page_title: RAF Northolt
section_title: Modern use
hierarchical_section_title: RAF Northolt / History / Modern use
caption_attribution_description: ZE701 BAe 146 CC.2 Royal Air Force (Queen's Flight) landing Glasgow June 2013
context_page_description: RAF Northolt is a Royal Air Force station in South Ruislip, 2 nautical miles from Uxbridge in the London Borough of Hillingdon, west London, England, approximately 6 mi north of London Heathrow Airport. The station handles many private civil flights in addition to Air Force flights. Northolt has one runway in operation, spanning 1,687 m × 46 m, with a grooved asphalt surface.
  Northolt predates the establishment of the Royal Air Force by almost three years, having opened in May 1915, making it the oldest RAF base. Originally established for the Royal Flying Corps, it has the longest history of continuous use of any RAF airfield. Before the outbreak of the Second World War, the station was the first to take delivery of the Hawker Hurricane. The station played a key role during the Battle of Britain, when fighters from several of its units, including No. 303 Polish Fighter Squadron, engaged enemy aircraft as part of the defence of London. It became the first base to have squadrons operating Supermarine Spitfire aircraft within German airspace.
context_section_description: In August 1996, a Spanish Learjet operated by Mar Aviation overshot runway 25 and collided with a van heading eastward on the A40 Western Avenue; the aircraft was carrying an actress bound for Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire. The two pilots, the actress and van driver all suffered minor injuries. The ensuing investigation by the Civil Aviation Authority's Air Accidents Investigation Branch found that both the crew's lack of understanding English and military air traffic control procedures had contributed significantly to the crash. Subsequently, after some thirty years of protracted consideration, an ILS was eventually fitted to Northolt's redefined Runway 25. In addition, aggregate-filled safety pits were installed at each end of the runway by 21 January 1998 to protect road users in the event of another business jet or military transport failing to stop or ascend before the end of the runway. The House of Commons Transport Select Committee considered the conversion of RAF Northolt to a possible offshoot of Heathrow Airport in the 1990s. While the existing runways would cause aircraft to cross the flight paths of those using Heathrow, new parallel runways were suggested. These suggestions were opposed by then MP for Ruislip-Northwood, John Wilkinson, and eventually progressed no further.
  Much media attention focused on the airfield when the body of Diana, Princess of Wales, arrived there from Villacoublay airfield, in Paris, France, after her death in a car crash in the city on 31 August 1997. The Queen's Colour Squadron, then based at neighbouring RAF Uxbridge, acted as the bearer party, while the flight was met by the Prime Minister, the Lord Chamberlain, Lord Lieutenant of Greater London, Secretary of State for Defence, the RAF Northolt station commander and the RAF Chaplain-in-Chief.
  Attention was high again in 2001 when Ronnie Biggs, the seriously ill, fugitive Great Train Robber, was flown from Brazil to the airfield to be arrested by waiting police officers. Biggs had escaped from custody in 1965; upon his return he was taken to Belmarsh Prison to complete the remainder of his sentence.
  Since 1 June 1998, station commanders have served as aides-de-camp to the Queen. The station received the Freedom of Entry to the London Borough of Hillingdon on 11 May 2000. This allowed military personnel to march through the borough in full uniform, an honour granted by the council in light of 2000 being the 60th anniversary of the Battle of Britain and the 85th anniversary of the opening of RAF Northolt. The neighbouring RAF Uxbridge station had received the same honour in 1960.
  The remains of a Hawker Hurricane flown by Flying Officer Ludwik Witold Paszkiewicz, the first pilot in No. 303 Squadron to shoot down an enemy aircraft, were donated to the station in June 2008. During the Battle of Britain, Paszkiewicz became a flying ace and received the Distinguished Flying Cross after shooting down six aircraft. He was killed in action over Borough Green in Kent on 27 September 1940. No. 303 Squadron recorded its 100th kill less than a month after commencing operations. Polish pilot Squadron Leader Franciszek Kornicki, who saw wartime service at RAF Northolt, was reunited with the Supermarine Spitfire he had flown at a special ceremony in September 2010.
  An additional memorial to British, Polish, Australian and New Zealand aircrew killed during the Battle of Britain was unveiled in September 2010. In October that year, the hangar which had housed Churchill's personal aircraft, the former Squadron Watch office, and the Operations Block were given Grade II listed building status. The Operations Block was a prototype of the "Dowding System", which facilitated the chain of command's issuance of orders for the interception of enemy aircraft and a scheme used for the first time during the Battle of Britain. Prior to the listing, the block was renamed the Sir Keith Park Building on 20 September in honour of the former No. 11 Group RAF commander who had also served as station commander at Northolt between 1931 and 1932. RAF Northolt i
caption: BAe 146 of 32 (The Royal) Squadron in 2013
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