Once known as the "Home of the Harrier", the RAF base has evolved into a logistics hub supporting military campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq.

It means that RAF Wittering now provides an array of military support services, ranging from erecting hangars and feeding troops, to ensuring aircraft fuel does not freeze at high altitude and designing weapon stores.

Squadron Leader Andy Valentine, the officer commanding 1 Expeditionary Logistics Squadron, said: "It is vitally important that aircraft fuel is correctly blended to ensure it does not freeze at high altitudes."

And when service personnel are not training or on active service abroad, they are playing a vital role on the domestic front.

Last year, they were called on to distribute potable water to victims of the Gloucestershire floods and removed the wreckage of the British Airways flight that crash-landed at Heathrow Airport in January.

Closer to home, a team from Wittering were also called to assist in the recovery operation following the helicopter crash in woodland near Thornhaugh, in May 2007, which killed four people, including city businessman Phillip Carter.

Meanwhile, it was revealed that expertise and equipment at Wittering are on standby to help the relief effort in Burma in the wake of Cyclone Nergis – should the country's rulers consent or want it.

The reputation of RAF Wittering as a logistics hub has been bolstered by the creation of 42 (Expeditionary Support) Wing in November 2007.

Under the wing's umbrella, the 369-strong force comprises a bomb disposal unit, weapons experts and personnel who can erect temporary engineering equipment.

That force is complimented by 85 (Expeditionary Logistics) Wing, which comprises squadrons specialising in transportation, mobile catering and aircraft recovery.

Explaining the vast remit of the transportation unit, Corporal Darren Lewis said: "Our role is extremely diverse. We can be called on if there is a fuel strike or when there are floods such as in Gloucestershire last year."

In a series of demonstrations at RAF Wittering yesterday, service personnel showed how a man who had fallen from the scaffolding of a hangar could be rescued and how a choice of three meals could be prepared for 50 people in three hours.

Unlike 3 Squadron RAF Regiment, which was deployed en masse in February for a seven-month stint in Afghanistan, personnel from 85 EL Wing and 42 ES Wing tend to be deployed in smaller numbers and for shorter periods.

At any one time, at least 10 per cent of the combined force will be deployed somewhere in the world.