Red Arrows RAF Scampton air base to be sold off

Reds flying over RAF Scampton runway Image copyright MOD
Image caption RAF Scampton is also where the Dambusters raids were launched

The home of the Red Arrows air display team is to be sold off, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has confirmed.

RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire, which was also the headquarters of 617 Squadron as they prepared for the Dambusters mission in World War Two, has been home to the Red Arrows since 2000.

Six hundred people currently work at the site near Lincoln.

The MoD is also closing RAF Linton on Ouse in North Yorkshire where 300 people work.

In May 1943, Lancaster bombers of 617 Squadron left RAF Scampton to carry out air raids on the dams of the Ruhr valley.

The base has been at the heart of RAF operations ever since, but after surviving countless rounds of defence cuts it is now being sold as the MoD tries to save billions of pounds.

By 2022 the Red Arrows will move to another base.