RAF Lyneham has been involved in some of the world's major conflicts, its history entwined with that of the Hercules aircraft based there.

It is currently home to around 50 Hercules transport aircraft and 2,500 personnel.

The station opened as Number 33 Maintenance Unit on May 18, 1940. There were just four officers, one other rank and 15 civilians.

During the next few months the unit swelled and by the end of the year there were 422 civilians, 18 officers and 181 other ranks.

At first the airfield was a grass landing area and work had not even started on hard runways when the base was opened.

In September 1940, an enemy aircraft dropped three bombs on the base, killing five civilian workmen and destroying a building.

On May 1, 1949, the first of the permanent barrack blocks was opened to replace the basic huts.

In 1976, Lyneham became the largest operational base in the RAF when the Hercules aircraft of Number 70 Squadron arrived.

In the 1980s, the biggest operation was the station's involvement in the Falklands crisis.

In 1984, famine relief flights were made to aid the famine relief effort in Ethiopia and they continued until November, 1985.

In the early 1990s, former hostages Terry Waite, John McCarthy and Jackie Mann were flown into the base.

One of Lyneham's biggest operations began on August 6, 1990, when the Kuwait crisis began. Many staff were despatched overseas, including to Germany, Cyprus, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. The base subsequently mounted relief operations in Somalia, Rwanda and Montserrat.