today's Rivet Joint intelligence missions, Waddington has been at the sharp end of RAF operations for eight decades.
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Waddington today is the RAF's intelligence hub — a working station of Rivet Joints, Shadows and Protectors, still busy above Lincolnshire with the Vulcan gate guardian watching over the gate.
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