RAF Alconbury

Royal Air Force Alconbury or RAF Alconbury is an active Royal Air Force station in the United Kingdom, located in Huntingdon, England. The airfield is in the civil parish of The Stukeleys close to the villages of Great Stukeley, Little Stukeley and Alconbury.

Opened in 1938, it is currently a non-flying facility under the control of the United States Air Force. It is one of three RAF stations in Cambridgeshire currently used by the United States Air Forces in Europe - Air Forces Africa (USAFE-AFAFRICA). Alconbury, along with RAF Molesworth and RAF Upwood are considered the "Tri-Base Area" due to their close geographic proximity, and interdependency. Except for a period of inactivity between 1945 and 1951, the station has been continuously in use.

RAF Alconbury and RAF Molesworth are the last Second World War-era Eighth Air Force bases in Britain that are still actively in use and controlled by the United States Air Force. On 8 January 2015 it was announced that the US Air Force would be withdrawn from RAF Alconbury, along with RAF Mildenhall and RAF Molesworth.

Alconbury

Coordinates: 52°22′N 0°16′W / 52.36°N 00.26°W / 52.36; -00.26

Alconbury is a village and civil parish in Cambridgeshire, England. Alconbury is situated within Huntingdonshire which is a non-metropolitan district of Cambridgeshire as well as being an historic county of England. Alconbury lies approximately 5 miles (8 km) north-west of Huntingdon.

History

Alconbury was listed in the Domesday Book of 1086. The church is dedicated to St Peter and St Paul. The Great North Road passed through the village and Alconbury Weston to the north-west. The A1 was dualled from Water Newton to Alconbury Hill in three stages in 1958. The £1.25m two mile A1 bypass opened in December 1964, joining the road at the point where it now meets the A14 (former A604) at the junction at the top of a hill. It followed part of the former A604. In November 1998, the bypass was converted into the A1(M) which terminates next of the village. The former road is partly the B1043 which is also part of the former A14 and the rest of the former A1 to Peterborough. Units of the US Air Force were based at Alconbury from 1942-1945, and then from 1953 to 1995.