RAF changes will create two new command units

TWO NEW Royal Air Force commands will come into being on 1 April 1994, the Ministry of Defence confirmed yesterday, bringing the number of RAF commands to three, writes Christopher Bellamy.

Although the plans were disclosed some time ago, they depended on consultation with trade unions. The reorganisation means the closure of the MoD establishments in Harrogate, Yorkshire, and the movement of about 2,500 service personnel and civil servants to stations near Huntingdon, in Cambridgeshire, and Innsworth, Gloucester.

The RAF's Support Command at Brampton, Cambridgeshire, will split into two: Logistics Command at Brampton and Personnel and Training Command at Wyton, in the same county. Each will be commanded by an air marshal ('three-star'). They will join Strike Command, which controls all the RAF's operational aircraft.

The two bases will be staffed by about 950 servicemen and 1,500 civilian personnel transferred from Harrogate; London; Strike Command at High Wycombe; Buckinghamshire; Stanbridge, Bedfordshire; and Swanton Morley, in Norfolk.