RAF Coningsby Personnel Prepared for Emergency Deployment During Christmas

Personnel, including pilots and ground staff, at RAF Coningsby have informed the BBC that they are prepared to interrupt their Christmas meals instantly to address emergency situations. Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) teams stationed there can be deployed rapidly to handle various emergencies, such as planes losing contact, potential terrorism threats, or foreign aircraft encroaching on UK airspace. During the Christmas period, the QRA will comprise two pilots and multiple support staff teams. Bradley Fieldhouse, a technician, stated that he “feels better about” being on duty on Christmas Day, knowing that colleagues with young families would be able to spend the day with them. Wing Cdr Andy Shaw, from 29 Squadron, responsible for training Typhoon pilots, described QRA as being in “extremely high readiness where we sit with armed aircraft 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, to protect the UK and its interests.” He further commented: “It includes Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve, the works. We’re always there ready to go at a moment’s notice.” He elaborated: “We defend from really any threat. That can be from light aircraft, counter-terrorism type work, to a 9/11 scenario or the more traditional threat from long range aviation from Russia.” Shaw added: “We’d look to protect the UK from any airborne threat, and that would usually start from knowing an aircraft is airborne and we don’t know what it’s doing. That could be simple as lost comms. We’d look to launch to investigate to find out what’s going on and deal with it appropriately.” The BBC was informed that pilots must sleep in several layers of their uniform to accelerate the process of becoming airborne if an alert occurs during the night. However, what is the situation for ground staff? Regarding his QRA shifts on Christmas Day, having completed three of the past four, RAF technician Bradley Fieldhouse commented: “It is all happy and cheery.” He continued: “Everyone’s in the same situation, everyone’s away from their family so we try and make it as happy as possible.” The weapons specialist further stated: “We could be halfway through our Christmas dinner, and we get a call, that’s just the way it goes unfortunately.” He concluded: “Personally I have no kids, so although it’s sad to be away from family for Christmas I know that someone’s going to have a better Christmas with their kids. That makes me feel a bit better about it all.” For more content, listeners can access highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, viewers can watch the most recent episode of Look North, or individuals can submit story ideas here. This content is copyrighted by the BBC in 2024, with all rights reserved. The BBC disclaims responsibility for the content found on external websites and provides information regarding its policy on external linking.