RAF Wyton

RAF Wyton is a Royal Air Force station near St Ives in Cambridgeshire. It has been a military airfield since 1916, first used by the Royal Flying Corps and later by the RAF. The station now houses the National Centre for Geospatial Intelligence, which supplies open-source and geospatial intelligence to the armed forces. It also hosts the Ministry of Defence Police Headquarters and several other defence units. The Pathfinder Building serves as the operations centre for Defence Intelligence.

The site played a key role in the Second World War as a bomber base, flying Blenheims, Mosquitos and Lancasters. On 3 September 1939 a 139 Squadron Blenheim became the first RAF aircraft to enter Germany, piloted by Flying Officer A. McPherson, who won the Distinguished Flying Cross. In 1942 Group Captain Don Bennett established the Pathfinder Force at Wyton. After the war, Canberras, Valiants and Victors operated from the airfield during the Cold War.

Today the station is a hub for intelligence work rather than flying. The Pathfinder Building is described as the largest top-secret military intelligence fusion facility in the world. Units such as 42 Engineer Regiment and the Defence Intelligence Fusion Centre are based there. The National Centre for Geospatial Intelligence supported the investigation into the Salisbury poisoning by tracing the Novichok trail.