RAF Leeming in North Yorkshire trains, delivers, and supports UK and overseas Expeditionary Air Operations.
The Station is home to a diverse range of squadrons and lodger units including 90 Signals Unit, and a Mountain Rescue Team.
With such a broad range of expertise and close proximity to training areas at Spadeadam, Otterburn and Catterick, RAF Leeming is the preferred site for deployed exercises and detachments from UK and overseas units.
Straight and True
Group Captain Gareth Prendergast took command at RAF Leeming in November 2021 following a tour at Air Command working within the Capability area developing future capability strategy, wargaming and experimentation.
Group Captain Prendergast previously served in the United States working within the Requirements and Strategy Directorate at the Pentagon. He was also Commander of the Operations Wing at RAF Marham, the home of UK F-35 aircraft. Group Captain Prendergast is a Qualified Weapons Instructor and has participated in flying operations as a Flight Commander on Operations SHADER, HERRICK and TELIC. As the 31 Squadron WARLORD for the last Tornado GR4 deployment to Afghanistan, he was responsible for the final sorties and the recovery of aircraft from operations to the UK.
RAF Leeming was built in 1938 as a bomber base, with the first sortie conducted in a Whitley bomber in July 1940. The Station was handed over to Number 6 Group in 1942 and commanded by the Royal Canadian Air Force for the remainder of World War Two.
At the end of hostilities Leeming became a Night Fighter Operational Conversion Unit equipped with the Mosquito before moving into the jet age with the Meteor and the Javelin.
It became a Basic Flying Training School in 1961 and the Central Flying School arrived in 1977.
In 1984 RAF Leeming joined Number 11 Group Strike Command and was revamped to open in 1988 as a major operational station with XI(Fighter), 23(Fighter) and XXV(Fighter) Squadrons, equipped with the Tornado F3 fighter.
After 20 years of defending the UK skies RAF Leeming’s Tornado F3 days ended with the disbandment of XXV(F) Sqn in April 2008.
100 Squadron, equipped with the Hawk jet, was based at RAF Leeming from 1995 until its disbandment in 2022. Its role evolved immeasurably in that period, finishing as an Aggressor Squadron, delivering operational training including support to the Typhoon Force and Joint Terminal Attack Controller (JTAC) serials.
The close link with the JTAC world was enhanced with the arrival the Joint Forward Air Control and Standardisation Unit (JFACTSU).
In April 1996, 34 Squadron RAF Regiment arrived in North Yorkshire after 40 years in Cyprus. Now part of No. 2 RAF Force Protection Wing, their role is to provide world-beating air force protection capabilities at readiness.
The 90 Signals Unit moved to RAF Leeming in 2007 and now account for around half the Station population, with around 950 personnel providing vital information and communication services to operations within the UK and operations around the world.
