THE DUKE OF CAMBRIDGE WILL VISIT RAF CONINGSBY
RAF Coningsby, Lincolnshire
Wednesday 7th March, 2018
The Duke of Cambridge will visit Royal Air Force Coningsby on Wednesday 7th March. The Duke will meet RAF personnel who operate Typhoon multi-role fighters, and will see first-hand how the RAF base is engaging local schoolchildren in the science behind its work.
RAF Coningsby is home to two Front Line Squadrons, alongside an Operational Training Squadron and a Test and Evaluation Squadron. A detachment from the Typhoon Force is currently deployed to the Middle East in the fight against Daesh.
The Duke will visit 29 Squadron, which trains new Typhoon pilots as well as providing refresher training to pilots who are returning to fly the Typhoon after completing other duties. There The Duke will view one of the world-class multi-role fighters, before speaking to RAF crew who maintain and fly the aircraft. The Duke will also meet trainee Typhoon pilots, who will be the future of the RAF.
Currently Typhoon Force personnel are involved in operations over Iraq and Syria, whilst also policing the skies of the UK and the Falkland Islands, manning NATO Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) operations at RAF Coningsby and Mount Pleasant Airfield. Last summer, a detachment from RAF Coningsby provided QRA in Romania.
Closer to home, RAF Coningsby is also home to a brand new Engagement Centre for the local community – the first of its kind at an RAF base. The centre aims to engage the local community in RAF Coningsby’s past as well as inspiring its future.
His Royal Highness will first visit the Heritage Centre, which aims to tell the story of RAF Coningsby since it initially opened in March 1941. During World War II, the base was a bomber station hosting various types including the Lancasters of No 617 Squadron. After the war it continued as a bomber station equipped with Canberras and Avro Vulcans, before becoming a fast jet station in the late 1960s.
The Duke, who is Honorary Air Commandant of RAF Coningsby, will then join local schoolchildren in the new STEM classroom, which provides an inspiring location to engage young people in the subjects of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.
His Royal Highness will join children as they take part in a session to design a mechanism to drop an egg from a height, giving them an introduction to the physics behind real-life RAF situations. The Duke will then observe the children giving live demonstrations of their
mechanisms, before officially opening the Engagement Centre.
Finally, The Duke will join representatives from across RAF Coningsby for a working lunch in the Officers’ Mess. The Duke will meet representatives from all of the squadrons to discuss their roles and present operations, along with members of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, also based at RAF Coningsby, of which he is Patron.
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