Central RAF News

More than 200 cleaners, chefs, drivers and other employees at eight sites in England and Wales will walk out on Thursday, with further stoppages expected.

Members of the GMB and Unite unions are in dispute with contractor ISS after saying they had been offered a pay rise of 8p an hour, and only 2p for those on the national minimum wage.

The sites include:

Lincolnshire:

Cranwell

Scampton

Kirton-in-Lindsey

Shropshire:

Shawbury

Cosford

Unions claimed that military personnel from other sites will be drafted in to cover for the striking workers.

• UK
• RAF
• Shropshire

Anti-war protesters are set to gather outside an RAF base today to voice their opposition to the UK's use of armed drones in Afghanistan.

Members of the Stop The War Coalition, CND, The Drone Campaign Network and War on Want will march from Lincoln to nearby RAF Waddington.

The RAF began remotely operating its Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles deployed to Afghanistan from the Lincolnshire airbase earlier this week.

In a statement, the RAF said it had started supporting the International Security Assistance Force and Afghan ground troops with "armed intelligence and surveillance missions" remotely piloted from RAF Waddington.

The aircraft were previously operated from a United States Air Force base in Nevada.

• UK
• RAF
• Afghanistan

A former RAF Chinook crewman who is walking 441 miles through towns and cities across the UK, is hoping to raise over £100,000 for five charities which support the armed forces.

Ben Greer, organiser of The Big Lift, is walking 4.41 miles in 100 towns and cities across the UK carrying 100kg on his back – the average weight of a wounded comrade.

Ben was in Coventry today. He'll be in Birmingham and Worcester tomorrow, followed by Hereford on Saturday.

Each mile represents a member of the armed forces who died in Afganistan.

• UK
• RAF
• Coventry

A former RAF Chinook crewman has brought his charity walk to Coventry today as part of a 441 mile trek through 100 towns and cities across the UK.

Ben Greer has walked 4.41 miles through Coventry city centre today carrying 100 kilos – a weight that represents an injured service personnel with their kit.

Each mile covered by Ben symbolises the death of a British serviceman or woman who has lost their life serving in Afghanistan.

Ben, who is hoping to raise £100,000 for five charities, completed six deployments in Afganistan providing civilian and military casualty evacuation.

• UK
• RAF
• Coventry

The first in a series of public exhibitions is being held today to help select the design of a historic memorial to commemorate RAF Bomber Command crew stationed in Lincolnshire during World War II.

A fund has been set up to help pay for a memorial in recognition of the Command's aircrew who sacrificed their lives. In total, over 25,000 men lost their lives flying from Lincolnshire for the Bomber Command.

• UK
• Lincolshire
• RAF

Conservationists at the Royal Air Force Museum normally work behind closed doors. Their work is painstaking and often delicate.

But, this week, there's a rare opportunity to see them restoring eight aircraft including a Wellington Bomber and a Hampden, that's been brought back to the UK after being lost in Russia for fifty years.

Wesley Smith takes us on the guided tour.

• UK
• RAF
• RAF Cosford

Wesley Smith reports from RAF Cosford, where a new Conservation Centre has been opened today.

Wesley's full report can be seen on Central Tonight at 6:00pm.

• UK
• RAF
• RAF Cosford

Footage from inside RAF Cosford's Conservation Centre, where a number of planes are being restored including a Wellington Bomber and a 1988 aircraft found in Russia.

• UK
• RAF
• RAF Cosford

This is the plane found in Russia in 1988 and the painting of what it looked like commissioned by the son of one of the men on board.

It is now being restored at the Conservation Centre at RAF Cosford, which officially opens to the public today.

• UK
• RAF
• RAF Cosford