RAF Brize Norton

Royal Air Force Brize Norton or RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, about 65mi west north-west of London, is the largest station of the Royal Air Force. It is close to the settlements of Brize Norton, Carterton and Witney.The station is home to Air Transport, Air-to-Air refuelling and Military Parachuting, with aircraft operating from the station including the Lockheed C-130 Hercules, Boeing C-17 Globemaster III, Airbus A400M Atlas and Airbus A330 MRTT Voyager which replaced the now decommissioned Vickers VC10 in September 2013 and the Lockheed TriStar in March 2014.Major infrastructure redevelopment began in 2010 ahead of the closure of RAF Lyneham in 2012, at which point Brize Norton became the sole air point of embarkation for British troops.By the end of June 2011 all flying units from RAF Lyneham had moved to RAF Brize Norton.HistoryRoyal Air ForceRAF Brize Norton was opened in 1937 as a training station, with No. 2 Flying Training School (2 FTS) transferring from RAF Digby on 7 September 1937. On 10 October 1938, 2 FTS was joined by No. 6 Maintenance Unit. The station was originally to be named RAF Carterton, given its proximity and relationship with the town of the same name, but was instead named RAF Brize Norton to avoid possible confusion with RAF Cardington in Bedfordshire.