Inside The RAF's Largest Hangar

RAF Brize Norton is home to the largest aircraft in the Royal Air Force, so it makes sense that the largest hangar in the RAF is also at Brize.

The enormous 'Base Hangar' is a well-known location that stands proudly on the airfield.

Today it has the facilities to service all four types of aircraft that operate out of the Oxfordshire airbase, capable of carrying out maintenance for the Boeing C-17 Globemaster, Airbus ATLAS A400M, Airbus A330 Voyager and the Lockheed Martin C130J Hercules.

Built-in 1967 originally intended to service the Vickers VC10, Lockheed L-1011 TriStar and the Belfast, Base Hangar towers over the northeastern side of the RAF Brize Norton airfield.

It has undergone a number of changes and adaptations to enable it to accommodate more modern aircraft. 

Today it still holds the accolade of being the largest hangar in the Royal Air Force (at the time of building it was the largest free-standing cantilever construction in Europe). 

Flying Officer Ed Barnicote is the Flight Commander for Base Hangar and told Forces Radio BFBS:

"The hangar is a quarter of a mile long and has five and a half acres of floor space. That doesn't really do it justice however as the amount of work carried out here day to day is huge."

Apart from it's busy maintenance schedule Base Hangar is often used for other duties, including doubling as a film set for some big productions. 

In 2015 Channel 4 used it as the stage to film the opening sequence for their upcoming Formula 1 coverage.

More recently Base Hangar and RAF Brize Norton doubled as the set for Ramstein Air Base in Mission Impossible 6: Fallout.

The hangar, alongside a C-17 aircraft were used by Alec Baldwin, Angela Bassett, Henry Cavill and Tom Cruise.

Did you work in Base Hangar during a posting to RAF Brize Norton?

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For more at what's happening at RAF Brize Norton and in forces Oxfordshire tune in to BFBS Brize Norton.

106.1FM and DAB Digital Radio

Photos: RAF Brize Norton Photographic Section