Station Commander RAF Coningsby

By Angela Gooch on November 24th, 2007

Mayor of Skegness talks to Group Captain Bob Judson
Station Commander RAF Coningsby

Skegness hosted a seminar by a Royal Air Force presentation team which answered questions about the Typhoon, the RAF’s latest fighter ‘plane, and also displayed a video recording of the ‘plane in action.

RAF presentation in Skegness

Although the Skegness Video Show was not allowed to film the actual presentation, the Station Commander of RAF Coningsby, extreme left, permitted the filming of his discussions with the Mayor of Skegness Councillor Brian O’Connor.

Raf Conningsby Station Commander talks to the Mayor of Skegness

The Mayor asked the Commander what is actually happening at RAF Coningsby at the moment. The Commander said that the Typhoon was the headline grabbing issue for the aviation base. The base is currently building up the Typhoon squadrons,17 reserve and 29 reserve. 17 squadron is the Typhoon operations and evaluation unit who are ‘writing the handbook’ of how to best operate and best tactics to use. The job of the 29 squadron is to train the Typhoon’s pilots. 29 squadron is also concerned with the training and building up of 3 squadron, which will be the front line air defense operations squadron for the Typhoon. The Commander added that everything was on course for the official launch of the 3 squadron on 31st March of this year (2006).
The Mayor of Skegness commented that RAF Coningsby is a very busy station as the base still has fully operating Tornadoes and is also the home of the Battle of Britain British Memorial Flight. The Station Commander agreed that it was a fantastic asset to Lincolnshire to have British Memorial Flight to commemorate the aviation heritage of the air force. He added that the Memorial Flight, which consists of five Spitfire Fighter planes, two Hurricanes, a Lancaster Bomber and a Dakota, is used for air displays across the UK from May to September each year.

The presentation evening concluded with a recital from the Royal Air Force Musicians.

Raf band of musicians Embassy Theatre Skegness