RAF Ascension Island

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Ascension Island Base is a British airbase on Ascension Island in the Atlantic Ocean.

It was known as RAF Ascension Island until 1 April 2004 when control of the base passed from Royal Air Force Strike Command to the Permanent Joint Headquarters.

The first aircraft to land on Ascension Island was a Fairey Swordfish from HMS Archer in 1942. In 1943 The United States Air Force set up Wideawake Airfield, by arrangement with the British government. The airfield was abandoned at the end of the war, but reopened in 1957 by the US. A missile tracking station was established there in 1967, which has since closed.

RAF Ascension Island was re-garrissoned by the RAF in 1982 and used extensively as a staging base during the Falklands War. Operation Black Buck, the long range bombing raids, were carried out from there. The base continues this role for both the RAF and the United States Air Force.

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