with the contraction of the raf, air support command only lasted a short time as a command, and it was absorbed into strike command on 1 september 1972. the grass runway was not wholly appropriate for heavy fixed-wing aircraft, nor any kind of jet aircraft, and so the airfield was used as an administrative base and also became the home of no. 622 volunteer gliding squadron, part of the air training corps, who used static winch-launched gliders.