Warton Aerodrome Warton Aerodrome is located near to Warton village on the Fylde in Lancashire , England . The aerodrome is west of Preston , Lancashire , UK . Today the airfield is a major assembly and testing facility of BAE Systems Military Air & Information . Warton Aerodrome has a CAA Ordinary Licence ( Number P748 ) that allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction as authorised by the licensee ( BAE Systems ( Operations ) Limited ) . History . In 1940 new runways were built at Warton so that it could act as a " satellite " airfield for the RAF Coastal Command station at Squires Gate airfield in Blackpool . USAAF . The airfield was first operated as an air depot of the U . S . Army Air Force during World War II , as thousands of aircraft were processed on their way to active service in Britain , North Africa , the Mediterranean and mainland Europe . On 23 August 1944 , the accidental crash of an American United States Army Air Forces B - 24 Liberator heavy bomber caused the Freckleton Air Disaster . RAF . It then became a Royal Air Force station . English Electric . In 1947 , English Electric took over the site , moving their main design office there from the Strand Road site in Preston in 1948 . BAC , BAe and BAE Systems . With the merger of English Electric Aviation and the other aircraft divisions of the major British manufacturers in 1960 , it became a British Aircraft Corporation ( BAC ) site . BAC was then nationalised and merged with Hawker Siddeley and Scottish Aviation to form British Aerospace ( BAe ) in 1977 , which was later privatised in 1981 , until its final transformation into BAE Systems in 1999 . As such the airfield has been the testing ground for several front line aircraft including the Canberra , the Lightning , the TSR - 2 , the Sepecat Jaguar , the Panavia Tornado and BAE Hawk ( formerly the Hawker Siddeley Hawk ) and most recently the Eurofighter Typhoon . In June 2010 " The Sun " reported that poisonous red back spider s had been discovered in a consignment of parts from Australia . The article expressed fears that these spiders would colonise the surrounding countryside . As a routine response , BAE Systems employed a specialist contractor who quickly managed to eliminate the spiders . The contractors were assisted by the fact that the Australian red back spider has very visible nests , a relatively short two - week gestation period , a reluctance to wander from its nest , and an intolerance to the British climate except at the height of summer . BAE Systems also implemented a number of measures to prevent further incursions of foreign species in subsequent consignments from Australia . Development . Eurofighter . Warton was used as the base for all British development aircraft ( DA ) and Instrumented Production Aircraft ( IPA ) in the Eurofighter programme . Warton has been home to the initial Typhoon squadrons of the Royal Air Force , No . 17 Squadron and No . 29 Squadron . This was under the so - called " Case White " programme where BAE assumes more responsibility for training and support of the new aircraft than previous RAF types which were introduced under a more " in house " system . BAE insist that this allows inevitable problems with any new aircraft to be quickly ironed out by BAE personnel on site . BAE plans to offer this on site service to any export customers . Nimrod . Warton was also used for development flying of the Nimrod MRA4 Maritime Reconnaissance and Attack aircraft until the aircraft was cut in the Strategic Defence and Security Review in 2010 . Production . Tornado . The final new build Tornado left Warton in 1998 , a GR . 1 for Saudi Arabia . Following this the main assembly hall was re - fitted as the final assembly site of the Eurofighter Typhoon . BAE estimate that modern manufacturing techniques will allow the 30 week assembly time for a Tornado to be reduced to 16 weeks for the Typhoon . Private airfield . Warton is the base for BAE Systems ' " Corporate Air Travel " department which operates scheduled services for employees ( and those of partner organisations ) to Farnborough , Munich , Filton , Cambridge , RAF Coningsby , and RAF Marham . The Farnborough and Munich services are provided by Corporate Air Travel ' s BAe 146 aircraft , with the others contracted out to other operators . Many " ad hoc " passenger flights also take place operated by various VIP operators including the Queen ' s Flight . The site is not open to the public , although limited areas are made accessible during Open Days ( currently on a four yearly cycle ) which the company holds for the families and friends of employees and local residents . These Open Days , which are free of charge , typically include demonstrations of activities , tours of simulation facilities and impressive flying displays . Police helicopter . Since 21 November 1994 , Lancashire Constabulary has operated an Air Support Unit from the site with their G - LASU Eurocopter AS . 355N Twin Squirrel " Oscar November 21 " . This aircraft is fitted with special equipment as follows : AGEMA / Leo 400 nose FLIR / Video turret , searchlight , Nitesun , comms systems .