RAF Croughton is by far the most important military bases run by the United States of America in Europe. It is located in Northamptonshire, in the central part of the United Kingdom. It is one of the widest military switchboards of Europe. At the same time, it deals with more than 30% of the American communicational operations on the old continent.
History
The base was established in 1938 as Brackley Landing Ground. It covered almost 700 acres. In order to be built, the authorities had to relocate three huge farms from the area. Although the general facilities were relatively decent, the three runways were basically covered with grass. Its importance was not that big in those times. By 1940, the small base became a complementary base for a larger one in the area – RAF Upper Heyford. Since RAF Upper Heyford had to deal with a wide variety of night training sessions, many of them were directed at Brackley Landing Ground.
As World War II was getting more and more intense, the British government decided to split the British military bases in two categories – primary and secondary. The secondary ones were designated to receive the damaged aircrafts and repair them. RAG Croughton was one of them. They were considered to be emergency bases. Although the move was not quite the smartest, it did confuse the powerful Luftwaffe squad. The German pilots could barely make their decision about what targets are important. At the same time, these emergency bases were not that heavily guarded, so they represented some easy targets.
After World War II ended, the base was inactivated. It was turned into a storage site between 1947 and 1950. By the end of 1950, the base was given to the American forces. The first unit hosted on site was the 1969-th Communications Squadron, representing the start for a continuous update that turned the base into what it is today.
Over the years, the base was extremely important when it came to the communications in the area. It indirectly served in the upcoming conflicts led by the United States of America, from the Gulf War to the recent invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. In 2004, it went through a commission for base realignment in the United Kingdom. Many of the units switched their roles in order to ensure equal power for all the RAF bases in the country.
Units
RAF Croughton hosts the 422-nd Air Base Group. The unit is responsible for providing full force and communicational support to serve the interests of the country, regardless of the location and mission objectives. The group supports more alliances too, such as NATO.
Housing
The housing system at RAF Croughton is significantly influenced by your task and rank on site. If deployed for a long period of time, you are free to bring in your family as well. Since the United Kingdom is a safe place and the accommodation is not too hard, you can also choose the privatized off site system in the surrounding human communities.
