RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire is one of two RAF Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) Stations which protect UK airspace. RAF Lossiemouth is the other.
RAF Coningsby is home to two frontline, combat-ready squadrons and is the training station for Typhoon pilots.
Almost 3,000 Service Personnel, Civil Servants, and contractors work at RAF Coningsby.
Group Captain Hampshire took command of RAF Coningsby on 26th November 2025. He is an Air and Space Operations Officer. Prior to assuming command at RAF Coningsby, he held a number of key roles including Officer Commanding Operations Support Wing at RAF Brize Norton, and the Assistant Head in the Insights and Analytics team at HQ Air Cmd.
Group Captain Hampshire joined the RAF in August 2002 as a Flight Operations Officer, he is married with two children.
RAF Coningsby was built just before World War Two and became the home of 617 Squadron, known as the Dambusters, during the second half of the war.
Later, it was the base for the Vulcan bomber.
1941 RAF Coningsby opened, serving as an RAF Bomber Command station until the early 1960s.
1960s Coningsby made a fighter station with the arrival of the Phantom, followed by the Tornado and now the Typhoon.
1976 Coningsby became home to the world-famous RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.
