RAF Croughton, RAF Barford St. John, RAF Menwith Hill, RAF Fairford, RAF Welford, RAF Alconbury, RAF Molesworth, RAF Lakenheath and RAF Mildenhall are all made available to the United States Visiting Force (USVF). These sites are commanded by a US officer, usually a United States Air Force officer, at colonel rank.
An RAF commander is present at the main USVF sites, at a lower rank, normally squadron leader. The role of the RAF commander is to liaise with the US base commander and act as head of establishment for Ministry of Defence employees. There are no RAF commanders at RAF Barford St. John, RAF Welford and RAF Molesworth as these sites are administered by other USVF sites.
The numbers of UK personnel at RAF Digby, RAF St. Mawgan and Blenheim Crescent as at 1 October 2009 are shown in the following table:
Site MOD civilian personnel Military personnel RAF Digby 160 510 RAF St. Mawgan 180 210 Blenheim Crescent — — Notes: 1. MOD civilian figures are based on headcount. Figures include MOD main industrial (skill zone) and non-industrial staff. 2. The military personnel figures represent the number of service personnel that are stationed at that location. This may differ from the actual number of people working at that location at that time e.g., due to deployments.
There are 40 UK civilian personnel and contractors employed by the US at Blenheim Crescent.
The numbers of US personnel at RAF Digby, RAF St. Mawgan and Blenheim Crescent as at 1 December 2009 are shown in the following table:
Site US military US civilians US contractors RAF Digby 50 5 or less 1— RAF St Mawgan 1— 5 or less 1— Blenheim Crescent 20 40 5 or less 1 Denotes a count of zero. Note: Numbers are rounded to the nearest 10. Numbers ending in “5” have been rounded to the nearest multiple of 20 to prevent systematic bias.
Blenheim Crescent is made available to the United States visiting force and is commanded by a US officer. RAF Digby and RAF St. Mawgan are commanded by an RAF Station Commander.
RAF Barford St. John, RAF Welford, RAF Molesworth, RAF Upwood, RAF Feltwell and Blenhiem Crescent are all made available to the United States visiting force (USVF). These bases are all administered by other USVF sites, and as such, there are no RAF personnel at these sites with the exception of RAF Molesworth where there is one RAF officer present. As with all RAF stations where the USVF are present, the base commander is usually a United States Air Force officer, at colonel rank.
With regard to the numbers of RAF personnel at RAF Brampton and RAF Henlow, I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave on 7 December 2009, Official Report, column 90W.