Royal Air Force Lyneham otherwise known as RAF Lyneham (IATA: LYE, ICAO: EGDL) was a Royal Air Force station located 6.3 miles (10.1 km) northeast of Chippenham, Wiltshire, and 10.3 miles (16.6 km) southwest of Swindon, Wiltshire, England.

The bodies were transported through the nearby town of Royal Wootton Bassett, with crowds lining the streets to pay tribute.

The station closed on 31 December 2012 with the majority of its personnel and other assets having moved to RAF Brize Norton.

Hangars and other buildings were dispersed around the site to avoid creating one large target for an aerial enemy.

The station did not have any aircraft however, until the end of the month when a de Havilland Tiger Moth and a Fairey Albacore arrived.

A single Luftwaffe aircraft attacked the station on 19 September 1940, dropping an incendiary and two high explosive bombs before strafing part of the airfield.

The squadron continued the work of the flight, operating regular transport schedules to Gibraltar using the Consolidated Liberator.

On 16 October 1946, 511 Sqn was formed again as a York operator, continuing to fly the long-distance routes to India and the Far-East until, like a lot of transport squadrons, it became involved in the Berlin Airlift.

In August 1991, RAF Lyneham came under the media spotlight when John McCarthy was flown back from his 5-year captivity in Lebanon to the Wiltshire base.

Other famous names followed through RAF Lyneham as they were released including Terry Waite and Jackie Mann.

38 Expeditionary Air Wing was formed at Lyneham on 1 April 2006, encompassing most of the non-formed unit personnel on station.

The Minister of State for the Armed Forces, Adam Ingram MP, announced on 4 July 2003 that the RAF's air-transport and air-refuelling fleets would be consolidated at Brize Norton in order to make best use of airfield capacities and the defence estate.

[14] However, the programme was abandoned in May 2009, when it was decided to retain the existing JHC basing arrangements, effectively confirming that Lyneham would close as an RAF station.

At this stage, it was planned that both the C-130K and C-130J fleets would move to Brize Norton in summer of 2011, with the closure of Lyneham completed by the end of 2012.

[15] A parade attended by Princess Anne, the station's Honorary Air Commodore, was held on 31 May 2011, to mark the departure of No.

The final four Hercules departed Lyneham at 10:30 on 1 July 2011, conducting a flypast around Wiltshire before heading for their new Oxfordshire home, one of them piloted by the Station Commander, Group Captain John Gladstone.

[17][18] A ceremony, attended by Prime Minister David Cameron, was held at Brize Norton on 31 August 2011 to mark the formal transfer of repatriations from Lyneham.

[19] The station's air traffic control unit closed at 00:01 on 30 September 2011, at which point all flying operations ceased.

[21] On 1 June 2012, an inscribed Portland stone memorial, a bench and an oak tree were unveiled on The Green within the village of Lyneham.

[27] The School of Army Aeronautical Engineering (SAAE) which also moved from Aborfield, started training at Lyneham in October 2015.