Halton Supports London Bridge

For many years, RAF Halton has meticulously prepared for and rehearsed its role in the funeral plans for the Monarch and other members of the Royal Family.

Little did the team know that when they delivered the Concentration Area for the Royal Air Force’s contribution to the Queen’s

Platinum Jubilee testing out many of their plans, that in just over 3 months they would be required to do so again for the sad passing of Her Late Majesty

Queen Elizabeth II. Whether

Service Person, Civil Servant or Contractor, the support to Operation LONDON

BRIDGE, was a Whole Force endeavour at RAF Halton; every single member of the team stepped up to the challenge and delivered a faultless performance.

The successful delivery of the RAF’s primary Concentration Area for LONDON BRIDGE was entirely dependent upon thorough planning. Ranging from ensuring that the Station had an adequate supply of ceremonial equipment and weapons, to a dispersal and recovery plan for the Phase 1 recruits, to the preparation required to deliver meals at unusual times, Royal Air Force Halton stood ready to enact LONDON BRIDGE whenever the need would arise. Sadly, on 8 September 2022, with the news confirmed that HM Queen Elizabeth II had passed away at Balmoral, the team immediately began to focus attention on what would be a phenomenally busy 10 days.

Initial actions on the team were to arrange for the dispersal of Phase 1 recruits and Service Persons Awaiting Trade Training. The Recruit Training Squadron (RTS) team worked late into the night to ensure that each recruit had somewhere to go and an appropriate method of getting there. Central to this planning was the requirement to ensure that the Stn Cdr’s duty of care under the Supervisory Care Directive could be maintained, by arranging for welfare support throughout the period of stand-down and checks to confirm that those Under-18 years of age had safely returned home.

Meanwhile the ‘battlerhythm’ of briefings and working groups with Air Command commenced immediately for the Stn Cdr and OC Ops & Plans Wg. To support the pace of meetings, the requirement to process and provide information and have a suitable briefing facility, preparations had begun to transform the Welfare and Support Facility on Henderson Site into a fully functional 24/7 Ops Room, which was ready for round the clock activity by 0800 on Sunday 11 September 2022.

By the morning of Friday 9 September 2022, RTS had a comprehensive plan to cease Phase 1 training and 356 recruits were efficiently dispersed in under 40 hours. Within Aviator Command Squadron (ACS) similar decisions needed to be made about the continuation of the Management and Leadership Courses; for these courses the decision predominantly rests on the Station’s ability to accommodate and feed the students whilst also delivering the LONDON BRIDGE output. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, ACS has been working tirelessly to reduce the backlog of personnel from across the RAF awaiting places on the Junior Management and Leadership Course; therefore, the Stn Cdr directed that these courses would continue. However, it was necessary to cancel one Intermediate Management and Leadership Course with the loss of 40 training places and the ACS Course Design Cell will develop a plan to catch-up these places within the training year.

Concurrently the Station Management Squadron had swung into action to prepare the Reception, Staging and Onward Integration package that would be delivered to the approximate 600 personnel that would all be in situ at RAF Halton by 1700 on Monday 12 September 2022. The arrival of personnel from across the RAF from the 5 special relationship

units (RAF Regiment, Royal Air Force Cranwell, Royal Air Force Marham, 603 Squadron and the Royal Auxiliary Air Force), to train for Her Late Majesty’s Funeral Procession would be an exceptionally busy day for the team and to smooth the process, the Finlay Gymnasium was transformed into a Reception Centre. All the key areas needed to prepare personnel for their stay at RAF Halton were included within this ‘round-robin’ of Station stands, including Accommodation and Messing, Weapons Handling Tests, Issue of Ceremonial Equipment, and mandatory photographs. We were extremely grateful to our

Industry Partner Babcock for their outstanding support to the arrivals process. RTS provided a Real-Life Support team, with individuals allocated to each of the detachment marching contingents to manage the passage of information and

accommodation allocation. After being processed through the Reception Centre, every group was given a face-to-face briefing session, a total of 4 delivered overall. Here personnel were welcomed to the Station by the Stn Cdr, before being given a series of briefings on the facilities available to them, medical and security briefings, and an insight into the ceremonial training that they would be undertaking.

In addition to the personnel arriving at RAF Halton to begin their training for the Funeral Procession there were also many personnel who arrived to bolster the Station itself, including Chefs, Military Transport Drivers, Human Resources personnel and Force Protection personnel, alongside 3 Military Working Dogs. All these Individual Augmentees from around the UK were a credit to their professions and a real asset to RAF Halton during such a busy time. RAF Halton was also proud to welcome ‘Tesco’ the rabbit, with his FP owner, who when deployed at short notice brought him along for safe keeping. Tesco’s arrival quickly became famous around the RAF, he even attracted the attention of the Senior Leadership Team, more of which later.

Ceremonial training commenced on the morning of Tuesday 13 September 2022, first on the agenda was a full Number 1 Service Dress Inspection by the Ceremonial Team and Drill Instructors. Exceptional support was provided by all our Contractor Partners, in this case Bell’s Tailors, providing short notice, high-quality adjustments to uniforms of participating personnel to ensure that they were correctly dressed for such a high-profile event. Personnel would be put through their paces on an intensive programme delivered by the Drill Instructors, under the watchful eye of RAF Drill & Ceremonial for the coming 6 days to ensure they were fully prepared for the State Funeral.

The programme consisted of basic drill refreshers to the more complex serials required for the Procession, including the opportunity to run through the Procession itself on a route across the Station designed to replicate that in London. Throughout LONDON BRIDGE the Station Armoury supported 2392 issues and receipts of weapons for ceremonial training, often at antisocial times to facilitate personnel departing for London or Windsor. Notably, RAF Halton also provided a reserve marching contingent of personnel who completed all the ceremonial training to step in should there be any injuries amongst those participating personnel, an unenviable task knowing full well there was slim

chance of getting onto the parade itself, but an abundance of proud volunteers, nevertheless.

As the team settled into a routine of training, the Ops Team were preparing plans to facilitate the move of around 350 personnel into London and approximately 150 personnel into Windsor for Early Morning Rehearsals as well as preparing to support the day of the Funeral itself. Concurrently, the team prepared for and hosted a significant number of Senior Leadership Team visits to the Concentration Area. The visits included Chief of the Air Staff and Lady Wigston, Deputy Commander Operations, Commander Joint Command, Air Officer Commanding Number 11 Group, Air Officer Commanding Number 22 Group and Warrant Officer of the RAF. All the visits provided the opportunity for the SLT to engage with personnel practicing for the Procession as well as those in supporting roles. It was also possible for the team to explain how RAF Halton reconfigured so quickly to deliver its output in support of LONDON BRIDGE. Having heard of the deployment of ‘Tesco’, Chief of the Air Staff was able to speak to the rabbit’s owner who was providing gate security for As the funeral drew closer and concurrent to CAS and Lady Wigston’s visit, RAF Halton hosted a Media Facility on behalf of Air Media & Communications on Friday 16 September 2022. During this event the team explained the role of RAF Halton in preparations for Her Late Majesty’s Funeral, provided a demonstration of the Procession that would be performed by RAF personnel, with support from the RAF Band and gave time for individual participants to be interviewed by the Media. There was a great deal of media interest in the Concentration Area, the BBC, ITN, The Times and the Daily Telegraph were just a few of the media organisations that sent reporters on the day.

A critical aspect of LONDON BRIDGE was ensuring that personnel were well fed, whether on site at RAF Halton or when they moved forward for rehearsals or the Funeral itself. Ably led by the Station Catering Liaison Officer, the Sodexo Catering team, supported by 4 Military Chefs delivered over 9,000 meals to participating personnel, opening in the early hours or late at night to

support the requirements of the training programme – a truly outstanding effort.

On the day of Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s Funeral, the participating personnel departed RAF Halton between 0330 and 0630 to ensure that they were established in the correct locations in sufficient time. The personnel leading Operations at RAF Halton remained behind to ensure that everything was prepared for their return or to react in the event of any incidents involving RAF personnel. The day was extremely sombre on Station, but personnel felt hugely proud of their contribution to the State Funeral as well as watching their colleagues that they had worked with for the last 10 days play such a key role in the event to an exceptionally high standard. Following the conclusion of the Funeral, all personnel returned to RAF Halton by 1845.

Attention turned to the dispersal of personnel from RAF Halton to their home Stations on Tuesday 20 September. An impressive transport plan was developed to ensure that everyone was able to depart for their return journeys by late morning. A total of 17 coaches left RAF Halton to return personnel to 13 RAF Stations. All that remained to be done at Halton was to reconfigure the accommodation and training site to its usual standard which was quickly achieved by the ever-impressive team and Phase 1 recruits returned to Recruit Training Squadron from 23 September to recommence training fully on 26 September 2022.

The delivery of LONDON BRIDGE and RAF Halton’s role in the State Funeral of Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II was a huge achievement. Accolades have been received from HM The King, CDS, CAS, and AOCs thus everyone whether Service, Civil Servant or Contractor, should rightly reflect on the event with a great sense of honour and pride for their outstanding contribution.