Station Commander’s

The days are warmer and longer and personnel at RAF Honington have been seriously busy. We hosted a visit by the outgoing Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Wigston and welcomed our new chief, Air Chief Marshal Knighton, and his senior leadership team during their flying visit to speak with Honington’s whole force.

Station and Resident Unit personnel were proud to be involved in the coronation of His Majesty King Charles III and Queen Camilla, and to support the King’s birthday and Armed Forces Day events. 1 Sqn RAF Regiment and 1 TPSS were quickly out of the door - in key enabling roles - for the evacuation of British Nationals from Sudan, whilst RAF Regt Training Wing and the FP Centre continue to train and graduate personnel from the plethora of their courses. Catering flight personnel took part in and impressed during the RAF Skills days at MoD Worthy Down, winning a selection of medals with AS1 Jones reigning supreme as the Junior Chef of the Year. Our Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) fighters impressed at the recent RAF BJJ Championships, as did Station and Resident Unit personnel who were named on the King’s Birthday Honours List. My congratulations to all.

Volunteers across the Station help to maintain the fabric of Service life, team-work, and excellence and enable the Station to host events such as the regional schools STEM challenge, the many sports clubs and societies we have, and not least what I call the ‘flying lawnmowers’ who have been particularly active due to the improved weather and lighter evenings - Sqn Ldr Tim Taylor’s article is well worth a read. Another superb activity is the really well attended SSAFA inService Committee veterans coffee morning. Again, my thanks to the volunteers (serving and retired), RAF Benevolent Fund and RAFA, all of whom ensure that this event goes from strength to strength. Knowing what our personnel have been up to, and the effort they put in to all that they do is heartening. The quality of our whole force people and the excellence in training, really does shine through.

As my tenure as Station commander enters its sixth month, and following a visit by the Armed Forces Pay Review body, I’m acutely aware of the cost of living crisis and the growing pressures on all of our personnel. My Force Development Team is working hard to improve and grow the amount and variation of training they can offer, and from Wednesday 5 July (and every Wednesday thereafter) we will offer a Health and Wellbeing Wednesday opportunity for all Station and Resident Unit personnel to ‘down tools’ from 1400hrs so that they can participate in a variety of Force Development activities.

Why are we doing this? Well, some of the more mature work force will remember Wednesday sports afternoons, and the benefit that they brought. We are going back to best practice but offering more than just sport. It will be an opportunity to undertake an activity that perhaps we don’t normally do. Alongside the sporting options we will also be hosting guest lecturers, giving us more opportunity for professional development. Alternatively, it is the perfect opportunity to get away from normal daily activity and provide a reset by thinking about something different and interacting with people from different areas of the Station.

Lastly, Station Personnel; please do make use of our superb community support team if you need to (and this team will be growing over the next year or so to increase capacity

My Force Development Team is working hard to improve and grow the amount and variation of training they can offer, and from Wednesday 5 July (and every Wednesday thereafter) we will offer a Health and Wellbeing Wednesday opportunity for all Station and Resident Unit personnel to ‘down tools’ from 1400hrs so that they can participate in a variety of Force Development activities.

Honington Herald is now available online: and further improve the service they offer). Our brilliant Service charities are not just there for veterans, they are there to support serving personnel whether or not you have a family. I’m conscious that our community larder is going from strength to strength (as are similar facilities at other RAF Stations). So, if you have any leftover batch cooking or are clearing out the cupboards, please donate to a great cause. https://www.rafmags.com/magazines/

I’m immensely conscious how hard people are working, the great results they are achieving and the support that we all need. Over the summer I will continue to engage with you all, chat to you over a brew and find out how we can collectively keep improving RAF Honington as a Station and as a community, so that Team Honington remains ready for whatever is asked of us.