General Description

Located North of Wittering village and on the West side of
the A1, North of the A47, around 4 miles South of Stamford and 8 miles West of Peterborough.
RAF Wittering is actually two airfields that have merged together; unfortunately this and the
A1 have made access for viewing rather difficult to say the least. Wittering was home to the
Harriers of various squadrons over the years, but not any more - now it's just the far less
exciting activity of various Tutor squadrons.

What you can expect to see

Tutors of the resident units - No. 3 FTS, 16(R) and 115(R) Squadrons, Cambridge UAS, London UAS and 5 AEF. You may be lucky
and see other RAF types carrying out practice approaches and the occasional fuel stop.

Viewing

Driving up the A1 Northbound, you will see a turn-off for Wittering
village, take this. If you follow the road it will curve round to the right and then things
become somewhat woody, dark and narrow. SLOW RIGHT DOWN! There is a blind bend to the left
here which is barely wide enough for two cars, and there are plenty of nutters who barrel
through here at 50-60 mph. Out of the blind bend the road is still dangerous as it is
so narrow and so many idiots are incapable of keeping on their side of the road, so be very
careful. The road curves right again going up towards the edge of the station -
you can see the hangars now (A). Views onto the pan are pretty limited here (but if you
want serials, a walk along this road may suit your purposes), so keep following
this horrible little road along the fence. There's a crash gate just before it
curves left, but again viewing is pretty non-existent.

Harrier T.10 landing (taken from point B, 800mm lens); author

Keep going and the road now goes away from the airfield. Shortly you'll see a lane
off to the right with a sign for a pig farm and 'PRIVATE ROAD' displayed
prominently. If you park the car at the side of the road near here (B) and
stand at the corner of the lane and look across the field (direction - about 45
degrees right of the lane) you may be able to see any flying activity in the distance.
The land owners here prefer spotters do not drive down the lane, but tolerate occasional
people on foot going town towards the control tower (C). Some views of the taxiways
and hangars are available from the far end, though the control tower and firestation block the direct
view opposite you and the RAF Police will take an interest in anybody hanging around down here as well.

Back to the car and continue driving away from Wittering. Turn right onto the A47 (towards
Leicester). Take the next right (towards Collyweston). Immediately on your right here is
an area of rough ground you can park on (D). Here you are as near as you can get
to the end of runway 08 and Tutors on finals will pass nearly overhead. It's not great
for photography as they are still rather high though. You can also park by the side of this
road further North towards Collyweston to change your angle on the approach, just be careful
getting out of your car as the road can get busy at certain times of day.

Harrier GR.7 on finals (taken from North of point D); author

Continue driving towards Collyweston and turn right onto the A43 towards Easton on the Hill.
On the right at a cross junction there is small road that runs towards a crash gate (E), however this
is nearest the Western end of the runway and is lower than the rest of the airfield -
aircraft landing on 26 will be well out of sight; even if they taxied all the way to the end
of the runway you wouldn't see them. Aircraft flying circuits will however lift off
to your left and you should be able to read off tail codes or possibly serials with
a good pair of binoculars - and maybe even get useable photographs with a large lens,
say 600mm or above. It's not a good spot though, unless you particularly want a photo of
the combined aircraft-building metal construction the firecrews use for practicing on! There
is a footpath across the fields here to the East but it leads to near enough this same spot
and is therefore not worth the long hike from the road.

Giving up on this spot and going back down the road to the village, turn
right onto the A43 again and you will soon see a turn-off to the right
signposted to Barnack. Take this and keep going for quite a while until you see
an aerial mast. Pull in on the right by this mast (F) and you'll see a red bar
across a lane that disappears towards the airfield. This looks promising at
first sight... so, ten minute's walk down this lane (which isn't marked as
being private property though it may be - so exercise discretion) and youll find
the lane dips as it ends so by the time you reach the crash gate here (G), all
you can see is a hill in front of you with some caravans parked on it. Assuming you don't want
the serials of these, about the only use this spot now has is if you are lucky and the Tutors are
practicing tight circuits; they may fly over your head here. However, that's a rarity!

Harrier T.10 on short finals (taken from point H, 500mm lens); author

So, return to your car and turn right to continue on the Barnack road - just round the corner
from the aerial mast you will join the A1 just before an exit/roundabout, time to double back onto
the A1 southbound. Keep going South - you'll see a turn for Barnack but for the time being we
will ignore this. Just down the road from the turn is a small layby - if you want to risk it,
park here. From here you have a clear but distant view of aircraft on finals to 26. Photography
requires a 500mm lens to fill the frame of anything going over the A1. You could always leave
the car here and walk along the side of the A1 until you're in line with the approach lights.
However, this is not a pleasant experience. The walk itself is noisy, smelly and dangerous,
with HGVs thundering past you every few seconds on most days. The police have been known
to ask people to move on if they find they have left their cars in the layby
too. Photography-wise it's not that brilliant and certainly not worth the risk
to your life and health - particularly for Tutors!

So... continue on Southbound! You will notice a couple of turn-offs into farm tracks but
you can't stop at either of these - you'd be blocking their access and it's dangerous enough
slowing down to get into either of them. You'll soon see another turn-off for Barnack - take
this one and drive up this road. Shortly after the road comes out of the trees you'll see
a gate marked 'PRIVATE' on the left followed very shortly by another entrance on the right.
Just up from here (I) is possibly the best spot there is for viewing. Aircraft may
curve round on finals to 26 around about here, offering nice topside views, or underside
views (depending on how tight they turn). The bad news is, you need a big lens - there's
significant variation on the track they take towards final approach and this can mean
needing anything from 200mm to 800mm for a full frame shot. The sun in the early morning
is a pain here but later in the day things improve.

Next, continue up the road. Ignore the Barnack village turn
and you'll come to a T junction. Turn left (back towards the A1) and right at the end, just
before you come to the A1, there are several places where you can pull the car over onto the
verge (J). From here you have a clear but distant view of aircraft landing on 26 or
departing from 08. Unfortunately the position of the sun for much of
the day and the trees here make photography rather hit and miss.

Back onto the A1 Southbound and you'll soon see a turn-off to the right into Wittering
village. You may have to wait some time here to cross the Northbound carriageway but once
you have done so, turn around and rejoin the A1 going North. Almost immediately there is
a turn-off for the station itself. There is a pretty big car park here, but you are now
on MoD property (K). The Harrier gate guard can normally be photographed if you ask
nicely - there will be a human gate guard in camofulage fatigues at the small gatehouse,
who will generally say no to your request but should refer you to the RAF Police in the main
guardroom for a definite answer. The RAF Police are normally okay about photographing the Harrier,
especially if you pre-empt their objections by saying you'll only photograph facing away
from the gate, out towards the A1.

Harrier GR.3 gate guard (taken from point K); author

Back out onto the A1 Northbound. Shortly after your pass the approach lights and the station
disappears behind the rising ground, there is a large layby on your left. Pull in here (L). If you
really do want to hang around close to the approach this is your safest option - you can walk back
down towards the lights on the cycle path on this side - again it's not a pleasant experience
though and the high hedges will make for very little warning of anything on finals. So that's it for
Wittering, possibly one of the least rewarding stations for spotting in the UK.

Other Information

Petrol is available in Wittering village.

Foreign visitors may wish to note that the A1 is sometimes signposted
as the Great Northern Road.

The area South of the station is somewhat pastoral and quiet so you're unlikely to be
troubled by the plod if you do park on a verge somewhere; North of the station the
roads are busier but you've got no reason to hang around on them anyway!