Departure
93%
vs 95% ▼ 2
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
RAF Fairford is a Royal Air Force station in the Cotswolds of Gloucestershire, operated day-to-day by the United States Air Force as its only European forward operating base for heavy bombers. Its exceptionally long runway, capable of taking B-1, B-2 and B-52 aircraft, and its role as host to the Royal International Air Tattoo make it one of the most distinctive airfields in the United Kingdom for a simulator pilot to study, even though it is not a field open to routine civilian VFR traffic.
RAF Fairford sits in the Cotswolds countryside of Gloucestershire, a working military airfield rather than a civil aerodrome. Although nominally an RAF station, it is operated by United States Air Forces in Europe - Air Forces Africa, with the 501st Combat Support Wing and 420th Air Base Squadron providing support, and it hosts a rotating Lockheed U-2S Dragon Lady detachment as well as periodic Bomber Task Force deployments of B-1, B-2 and B-52 aircraft. For a sim pilot it is notable both for its huge runway and for being the home of the Royal International Air Tattoo, one of the largest military air displays in the world.
The airfield lies close to the town of Fairford, on the River Coln, in a generally quiet stretch of the Gloucestershire Cotswolds, and is situated near RAF Brize Norton, with which its approach and director functions are closely linked. Given its status as an active military installation supporting heavy bomber operations, pilots should expect associated controlled or restricted airspace around the field.
Fairford has a single physical runway, 09/27, of hard surface construction measuring 9,969 feet in length. It is lit and equipped with an ILS, and its unrestricted load-bearing capacity allows it to accept the largest military aircraft, including the B-52, B-1 and B-2 bombers.
Published frequencies for Fairford include Approach on 119 MHz, CAC on 124.275 MHz, Director (Brize Director) on 133.75 MHz, Ground on 234.25 MHz, PMSV Metro on 25.775 MHz, PTD on 233.47 MHz, and Tower on both 119.15 MHz and 338.22 MHz. The field is equipped with an ILS on its main runway.
Construction of the airfield began in 1943 as part of a wartime programme to open airfields in southern England for British and American troop-carrier and glider operations, and the station opened on 18 January 1944. The RAF's No. 620 Squadron, flying Short Stirling Mk.IV aircraft, arrived on 18 March 1944 from RAF Leicester East, joined on 25 March by No. 190 Squadron, also on Stirlings; these units flew airborne forces operations, dropping troops and supplies by parachute and towing Airspeed Horsa assault gliders, including sorties supporting the D-Day invasion of Normandy and Operation Market Garden. Numerous other RAF squadrons and training units were based at Fairford through the war years. In the early Cold War, Fairford was one of four RAF airfields, alongside Brize Norton, Greenham Common and Upper Heyford, selected to host United States Air Force Strategic Air Command units, and in 1950 it passed to American control for strategic bomber operations. A 10,000-foot runway, completed in 1953, allowed it to serve as a forward base for Convair B-36 Peacemaker aircraft from Carswell Air Force Base, Texas, and later for B-47s held at heightened alert during periods of Cold War tension. In 1965 Fairford was the first home base of the Red Arrows aerobatic display team. Its long runway also saw it used as a test centre for Concorde until 1977, and it was designated the sole TransOceanic Abort Landing site for NASA's Space Shuttle in the United Kingdom, with NASA-trained fire and medical crews stationed there. In more recent decades the base has supported United States Air Force B-52 operations during the 1991 Gulf War, the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, the 2003 Iraq War, and further bomber deployments since, including missions connected with the 2026 Iran conflict.
RAF Fairford remains an active military airfield, home to the 501st Combat Support Wing headquarters and the 420th Air Base Group, and functions as United States Air Forces in Europe's only bomber forward operating location, periodically hosting B-52, B-1 and B-2 deployments as well as a Lockheed U-2S Dragon Lady detachment from the 99th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron. It is also the permanent home of the Royal International Air Tattoo, drawing very large crowds each July. As a operational military station, access for civilian flying is restricted and prior permission would be required for any visit.
