RAF Saint Athan

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RAF Saint Athan
IATA: DGX - ICAO: EGDX
Summary
Airport type		Military
Operator		St Athan
Serves		St Athan
Elevation AMSL		163 ft (50 m)
Coordinates		51°24′17″N, 003°26′09″W
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
Direction	ft	m	Surface
08/26	5,988	1,825	Asphalt

RAF Saint Athan (IATA: DGX, ICAO: EGDX) is a large Royal Air Force station in the village of St Athan in the Vale of Glamorgan, southern Wales. It claims to be the largest RAF station (though several gunnery ranges such as RAF Spadeadam are larger in area).

RAF St Athan officially opened on 1 September 1938. The first unit to take up residence was No 4 School of Technical Training. In 1939, the stations activities were expanded with the arrival of a fighter group pool, the School of Air Navigation, and a Maintenance Unit. During World War II the station had over 14,000 personnel, and was used for training ground and air crew and was linked to the aircraft storage and maintenance facility at LLandow. At one time it was home to a large collection of historical aircraft.

Although it is still officially an RAF station, most activities on the base are carried out by DARA (Defence Aviation Repair Agency). The only squadron to operate out of St. Athan on a regular basis is the University of Wales Air Squadron, flying Grob Tutors.

It has also been used to house army units, most recently (as of 2003) the 1st Battalion, Welsh Guards.

Today St Athan is the major RAF maintenance base for Tornado, Jaguar, Hawk and VC10. It is also host to the University of Wales University Air Squadron and No 634 Volunteer Gliding Squadron using Vigilant T.1s.

As of mid 2006 the station has been renamed as MOD St. Athan. There is now a large army presence, RAF duties continue but DARA are steadily drawing down their operation and will close from March 2007. A large swathe of land has been acquired by the Welsh Assembly Government and commercial aircraft companies such as ATC Lasham now operate from buildings such as the former VC10 hangars - 'Twin Peaks'.

In January 2008 building work will commence for the new defence training academy which will have its heart at St Athan. In light of the defence training review 3 companies tendered for two separate contracts. The Metrix consortium was the winner. It will create up to 5000 jobs at St Athan with a £14Billion investment over 25years with an estimated 57.4 million pound spend into the local economy. The new training academy will accept its first intakes of recruits in 2012 and will be fully operational in 2017 when the last of the current training centres closes.