AN RAF base which provided protection for Yorkshire’s industrial heartlands during the Second World War will close by the end of the year.

Armed Forces Minister Andrew Robathan said RAF Church Fenton, near Tadcaster, North Yorkshire, was no longer needed as a training operations base due to fewer pilots being trained.

The five RAF personnel at the base, which housed the first RAF Eagle squadron of American volunteers in 1940 and has been home to the Yorkshire University Air Squadron, will be redeployed.

The closure is part of the Government’s ongoing Strategic Defence and Security Review, which aims to cut the Armed forces’ running costs.