Qualla: RAF Waddington https://qualla.com/raf-waddington en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:15 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/r/w/raf-waddington-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: RAF Waddington https://qualla.com/raf-waddington RAF Waddington: Introduction https://qualla.com/raf-waddington/ Photo credit Jerry Gunner, CC BY 2.0. The station badge depicts Lincoln Cathedral rising through cloud. The motto reads For Faith and Freedom. The cathedral is real and only six miles north — a navigational landmark that Waddington's crews used to find their way home in 1943 and still use in 2026. Of all the Bomber Command stations that ringed Lincoln in the Second World War, Waddington took the worst losses. The fields are still here. The runway is still here. The aircraft are different now: instead of Lancasters, Waddington flies the RAF's eyes — Rivet Joint signals-intelligence jets, Shadow R1s, Reaper and Protector drones — and since October 2022, the red Hawks of the Aerobatic Team that used to live up the road at Scampton.

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Image: Jerry Gunner | CC BY 2.0

]]> Wed, 27 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/r/w/raf-waddington-wp/gcrw-raf-waddington-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full RAF Waddington: First Lancaster, first Black Buck https://qualla.com/raf-waddington/ Photo credit J.Hannan-Briggs, CC BY-SA 2.0. Waddington opened as a Royal Flying Corps airfield in 1916, and squadrons cycled through it for the next two decades on Hinds, Blenheims, Hampdens. The base entered the history books on 2 March 1942, when No. 44 Squadron flew the first operational Bomber Command sortie using the ...

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Image: J.Hannan-Briggs | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Wed, 27 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/r/w/raf-waddington-wp/gcrw-raf-waddington-first-lancaster-first-black-buck.mp3 0:06 2 full RAF Waddington: The intelligence hub https://qualla.com/raf-waddington/ Photo credit J.Hannan-Briggs, CC BY-SA 2.0. Waddington's modern role looks nothing like its bomber past. The base is now the RAF's Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance — ISTAR — hub, with No. 1 ISR Wing headquartered here. The aircraft on the line are RC-135W Rivet Joints, large four-engine sig...

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Image: J.Hannan-Briggs | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Wed, 27 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/r/w/raf-waddington-wp/gcrw-raf-waddington-the-intelligence-hub.mp3 0:06 3 full RAF Waddington: The Red Arrows come home https://qualla.com/raf-waddington/ Photo credit J.Hannan-Briggs, CC BY-SA 2.0. In October 2022, RAF Scampton — the Dambusters' wartime base and the Red Arrows' home since 2000 — closed as an active RAF station. The Aerobatic Team and its 146 personnel relocated nine miles south down the A15 to Waddington. The red Hawk T1s now share the line with grey signal...

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Image: J.Hannan-Briggs | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Wed, 27 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/r/w/raf-waddington-wp/gcrw-raf-waddington-the-red-arrows-come-home.mp3 0:06 4 full RAF Waddington: What survives https://qualla.com/raf-waddington/ Photo credit Airwolfhound from Hertfordshire, UK, CC BY-SA 2.0. At the main gate stands Vulcan XM607, retired here in 1982 and preserved as gate guardian — the same aircraft type, possibly the same airframe, that flew Black Buck One. The station badge with its cathedral motif dates from a 1955 dedication. Inside the perimeter, hardened aircra...

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Image: Airwolfhound from Hertfordshire, UK | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Wed, 27 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/r/w/raf-waddington-wp/gcrw-raf-waddington-what-survives.mp3 0:06 5 full