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The Station

RAF Honington in Suffolk is home to some 1600 personnel including RAF, Army and MOD Civil Servants and Contractors.

The Station provides a home for the Headquarters responsible for delivery of RAF Police and RAF Regiment activities across the globe under Air Officer Global Enablement.

RAF Honington hosts initial and further training for RAF Regiment and specialist professional training across both RAF Regiment and RAF Police and pre deployment training for whole force RAF personnel.

Outside of Global Enablement staff, Honington is home to a Specialist Police Wing and several squadrons of RAF Regiment and RAF Police including RAuxAF reservist units.

28 Regiment Royal Engineers provides the Defence Counter-Chemical Biological Radiological and Nuclear capability from its Headquarters Squadron also based at RAF Honington.

Pro Anglia Valens – Valiant for England

Commander

Wing Commander Max Hayward BEng(Hons) MSc RAF

Wing Commander Max Hayward is a Joint Staff Officer, Logistician, and experienced commander of Whole Force personnel.

He read Electronic Engineering with Medical Electronics at the University of Kent and was a member of the University of London Air Squadron. He commissioned into the RAF in October 2003 and following Supply Officer Training he went on to staff appointments at (the now closed) RAF Stanbridge and then Headquarters Strike Command. An operational deployment to Al Basra, Iraq (Op TELIC) followed and upon return to the UK, he completed Air Movements training before an assignment to RAF Brize Norton as a Duty Air Movements Officer including a deployment to Kandahar (Op HERRICK) in 2010. Posted (accompanied) to Abu Dhabi, UAE as Officer Commanding Permanent Air Movements Detachment Middle East, his team managed British military air movements activity throughout an area of responsibility that stretched from Jordan, across the Middle East, Sri Lanka and out to Malaysia. He returned to the UK  to take up post as Second-in-Command of Logistic Support Squadron at RAF Lossiemouth, Scotland.

Promoted to Squadron Leader in 2015, he and his family moved to London where he was assigned to the J4 Broader Middle East Movements Desk, at the Permanent Joint Headquarters, Northwood.  This busy but highly rewarding staff appointment saw Hayward manage a diverse range of operational planning work strands throughout the SHADER, KIPION and TORAL theatres. Another overseas accompanied tour followed, this time to the Falkland Islands for 12 months to command the Supply and Air Movements Squadron. A move to RAF Marham then ensued, where he commanded Logistic Support Squadron for 2 years, overseeing the retirement of the Tornado GR4 whilst building logistical support capability for the F35 Lightning II. He then undertook a fulltime MSc in Transport Planning and Management at the University of Westminster, before a move to HQ Air Command where he took up post as the Movements Assurance staff officer, working directly to the RAF’s Inspector of Movements.

Selected for promotion in 2022, he moved back to Northwood and into a Capability Support Portfolio Coherence post within United Kingdom Strategic Command, where he oversaw embryonic logistic and engineering support contracts. Wing Commander Hayward became the Station Commander of RAF Honington at the beginning of 2023.

Who's based here

RAF Honington news

RAF Honington Hosts Regional Stem Event

17 May 2023

RAF Honington Welcomes Air Officer Airbases

17 May 2023

Change of command at RAF Honington

23 Jan 2023

Junior Regiment Officers graduation course number 127

09 Dec 2022

Key dates

  • 1937 - Station founded.
  • 1942 - Station handed over to the United States 8th Army Air Force and the Advanced Air Depot.
  • 1946 - Station returned to the RAF.
  • 1994 - Station became the Home of the RAF Regiment.

History

RAF Honington opened in 1937 during the expansion of the RAF due to the growing threat of War.

Home to RAF and Czechoslovakian Bomber Squadrons, the Station was handed to the USAAF in 1942 as a repair depot for B-17s, joined in 1944 by P-38 and then P-51 of the 364 FG.

After several years as a Transport Command station, it returned to its operational flying role in 1955 with the arrival of Canberras and, for a short time, Shackleton’s.

In 1969 Honington became home to the Buccaneer until 1984 overlapping with the Tornado Weapons Conversion Unit formed in 1981. No lX(B) Squadron stood up in 1982 as the world first operational Tornado squadron before departing for Germany in 1986.

In 1994 the Station was handed over to the RAF Regiment which relocated its Depot from RAF Catterick to Honington and joined subsequently by the RAF Police in . The station is pivotal to the planning, training and delivery of security to the UKs Air and Space Power assets across the Globe.

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