Naming of military air bases
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Most countries with military aviation forces have a system for naming of military airbases. "Air Force Base" ("AFB") is part of the name of military airbases of the United States Air Force (USAF) and the South African Air Force (SAAF), with the USAF using it at the end of the name of the base (e.g. "Dover AFB"),[1] and the SAAF using it at the start (e.g. "AFB Hoedspruit"). The Royal Australian Air Force uses a slightly different format referring to bases as "RAAF Base" (Royal Australian Air Force Base). The Canadian Forces also uses a different format referring to any base as "CFB" (Canadian Forces Base) or "BFC" in French (Base des Forces Canadiennes).
The Royal Air Force (RAF) identify their bases as "Royal Air Force stations", but for modern purposes this is usually abbreviated to "RAF" plus the name, e.g. RAF Marham.[2] They are generally named after the closest railway station as rail travel was the main means of transport for service personnel in the early days of the RAF. Many RAF stations have long since lost their local railway station. Other bases were named after the local village, or used the name of the building in which they resided, such as RAF Bentley Priory. There is no difference in nomenclature for non-flying RAF stations, and overseas RAF stations have followed the same principles.
The aviation division of the Royal Navy, the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) generally follow the same principles of naming as the RAF, but are instead prefixed with Royal Naval Air Station (RNAS), such as RNAS Yeovilton. However, in maintaining the maritime link, all Royal Navy air stations are additionally named in the same manner as the Navy's ships – in Yeoviltons' instance, it is also called HMS Heron.
The British Army Air Corps uses a variety of terms due to the very mixed nature of its bases, sharing facilities with the RAF (at RAF Odiham), the Royal Navy (at RNAS Yeovilton), the tri-service Joint Aviation Command (at Aldergrove Flying Station), and the SAS (at Stirling Lines, Hereford). The remaining two bases are Middle Wallop Flying Station, and Wattisham Flying Station, formerly 'Wattisham Airfield', and before that RAF Wattisham.[3][4]
