RAF Honiley | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wroxall, Warwickshire in England | |||||||||||
.jpg) The main runway at RAF Honiley (looking east to west) | |||||||||||
  RAF Honiley Shown within Warwickshire  RAF Honiley RAF Honiley (the United Kingdom) | |||||||||||
| Coordinates | 52°21′22″N 001°39′54″W / 52.35611°N 1.66500°W | ||||||||||
| Type | Sector Station 1941-44 | ||||||||||
| Code | HY | ||||||||||
| Site information | |||||||||||
| Owner | Air Ministry | ||||||||||
| Operator | Royal Air Force | ||||||||||
| Controlled by | RAF Fighter Command 1941-44 * No. 9 Group RAF RAF Bomber Command 1944- * No. 26 (Signals) Group RAF | ||||||||||
| Site history | |||||||||||
| Built | 1940/41 | ||||||||||
| Built by | John Laing & Son Ltd | ||||||||||
| In use | August 1941 – March 1958 | ||||||||||
| Battles/wars | European theatre of World War II | ||||||||||
| Airfield information | |||||||||||
| Identifiers | IATA: BHY | ||||||||||
| Elevation | 141 metres (463 ft)[1] AMSL | ||||||||||
| |||||||||||
Royal Air Force Honiley or RAF Honiley is a former Royal Air Force station located in Wroxall, Warwickshire, 7 miles (11 km) southwest of Coventry, England.
The station closed in March 1958, and after being used as a motor vehicle test track, it has been subject to planning permission from the Prodrive Formula One team for development of their Fulcrum test and development facility however this has been cancelled.
From September 2014 the site has been used by Jaguar Land Rover for heritage driving experiences with the location being known as Fen End.
Originally called Ramsey, it was renamed RAF Honiley in August 1941, and used by a variety of squadrons defending the Midlands during the Second World War.[2]
Additional units:
From April 1957, the station was placed on Care and Maintenance until closure.[15]
The airfield had 15 hangars; there were three Bellmans and 12 Blister hangars. There was also a cinema and technical workshops.[15]
After being taken over by LucasVarity for vehicle testing, residents have included Prodrive, Marcos and TRW.[21]
In addition to their existing automotive consultancy business, which was based at the site from 2001, in March 2006 motor racing company Prodrive announced its intent to build a £200 million, 200-acre (0.8 km2) motorsport facility called The Fulcrum.[22] Prodrive's statement in the planning application for the facility – which could house as many as 1,000 staff – boasted of "a motorsport complex which could eventually house Prodrive's new British Prodrive F1 team", further cementing Managing Director David Richards' intention to return to F1 in 2008.[23]
As of 3 August 2006, Prodrive won the support of the Warwick District Council planning committee for development of The Fulcrum.[24] The permission covered a highly advanced engineering research and development campus, a conference facility called the Catalyst Centre and new access road, a roundabout, infrastructure, parking and landscaping. The plans still had to be presented and agreed by the British government's Department for Communities and Local Government, and there was local opposition via the Fulcrum Prodrive Action Group (FPAG) to protect the rural nature of the community and the safety of the people that live within it.[21]
However, following rule changes banning so-called 'customer' cars from competing in F1, and legal proceedings undertaken by existing F1 manufacturer teams, Prodrive's F1 plans were shelved indefinitely. Since the sale of the site to Jaguar Land Rover in 2014, Prodrive's business remains based at their Banbury headquarters.[25]
It is also the site of the HON (Honiley) VOR-DME navigation aid, which is positioned to the south of the track.[26]
The old turbine development buildings, previously re-purposed and used as administration offices by Lucas Automotive have been left by Prodrive in the same state they were when Lucas first vacated the site and have become a popular site for Urban Explorers.[27]
In 2011, the disused administrative building on the site was used as a set by the metalcore band Oceans Ate Alaska in the music video for their debut single Clocks.[28]
The site was purchased by Jaguar Land Rover in 2014[29] who moved their Heritage Driving Experience[30] operations to it from their Gaydon facility based at the former RAF Gaydon. It currently (as of December 2017) also houses their press car operations, as well as part of their Special Vehicle Operations division.
