RAF Spadeadam

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RAF Spadeadam (pronounced "Spade Adam") (IATA: N/A, ICAO: EGOM) is a Royal Air Force station in Cumbria, England, close to the border with Northumberland. It is the home of the 9,000 acre (36 km) electronic warfare (EW) tactics range, making it the largest (by area) RAF base in the United Kingdom. Its primary use is for EW training to the RAF and NATO allies. The site and course of Hadrian's Wall runs a few miles south of the range. The Spadeadam area was remote and largely uninhabited and known as Spadeadam Waste. The name is possibly a corruption of Cumbric ysbyddaden "hawthorn", or "ysbytybrenin" "king's hostel", and in 1950 the recorded pronunciation was /spɪdɪdəm/. It is mentioned as "Speir Adam" or "Spear Edom" in "Hobie Noble". The site was first built in 1955 to be the test centre for the Blue Streak intermediate-range ballistic missile project. The role of Spadeadam in Britain's Cold War nuclear weapons programme was made public in 2004 when tree felling uncovered remains of abandoned excavations for an experimental missile silo. Spadeadam was probably intended to be one of 60 launch sites planned for remote locations.