FFD · medium airport

RAF Fairford

Fairford, Gloucestershire, United Kingdom

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FFDmedium airport

RAF Fairford

Fairford, Gloucestershire, United Kingdom

Explore Fairford, Gloucestershire city guide Navigate to this airport

Routes out

Destinations

EGVA

ICAO

286 ft

Elevation

TravelerPulse profile

Historic RAF base and home of the Royal International Air Tattoo.

Opened

1944

Location

Fairford, Gloucestershire, United Kingdom

RAF Fairford is a Royal Air Force station located near the town of Fairford in Gloucestershire, England. It is a military airfield that falls under the operational control of the United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) as a co-located operating base, designated as USAF Fairford. The airfield is best known globally as the annual host of the Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT), one of the world's largest military airshows. It has also served as a forward operating location for US Air Force B-52, B-1, and B-2 bomber deployments to support operations in Europe and the Middle East. FFD/EGVA has a long runway capable of handling heavy strategic aircraft, and it played a significant role during the Cold War as a nuclear-capable base. The airfield does not operate scheduled commercial passenger services.

Getting to & from

Fairford is accessible by road from the A417, with the nearest major rail connections at Kemble or Swindon stations, supplemented by special bus services during the Royal International Air Tattoo.

Notable facts

›Hosts the Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT), one of the world's largest military airshows, typically held each July.
›Operated as a USAF co-located operating base under United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE).
›Has hosted US Air Force B-52, B-1B, and B-2 Spirit bomber deployments for European and Middle Eastern operations.
›The runway is approximately 3,049 metres (10,000 ft) long, designed to accommodate heavy strategic aircraft.
›During the Cold War, RAF Fairford was a designated nuclear strike base under NATO's nuclear-sharing arrangements.

Official website Wikipedia

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Encyclopaedia

Royal Air Force Fairford or more simply RAF Fairford is a Royal Air Force (RAF) station in Gloucestershire, United Kingdom. While being an RAF station, Fairford hosts United States Air Force personnel. Since 2019, the base has played host to a Lockheed U-2S Dragon Lady detachment from the 99th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron. It is the USAF's only European airfield for heavy bombers and routinely supports Bomber Task Force operations. Its most prominent use in recent decades has been as an airfield for United States Air Force B-52s during the first Gulf War in 1991, the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999, the 2003 Iraq War, and the 2026 Iran war.

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