the beginning of Operation Desert Storm, when they were augmented by 1200 USAF medical personnel from USAF medical Center, Wilford Hall, Lackland Air Force Base, Texas. The facility was used to treat minor physical injuries and possible PTSD patients. The unit was deactivated in 1992. Between 1979 and 1992, the RAFGSA Centre allowed US servicemen from RAF Upper Heyford to become members. US servicemen, from the US Armed Forces family housing next to the airfield in Bicester, learnt to fly at Bicester as a result. In 1990, during Operation Desert Shield, the USAF deployed medical personnel to the site, and equipped a number of buildings in both the Technical and Domestic area as a hospital. This was done in anticipation of a large numbers of casualties that never materialized, during the 1991 First Persian Gulf War. In 1997 the Ministry of Defence placed the Married Quarter sites at RAF Bicester up for disposal by formal tender. Today The airfield is a substantially unmodified pre-war RAF station with many listed buildings. The brick-built 1934 "Fort" type 1959/34 control tower survives, as do the two C-type and two A-type aircraft hangars. During the late 1990s The Welbeck Estate Group/Hodge Group acquired 300 post war and modern Officers and NCO married quarters on the Stratton Fields and The Rowans housing estate. In the late 1990s, plans were proposed to develop the airfield for housing and industry, but they were abandoned due to strong local opposition and the historic nature of the site. In 2002, Cherwell District Council designated the aerodrome as a Conservation Area. In June 2004, the RAF Gliding and Soaring Association moved to RAF Halton. The airfield became home to both Windrushers Gliding Club (reformed in July 2004) who leased the site from the MOD until 2013, with Oxford University Gliding Club and, for a few years, Cranfield University Gliding Club, as sub-sections within the Windrushers club. The club continued to operate from Bicester along with the Oxford University club, but after the existing lease expired the Club went into hibernation on 30 June 2020, it is now hoping to find another site to fly from. At the same time, the Oxford University group moved to Weston on the Green, rejoining Oxford Gliding Club after over 40 years at Bicester. In 2012, further plans for housing were also refused permission by Cherwell District Council. In March 2013 Bicester Airfield was acquired