Aviation Landmarks - Norfolk and Suffolk E-Book

Peter B. Gunn

• Herausgeber: The History Press
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 486

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017

Beschreibung

Norfolk and Suffolk are bursting with aviation heritage, having played key roles in military aviation through the two world wars and beyond. The obvious notable landmarks include airfields past and present, traces of former radar stations, decoy airfields and other sites that were once highly secretive. However, there are less conspicuous ones too – from churches, memorials and museums to local pubs, streets and even village signs. This new edition of Aviation Landmarks: Norfolk and Suffolk offers a fully updated account of aviation heritage and history right up to the present day. With over 500 entries, it covers nearly seventy airfields as well as many lesser-known landmarks such as former radar stations, country houses, local heritage collections, street signs and more. Complete with illustrations, OS grid references and an index of places, this reference guide to the two counties, both in the air and on the ground, will captivate both interested locals and aviation enthusiasts alike.

Leseprobe

AVIATIONLANDMARKS

AVIATIONLANDMARKS

NORFOLK AND SUFFOLK

PETER B. GUNN

Cover Illustrations: Front: Martlesham control tower; Little Snoring control tower; Central Fighter Establishment, West Raynham, c. 1946; close-up of Mendlesham churchyard’s USAAF Memorial; Rear: Langham Dome; Little Snoring village sign. (All Peter B. Gunn)

First published in 2017

The History Press

The Mill, Brimscombe Port

Stroud, Gloucestershire, GL5 2QG

www.thehistorypress.co.uk

© Peter B. Gunn, 2017

The right of Peter B. Gunn to be identified as the Author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without the permission in writing from the Publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978 0 7509 8655 7

Typesetting and origination by The History Press

eBook converted by Geethik Technologies

CONTENTS

Glossary

Introduction and Acknowledgements

Aviation Timeline

Setting the Scene

Part 1: NORFOLK

Part 2: SUFFOLK

Sources and Bibliography

Index of People and Places

GLOSSARY

INTRODUCTION AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

‘Landmark’ according to the Oxford English Dictionary means a conspicuous object in the landscape that acts as a guide in a particular direction or the boundary of an area of land. In historical terms it can also mean a stage or turning point in development. This sums up what I try to achieve in this book by uncovering some of the rich heritage of aviation in Norfolk and Suffolk.

What are the landmarks to look for? Airfield building reached a peak towards the end of World War Two with more than fifty being completed in Norfolk and Suffolk. Of the handful remaining one of the longest serving is Marham, whose centenary as an RAF station was marked in 2016. Farming, industry, nature reserves and housing estates have reclaimed redundant aerodromes, but a close look can still reveal surviving structures and marks in the landscape. It should be noted that most of the sites are privately owned and it is illegal to attempt entry without the express permission of the owner.

Decoys were constructed to divert enemy bombers from vital centres such as airfields, factories, docks, cities and towns. They were designed and set up rapidly, and this makes them even more difficult to trace. Nevertheless a careful quest can still expose the remains of the occasional bunker or control building – a tribute to the outstanding quality of wartime builders.

Many surviving structures have been rescued and renovated thanks to the efforts of a small army of enthusiasts and volunteers. Most notable are the control tower restorations that have become museums, including Martlesham Heath, Thorpe Abbotts and Rougham, among many others. North Creake’s control tower has been restored as a themed bed-and-breakfast establishment.

Other landmarks to investigate include memorials in churches, towns and villages. Village signs testify to proud links with aviation’s past. Local pubs provide an unexpected bonus for the aviation enthusiast as a chance to sample the local beer and inspect a display of local aviation memorabilia. The Swan Hotel in Lavenham has even preserved the graffiti and signatures of local American airmen from wartime days. Sadly, many pubs of wartime vintage have disappeared over the passage of time.

There was a struggle to find billeting for the thousands of airmen and airwomen who were posted to remote locations, and some of the great houses in Norfolk and Suffolk were requisitioned for that purpose. A typical example was Blickling Hall, which was suitably close to RAF Oulton and today houses a small museum with memorabilia and photographs. Other landmarks worth seeking out include sites of former radar stations and Royal Observer Corps posts, which were closed at the end of the Cold War. The highly secret establishment at Orford Ness on the Suffolk coast is now in the hands of the National Trust but arranged visits are possible. As with so many of these sites, aerial photographs and study of Ordnance Survey maps can pay dividends. A useful tip my wife, Janet, and I have learned is never to leave the house without an OS map, a camera and a notebook.

Norfolk locations form Part 1 and Suffolk Part 2. References are in alphabetical order by place name. Ordnance Survey map references are included in brackets along with the sheet number (Explorer map series 1:25000 scale, 4cm to 1km or 2½in to 1 mile). Norfolk Historic Environment Record (NHER) numbers are included in Part 1 entries and the equivalent for Suffolk (SHER) in Part 2.

I am grateful to Alice Cattermole, Senior Historic Environment Officer (Records), for permission on behalf of Norfolk County Council to consult and use the information contained within Norfolk Heritage Explorer (www.heritage.norfolk.gov.uk). I am also indebted to Dr Richard Hoggett, Senior Archaeological Officer, Suffolk County Council, for permission to use information from Suffolk Heritage Explorer (www.heritage.suffolk.gov.uk).

Several aviation authors generously gave me permission to use information or quote from their published works. These include Michael Davis, who co-authored with Bill Morgan the Gazetteer of Flying Sites in the UK and Ireland 1912–1920, published in Cross and Cockade International. Ron Smith granted permission for me to utilise some extracts from British Built Aircraft, Vol 4: Central and Eastern England, published by Tempus. Airfield Review, the journal of the Airfield Research Group, has also been a valuable reference.

My thanks are due to those who have helped in my research and answered many of my questions. These include Jim Baldwin, Janet Bishop, Bob Collis, Colin Durrant, Mike Eastaff, Huby Fairhead, Debs Kershaw of the Norfolk Wildlife Trust, Henry Labouchere, Michael and Maureen Leverett, Mark Service, Bill Welbourne, Robin S. Whitmore, Claire Nugent and Nigel Morter of the North Creake Control Tower, and Jim Whiteside of the Happisburgh Heritage Group.

Permission to reproduce photographs and illustrations, all acknowledged in the text, have been granted by the following: Mick Bensley (artist), Brian Holmes, the Reverend Joan Horan of St Mary’s Church at Feltwell, Paul Lashmar, Les Whitehouse of the Boulton Paul Association, and Margaret Sanders about the early aviation exploits of her father-in-law, Haydn Sanders. David Kindred gave me permission to reproduce photographs and Ben Mullarkey his painting of the bombing of Snettisham Church by Zeppelin L4 in 1915. I am also indebted to Marham Heritage Centre and the Muckleburgh Military Collection for permission to use photographs. I am grateful to the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight for supplying the photograph of Chipmunk WG486 at Coningsby on page 61. The cartoon on Rackheath on page 160 is reproduced by kind permission of Tony Hall. I have consulted distinguished aviation author and historian Michael J.F. Bowyer on many occasions and am grateful to him for permission to use some photographs from his extensive archive. Keith Eldred, present owner of Gorse Industrial Estate, provided a fascinating tour of the former RAF Barnham site and opened up his archive of its history. My long-standing friend and colleague, Winston Ramsey, Editor-in-Chief of After the Battle, has been helpful in supplying photographs. A pleasant visit to the Brewer’s Arms in Rattlesden yielded a number of photographs that the landlord gave me permission to copy. The maps in the book have been adapted from d-maps (www.d-maps.com). I have done my best to contact copyright holders, but if there are any errors or omissions I will ensure these are rectified in future editions.

I am indebted to the publishing team at The History Press for their help and advice in the production of this book. My wife, Janet, has been a great support throughout the tortuous process of research and writing and in the vital task of proofreading.

This fascinating project has consumed a great deal of my time over the past three years. On occasions I began to wonder what I had taken on! I hope the result meets the expectations of the aviation historian as well as the general reader. Even as I write this, new memorials are being established, the status of many airfield sites is changing and fresh information is continually coming to light.

Peter B. Gunn, February 2017

AVIATION TIMELINE

1784

Aug – First manned balloon ascent in Great Britain: James Tytler from Edinburgh.

Sep – First balloon ascents in England by Vincent Lunardi (from Moorfields, London) and James Sadler (from Oxford).

1785

Jun – First known manned flight by balloon in Norfolk by James Deeker from Quantrell’s Gardens, Norwich.

Jul – Major (later Gen.) John Money ascends from Quantrell’s Gardens in ‘The British Balloon’. The balloon drifts out to sea and comes down 20 miles off Southwold. Money is rescued (the first sea rescue of an aeronaut!).

1796

George (later Sir George) Cayley (1773–1857) begins experiments in building model gliders and developing the theory of flight.

1825

Sep – Balloon flight from Richmond Hill Gardens, Norwich, with Col John Harvey (High Sheriff of Norfolk) and a Mrs Graham. Mrs Graham becomes the first woman to fly in Norfolk.

1826

Jun – Charles Green makes a balloon ascent from King’s Lynn Gas Works, South Lynn, reputedly the first flight in the town.

1827

Oct – First recorded gas balloon flight in Ipswich by Henry Green. Balloon carried east and lands at Hollesley, a journey of 10 miles.

1848

John Stringfellow of Chard, Somerset, builds and launches a 10ft steam-powered model monoplane. This is claimed to be the world’s first powered flight.

1866

Foundation of the Aeronautical Society of Great Britain (later Royal).

1868

Aeronautical Society stages first ever aeronautical exhibition at Crystal Palace, London.

1878

War Office establishes the Balloon Equipment Store in Woolwich – the first allocation of government resources for experiments in military ballooning.

Sep – Edith Maud Cook born in Ipswich, later to become the first woman to fly solo in an aeroplane (see entry for1910).

1882

Balloon School and Factory established at Chatham.

1890

Balloon Section Royal Engineers established.

1900

Jul – First flight of a Zeppelin (Luftschiff Zeppelin – LZ1) from Lake Constance, southern Germany.

1891

Balloon Section and depot moved to Aldershot – becomes nucleus of the later Royal Flying Corps.

1901

Oct – Aero Club formed to further ‘the science and sport of balloons, airships and aeroplanes in Great Britain’.

1903

17 Dec – Orville and Wilbur Wright achieve the first powered and controlled heavier-than-air human flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

1907

Oct – Launch of Army Airship No. 1 Nulli Secundus (‘second to none’) at Farnborough, a semi-rigid dirigible. This is claimed to be Britain’s first powered military aircraft.

1908

Oct – Samuel Franklin Cody makes the first sustained heavier-than-air flight in Great Britain in British Army Aeroplane No. 1 at Farnborough.

1909

Jul – Louis Blériot makes the first aeroplane flight across the English Channel.

Oct – Capt. Haydn Sanders makes the first heavier-than-air flight in Norfolk and Suffolk, flying ‘Sanders Biplane No. 1’, from Benacre estate, Kessingland.

1910

Jan – Ipswich-born Edith Maud Cook makes several solo flights from Pau, French Pyrenees, becoming the first female pilot. In July she is killed in a parachute jump from a balloon near Coventry. She is buried at Coventry Cemetery.

Sep – First British military flight by a heavier-than-air machine, the Bristol Boxkite, by Capt. Bertram Dickson at Larkhill, near Stonehenge.

1911

Apr – School of Ballooning expands to become Air Battalion Royal Engineers. No. 1 Company (airships, balloons and kites) based at Farnborough; No. 2 Company (aeroplanes) based at Larkhill.

May – Launch of Mayfly, ‘Naval Airship No. 1’ at Barrow-in-Furness, Britain’s first rigid airship. This is badly damaged and abandoned later in the year.

Nov – Eastchurch, Isle of Sheppey, becomes naval flying school (later RNAS).

1912

Apr – Royal Flying Corps (RFC) created with a Naval Wing, Military Wing, absorbing Air Battalion RE.

Jun – Central Flying School (CFS) formed at Upavon.

Daily Mail sponsors flights around towns and cities of England during the holiday season – the first ‘flying circuses’.

Aug – Gippeswyk Park, Ipswich, is the scene of one of the earliest flights in Suffolk on Saturday, 10 Aug when Frenchman Henri Salmet lands his Blériot monoplane as part of the Daily Mail-sponsored flight competition. He had flown from Clacton and after Ipswich continues his flight to other towns in the east, including Lowestoft.

Bentfield C. Hucks tours Yarmouth, Gorleston, Norwich and Eaton in his Blériot monoplane in what is claimed to be the introduction of powered flight to Norfolk – ‘The First Aviator at Norwich’ (EDP 12 Aug 1912).

Sep – RFC and army hold manoeuvres in Norfolk and Cambridgeshire – the first involving military aeroplanes. A landing ground at Thetford (Snarehill) used for the first time.

Dec – Isle of Grain Naval Air Station in Thames estuary opens.

1913

Mar – B.C. Hucks returns to Norwich in his Blériot monoplane, this time to the cavalry training ground at Mousehold Heath to give a flying demonstration during the Easter holiday. He takes passengers for flights including Mrs Harold Collins, wife of the Deputy City Engineer, who becomes Norwich’s first ‘lady of the air’ (EDP 28 Mar 1913).

Apr – Calshot Naval Air Station in Hampshire opens; Yarmouth (South Denes) opens (the earliest airfield in East Anglia); Felixstowe (Harwich) seaplane and flying-boat station opens.

1914

Jul – Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) formed from Naval Wing.

Aug – War declared with Germany. First RFC aircraft to France.

Sep – RNAS launch from Ostend first strategic bombing raid against German territory to attack airship sheds at Düsseldorf and Cologne. Only Lt C.H. Collet reaches target to drop bombs causing limited damage.

Oct – Mousehold Heath cavalry ground, Norwich, becomes RFC NLG and testing ground for aircraft manufactured by Boulton & Paul Ltd. Bury St Edmunds (RFC NLG) opens.

1915

Jan – First aerial bombing of Britain by Zeppelins – Yarmouth to King’s Lynn (first civilian casualties from bombing).

Jun – Flt Lt R.J.A. Warneford RNAS destroys a Zeppelin near Ostend by dropping bombs. This is the first time an airship is destroyed by an aircraft in flight. Warneford is awarded the VC.

Aug – Bacton, Holt (Bayfield), Narborough (RNAS NLGs) open. Narborough becomes the first military airfield in west Norfolk. Sedgeford (RNAS NLG) opens (later RFC). Aldeburgh, Suffolk (RNAS NLG) opens.

Oct – Orford Ness, Suffolk, opens as RFC NLG (later experimental station).

Bexwell (RFC ELG) landing ground operates during year.

Nov – Burgh Castle (RNAS NLG) opens. Thetford (Snarehill) opens for RFC.

Savages Ltd of King’s Lynn, Mann Egerton & Co. Norwich and Ransomes, Sims and Jefferies of Ipswich begin to manufacture aircraft.

1916

Feb Pulham airship station opens.

Mar – Covehithe (RNAS) in Suffolk opens.

Apr – Earsham, Freethorpe, Marsham, Methwold in Norfolk; Bedfield, Elmswell and Hadleigh in Suffolk (RFC NLGs) open.

Aug – Frettenham, Gooderstone (RFC NLGs) open.

Sep – Harling Road (Roudham), Marham (both RFC), Mattishall (RFC NLG), open. German airship SL 11 shot down by Lt W. Leefe Robinson and crashed at Cuffley, Hertfordshire. Robinson is awarded the VC. This is the first time a Zeppelin is shot down over England.

Oct – Saxthorpe, Taverham, Tibenham, West Rudham in Norfolk and Cotton in Suffolk (RFC NLGs) open.

During 1916 North Elmham, Sporle and Tottenhill (RFC NLGs) in Norfolk; Levington and Trimley (RNAS) in Suffolk open. Martlesham Heath opens as RFC NLG and later as an experimental station.

Nov – Zeppelin L21 shot down by Flt Sub-Lt Pulling and Flt Lt Egbert Cadbury from Yarmouth. Zeppelin crashes into sea 10 miles off Lowestoft – no survivors.

1917

Mar – Stutton in Suffolk opens (RFC NLG).

May – First mass-bombing raid on England by twenty-one German Gotha bombers; Folkestone, Shorncliffe among targets.

13 Jun – Gothas bomb London for first time. Fourteen bombers took part.

17 Jun – Zeppelin L48 shot down by Lt Pierce Watkins of No. 37 Sqn and crashed near Theberton, Suffolk.

Sep – Tydd St Mary (RFC) opens.

Nov – Feltwell (RFC) opens.

Lowestoft and Shotley in Suffolk open as kite balloon stations (RNAS) during year.

1918

Jan – Butley, Suffolk, opens as experimental air station.

Apr – Royal Air Force formed from RFC and RNAS. About 250 aerodromes in UK are transferred to new service.

May – Bircham Newton opens.

Aug – Zeppelin L70 is shot down by Flt Lt Egbert Cadbury from Yarmouth – marks the last Zeppelin air offensive against Britain.

Oct – Hickling Broad RNAS seaplane station opens.

Nov – Armistice ends war.

1919

Closure and abandonment of many airfields and landing grounds during year.

Jun – Capt. John Alcock and Lt Arthur Whitten Brown make first non-stop transatlantic crossing in a Vickers Vimy, from Newfoundland to Co. Galway, Ireland.

Jul – Airship R34 lands in Pulham after making the first two-way crossing of the Atlantic.

1920

Closure and abandonment of many airfields and landing grounds continue.

The first RAF Tournament is held at Hendon.

1921

The RAF begins role of policing colonial territories in the Middle East like Iraq, British Somaliland, Transjordan and later Afghanistan. This will be a feature of the interwar period.

1922

Feb – The ‘Geddes Axe’ recommends government spending cuts, including the RAF.

1923

Oct – Gloster Grebe biplane enters service with RAF – the first new RAF fighter since WW1.

1924

Only twenty-seven military airfields and air stations remain in UK. In East Anglia only six remain: Bircham Newton, Felixstowe and Duxford; Martlesham Heath and Orford Ness continue as experimental stations and Pulham as an airship station.

1925

The RAF begins some modest expansion. The first four Auxiliary Air Force squadrons formed. Air Defence of Great Britain (ADGB) formed.

1926

Jun–Oct – Alan Cobham completes first England–Australia and return flight in a DH50, finally landing on the Thames near Parliament.

1927

May – Lindbergh flies Spirit of St Louis in first non-stop solo crossing of the Atlantic.

1928

Feb – Sqn Ldr Bert Hinkler Makes first solo flight from England (Croydon) to Australia in Avro Avian.

Feb–May – Lady Mary Heath flies from Cape Town to Croydon in Avro Avian in first solo flight by a woman from S. Africa to England.

1929

Apr – Sqn Ldr Jones-Williams and Flt Lt N. Jenkins complete first non-stop flight from England to India in Fairey Monoplane.

1930

May – Amy Johnson becomes first woman to fly solo from England to Australia in DH.60 Gypsy Moth.

Jul – R100 sets out on first passenger-carrying flight between Cardington and Montreal, Canada.

Oct – R101 crashes at Beauvais, France, en route to India. Six out of fifty-four people killed, including Lord Thomson, Sec. for Air, and Gen. Brancker, Director of Civil Aviation.

1931

Record-breaking flights made by C.W.A. Scott (England to Australia in Apr), Amy Johnson (England to Tokyo in Jul–Aug), Sir Alan Cobham (England to Belgian Congo in Jul–Sep).

Sep – Britain wins Schneider Trophy in Supermarine S.6B.

1932

Apr – National Aviation Day tours by Sir Alan Cobham begin.

1933

Jan – Hitler comes to power in Germany.

Feb – J.A. Mollison becomes first pilot to achieve an England–S. America solo flight in a Puss Moth.

1934

German rearmament begins. Hitler plans Reich expansion.

May – First Empire Air Day at RAF stations. Proceeds to RAF Benevolent Fund.

Oct – Mildenhall opens, the first RAF expansion period airfield.

The airfield hosts the MacRobertson Race from England to Australia, the first ‘trans-world’ air race, from Mildenhall to Melbourne. Won by C.W.A. Scott and Tom Campbell in DH.88 Comet Grosvenor House.

1935

Mar – Orford Ness selected as the site for research into RDF (radar) under Robert Watson-Watt.

Jul – Royal Silver Jubilee Review at Mildenhall.

1936

Feb – Watson-Watt and his team move from Orford Ness to Bawdsey Manor to begin developing RDF (radar) for military use.

Jul – ADGB replaced by four RAF commands: Fighter, Bomber, Coastal and Training.

1937

Mar – Feltwell reopens as second expansion period airfield.

Apr – Marham reopens.

Dec – Hawker Hurricane enters RAF service with No. 111 Sqn at Northolt.

1938

Jun – Supermarine Spitfire enters RAF service with No. 19 Sqn at Duxford.

Sep – Munich conference. ‘Peace in our time’ announced by Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain.

1939

May – Fleet Air Arm comes under Admiralty control.

Jun – Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) formed. Three new RAF commands formed, Balloon, Maintenance and Reserve.

Sep – War declared. First RAF bombing raid on Germany from Wattisham.

1940

May–Jun – Evacuation of British troops from Dunkirk.

Jul–Sep – Battle of Britain.

1941

Jun – Germany invades Soviet Union.

Dec – USA declares war on Japan, Germany and Italy.

1942

Apr – ‘Baedeker’ raids on Norwich.

May – First RAF Thousand Bomber raid to Cologne.

Jul – First official Eighth Air Force USAAF raid on mainland Europe from Swanton Morley in RAF Bostons of No. 226 Sqn. Two were shot down, the first USAAF losses in WW2.

Sep – Shipdham opens as first US heavy-bomber base in Norfolk.

Oct–Nov – Battle of El Alamein.

1943

Jan – German surrender at Stalingrad.

Mosquitoes from Nos 105 & 139 Sqns at Marham carry out first daylight raid on Berlin.

May – No. 617 Sqn carry out ‘Dambusters’ raid.

Aug – USAAF Eighth AF carry out raids on Ploesti oil fields, Regensburg aircraft factory and Schweinfurt ball-bearing works.

Oct – USAAF raid Schweinfurt for second time.

Nov/Dec – 100 (Bomber Support) Gp RAF formed with HQ Bylaugh Hall.

1944

Jun – D-Day landings in Normandy – Operation ‘Overlord’.

V-1 flying-bomb campaign begins.

Sep – V-2 rocket campaign begins.

Battle of Arnhem.

Dec – German counterattack in the Ardennes – Battle of the Bulge.

1945

Feb – Dresden bombed by Allies.

May – Germany surrenders. VE Day.

Jul – US explodes world’s first atomic bomb.

Aug – Japan’s surrender follows A-bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Potsdam Conference between UK, USA and Soviet Union. Agreement to divide Germany into zones.

By end of year most USAAF units have left their bases in UK for the USA.

1946

Feb – Honington is the last station to be vacated by the Eighth Air Force and transferred to the RAF.

Mar – First post-war visit by B-29 Superfortresses to Marham for joint trials.

1947

Jun – First post-war deployment of US B-29 bombers at Marham.

Sep – US Air Force established as independent service.

1948

Apr – US President Truman announces Marshall Plan to aid European nations.

Jun – Soviet Union blockades land routes to Berlin. Allies begin airlift of supplies.

Aug – USAF bomb groups despatched to UK for ninety-day periods in rotation (TDYs), to Scampton, Marham, Waddington and Lakenheath. USAF sets up 3rd Air Div. in UK (later Third Air Force).

1949

Feb – 92nd Bomb Group arrives at Sculthorpe for TDY deployment.

May – Soviets lift Berlin blockade. North Atlantic Treaty (NATO) signed.

Jul – Soviet Union explodes first atomic bomb.

Sep – Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) established.

Oct – Communist Republic in China founded under Mao.

German Democratic Republic (East Germany) established.

1950

Mar – First B-29 bombers delivered to RAF (called Washingtons) to No. 149 Sqn at Marham.

Jun – Korean War starts.

1951

May – Canberra jet bomber into service with No. 101 Sqn – Britain’s first jet bomber.

Oct Churchill returns as Prime Minister.

1952

Apr – ‘Secret flight’ by RAF from Sculthorpe over USSR.

Oct – First British atom bomb tested at Monte Bello, Australia.

Nov – US tests first hydrogen bomb.

Dwight D. Eisenhower elected US President.

1953

Jan – East coast of UK floods.

Mar – Soviet leader Stalin dies. Nikita Khrushchev succeeds.

Jul – Korean War armistice.

Aug – USSR explodes first hydrogen bomb.

Nov – First RAF atomic bomb Blue Danube into service.

1954

Apr – ‘Secret flight’ by RAF from Sculthorpe over USSR.

1955

Feb – First RAF V-Bomber Valiant into service.

Mar – Spy flights by US RB-45 Tornados over USSR from Sculthorpe (19th Tac. Reconn. Sqn.).

May – West Germany joins NATO.

Warsaw Pact formed by USSR.

Jun – Boeing B-52 bomber into service with USAF.

1956

Mar – Valiant V-Bomber to No. 214 Sqn at Marham.

Apr – Soviet leaders Khrushchev and Bulganin visit Marham during UK visit.

May – Vulcan V-Bomber enters service with RAF.

Oct – Hungarian uprising against USSR.

Nov Suez crisis. UK invasion of Egypt.

1957

Aug – First Soviet Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) launched.

Oct – Soviet Sputnik I launched (world’s first artificial satellite).

Nov – Victor V-Bomber enters RAF service.

Operation ‘Grapple’ – first UK hydrogen bomb tested.

Dec – US launch Atlas missile – first American ICBM.

1958

Jan – Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) formed.

1959

Project Emily (1959–63) – Deployment of American-built Thor Intermediate Range Ballistic Missiles (IRBMs) by RAF Bomber Command dispersed to twenty RAF stations. Feltwell HQ base.

Feb – US launches first Titan ICBM.

Jun – First ballistic missile-carrying US submarine launched – USS George Washington.

During the summer Gen. de Gaulle orders all US nuclear weapons out of France.

1960

48th Tactical Fighter Wing (TFW) moves from France to Lakenheath.

Feb – First French atom bomb test. France becomes fourth nuclear power.

May – US pilot Gary Powers shot down over USSR in U-2 spy aircraft.

Jul – USAF RB-47H shot down by MiG fighter over Arctic. Four crew killed. Two crew captured (later released).

1961

Jan – John F. Kennedy becomes US President.

Apr – Yuri Gagarin of USSR becomes first man in space.

‘Bay of Pigs’ attempted invasion of Cuba.

May – Alan Shepard becomes first American in space.

Aug – Berlin Wall erected by USSR.

1962

Oct – Cuban missile crisis.

Dec – Nassau Agreement between President Kennedy and PM Macmillan. Polaris nuclear missiles to be provided for Royal Navy submarines.

1963

Aug – Thor missile deployments phased out.

Limited nuclear Test Ban Treaty agreed by UK, USA and USSR.

Nov – President Kennedy assassinated.

1964

Oct – Khrushchev ousted from power in USSR.

China tests first nuclear weapon.

1965

Mar – US marines deploy to Vietnam. US starts bombing campaign.

Apr – TSR-2 cancelled.

1966

Mar – Gen. de Gaulle announces French withdrawal from NATO by 1967.

1967

Jun – Arab–Israeli Six-Day War.

China tests first hydrogen bomb.

Aug – France tests hydrogen bomb.

1968

Apr – RAF Strike Command is formed to absorb Bomber and Fighter Command.

Jun – First RN Polaris submarine into service.

Aug – Soviet forces crush ‘Prague Spring’.

1969

Jun Nuclear strategic quick reaction passes from RAF to RN Polaris subs.

Jul – Apollo 11 lands on moon – first manned moon landing.

1970

Mar – Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty ratified by US, UK and USSR.

1971

Aug – Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) established.

1972

May – SALT I Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty signed.

1973

Jan – UK joins European Common Market.

Vietnam peace agreement signed.

Oct – Yom Kippur War and oil crisis.

1974

Mar – First flight of RAF Tornado prototype.

1975

Apr – US pulls out of Vietnam.

1976

Sep – Chinese Chairman Mao Tse-Tung dies.

1977

Soviet Union deploys SS-20 missiles in Europe.

1978

Jan – British Aerospace established by combining four existing companies.

1979

Dec – NATO deploys 572 Pershing missiles and ground-launched cruise missiles (GLCMs).

USSR invades Afghanistan.

1980

Jul – UK announces purchase of US Trident system.

Dec – Rendlesham Forest Incident, Suffolk.

1981

Nov – First hardened aircraft shelters in the UK at RAF Honington.

1982

Apr–Jun – Falklands War.

Jun – Tornado enters service with RAF.

1983

Mar – President Reagan announces Strategic Defence Initiative (SDI) – ‘Star Wars’.

Nov – First cruise missiles arrive at RAF Greenham Common.

1984

CND starts ‘Snowball’ campaign to demonstrate at a number of US bases.

1985

Mar – Mikhail Gorbachev becomes Soviet leader.

1986

Apr – US bombing raid on Libya (inc. 48th TFW from Lakenheath). Operation ‘Eldorado Canyon’.

1987

Dec – US and USSR sign Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty – Pershings, GLCMs and Warsaw Pact SS-20s to be withdrawn from Europe.

1988

Apr – Last Lightning fighter withdrawn from RAF.

1989

Year of collapse of Soviet power in Eastern Europe.

Nov – Berlin Wall dismantled.

1990

Aug – Iraq invades Kuwait.

Oct – Germany reunified.

Options for Change report proposes reductions in armed forces following the end of the Cold War.

1991

Jan – First Gulf War – Operation ‘Granby’.

May – GLCM wing (cruise missiles) deactivated at Greenham Common.

Jul – Warsaw Pact dissolved.

Sep – Royal Observer Corps disbanded.

Dec – USSR dissolved.

1992

Jul – RAF Hercules start airlift of aid to Sarajevo under UN-sponsored Operation ‘Cheshire’.

Nov – No. 74 Sqn at Wattisham disbanded, ending Phantom’s service.

1993

Apr – RAF Germany is disbanded.

1998

Jul – Strategic Defence Review outlines sweeping changes for UK air forces, RAF, army and Royal Navy, e.g. creation of Joint Harrier Force and Support Helicopter Force.

Dec – RAF Tornados join USAF in attacking Iraq targets due to Iraq’s refusal to co-operate with UN arms inspectors.

1999

Jan – New Joint Helicopter Command (JHC) established from joint service military helicopter assets.

2000

Vladimir Putin becomes President of Russian Federation for first time.

Feb–Mar – RAF delivers supplies to earthquake region of Mozambique.

2001

Jun – Last RAF aircraft leave Germany ending continuous presence of RAF since WW2. Tornados relocated to RAF Marham.

Sep – Terrorist attacks on World Trade Center, New York and Pentagon, Washington (9/11).

Oct – US and UK invade Afghanistan in Operation ‘Enduring Freedom’.

2003

Mar–Apr – US and UK launch invasion of Iraq, joined by coalition allies. The Iraq government falls but there follow several years of sectarian conflict. Operation ‘Telic’ becomes a major RAF commitment for several years.

2004

NATO and European Union begin enlargement to incorporate many countries of former Eastern Bloc.

Apr – RAF begins training in Nevada, USA, on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs).

2006

Mar – No. 3 Sqn at Cottesmore becomes first operational Typhoon squadron.

2007

Apr – Air Command introduced to combine RAF Strike Command and Personnel and Training Command.

Jaguar phased out, replaced by Typhoon and Tornado.

2008

Barack Obama elected US President.

2009

May – Last Tornado GR4 mission over Iraq.

2010

Nov – Government announces cancellation of Nimrod MRA4, withdrawal of Harrier and base closures.

2011

‘Arab Spring’: Revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. Syrian Civil War begins.

Apr – Operation ‘Ellamy’: RAF Tornados and Typhoons in operations over Libya in support of UN Security Council Resolution 1973.

2012

Vladimir Putin becomes President of Russian Federation for second time.

2014

Russia annexes Crimea. ISIS (‘Islamic State’) begins offensive in northern Iraq. US-led coalition intervenes in Syria and Iraq. RAF detachment includes Tornados from Marham.

2015

USA and Cuba resume diplomatic relations.

2016

RAF Marham celebrates centenary of the station.

MoD proposes to close in future years RAF Mildenhall, RAF Barnham, Robertson Barracks Swanton Morley, Rock Barracks Woodbridge and other bases in UK.

SETTING THE SCENE

Balloonatics

The first ventures by man into the air were by balloon during the 1780s and notable among these were the exploits of Norfolk-born Major (later General) John Money. In July 1785, only a year after the first manned balloon flight in England by Vincent Lunardi from Moorfields in London, Money made an ascent from Norwich, a flight that nearly ended in disaster as the balloon drifted out to sea and ditched 20 miles off Southwold. Money was fortunate to be rescued none the worse from the ordeal. As a military man he became interested in the military usefulness of ballooning and in 1803 wrote a treatise on the subject.

General Money settled close to his birthplace and built a mansion called Crown Point at Trowse Newton, Norwich. The site of the mansion is now the location of Whitlingham Hall and there is information about Money and his ballooning adventures in Whitlingham Country Park in Trowse. He died in 1817 at the age of 77 and his grave is to be found at nearby St Andrew’s Church, Trowse.

There were many enterprising balloonists over the following century and some recognition of the military value of ballooning, particularly for observation of enemy lines as in the American Civil War (1861–65). Balloons were employed to carry mail and despatches over enemy lines during the Siege of Paris in the Franco–Prussian War of 1870–71.

One of Britain’s first military pioneers was Captain (later Colonel) James Templar of the Royal Engineers, who took charge of balloon experiments and training at Woolwich and later at Chatham. At this stage there was little official interest in ballooning by the War Office, although a small fund had been allocated for ballooning experiments, now in the hands of the Royal Engineers.

Observation balloons were deployed overseas for the first time by the British Army in Bechuanaland in 1884, in eastern Sudan in 1885 commanded by (now) Major Templar, and in the Boer War of 1899–1902. These so-called spherical ‘kite’ balloons had their uses but were completely at the mercy of wind and weather. Further progress was made possible by developing some form of controlling balloons and making them navigable, hence the ‘dirigible’ or navigable balloon. The application of aerodynamics to balloon design meant that during World War One kite or tethered balloons were in common use by the allies in observation of enemy lines and artillery spotting, an example being the French-designed ‘Caquot’ type. These sausage-shaped craft were aerodynamically designed to withstand severe weather. The expression ‘the balloon’s going up’ probably dates from the time that a balloon ascent was the guarantee of an impending artillery barrage. As early as 1904 air-to-ground wireless communication had been pioneered to a distance of up to 30 miles, which gave the kite balloon added potential for observation on land or at sea. The main disadvantage of balloons was the use of highly flammable hydrogen as the lifting gas, and it was only after World War One that non-flammable helium became available.

Kite balloons proved their worth in artillery spotting both on the Western Front and in the Gallipoli campaign of 1915–16, so much so that the Admiralty adapted them to be towed behind warships of varying size to spot enemy submarines. Depending on visibility, a surfaced submarine could be sighted at between 12 and 28 miles distant. Furthermore, a balloon was able to remain on station with two observers for up to twenty-four hours in direct wireless communication with escort captains. Shore maintenance was required and for this reason kite balloon stations were established by the RNAS (and later the RAF) at Lowestoft and Shotley in Suffolk from 1917 to 1919. Canvas hangars were erected for two balloons at Lowestoft and four at Shotley.

Zeppelins and Airships

By the end of the nineteenth century two innovations made possible further advances in aeronautics. The first was the application of light metals such as aluminium and the second a new power source in the internal combustion engine. This paved the way for the ‘rigid’ airship in which the envelope is supported by an internal metal structure rather than relying purely on gas pressure. This resulted in craft that were more robust, capable of supporting heavier payloads over a greater range and, above all, ‘dirigible’ (steerable or navigable) by means of a power source. The door was also opened to subsequent developments in heavier-than-air flight.

The first experiments in rigid airships were carried out in Germany and in July 1900 the first ‘Zeppelin’, named after its designer Ferdinand, Graf von Zeppelin, made its initial flight from Lake Constance. With a length of 420ft (128m) and steel framework that supported hydrogen-filled gasbags, the craft had two external cars each with a 16hp engine geared to two propellers, which gave it a speed of 20mph (32km).

Britain and the United States lagged behind Germany and France in aeronautics, but it was impossible to ignore the new dimension in warfare, attack from the air. The first powered heavier-than-air human flight by the Wright brothers in 1903 gave added weight to the opinions of those who believed that aviation should be taken seriously by the military establishment, although the Admiralty refused to purchase the brothers’ design patents in 1907. The way ahead seemed to be in airship design and first in the field was the War Office-financed ‘Army Airship No. 1’ Nulli Secundus (‘second to none’), which was launched in October 1907. This was semi-rigid, where the gas pressure of the envelope was supported only by a rigid keel and not a metal framework; in other words, an elongated, motorised (dirigible) balloon. This craft was claimed to be Britain’s first powered military aircraft but managed only one successful flight before being damaged in bad weather. A Mark II was produced the following year, but this made only two flights before being decommissioned. From 1910 non-rigid dirigibles such as ‘Beta’, ‘Gamma’ and ‘Delta’, came into service with the army, the first two seeing service during the army manoeuvres at Thetford in September 1912. By the end of 1913 the army had handed over its airships to the control of the navy, preferring to concentrate on aeroplanes.

In spite of the Admiralty’s refusal to take up the Wright brothers’ patents, some progress was being made in naval aviation, both with aeroplanes and ‘hydro-aeroplanes’ (later called seaplanes), but there was serious alarm about Britain’s failure to keep pace with Germany and the growing Zeppelin fleet. Flight magazine of Apr 1909 reported the proceedings of a conference convened by the Lord Mayor of London that echoed some of the concerns. In the opinion of the Lord Mayor ‘the only airship to hang over the Bank of England or the Mansion House must be one flying the Union Jack’. The Daily Telegraph urged that Great Britain ‘must at once set about building an aerial navy’. (Flightglobal archive Apr 1909, p213.)

Faced with the success of Zeppelins in Germany, the Admiralty began to sponsor rigid airship design and in 1910 considered the construction of airship sheds along the east coast to protect the naval bases of Dover, Lowestoft and Harwich. Another outcome was the launch in September 1911 by Vickers at Barrow-in-Furness of Britain’s first rigid airship ‘His Majesty’s Airship No. 1’, HMA Hermione or Mayfly. Unfortunately, strong winds broke the craft in two even before her first flight and the project was soon abandoned. After this the Admiralty put its faith mainly in non-rigid airship designs as being easier to build and operate, exceptions being the rigids R-23 and R-29, both constructed during the war.

Faced with increasing international tension, the Committee of Imperial Defence produced a report in 1912 recommending a survey of possible sites for air stations along the east coast both for aeroplanes and airships. As far as airships were concerned, land at Pulham St Mary in Norfolk was secretly acquired and a site at Cromer was considered (but later rejected). The coming of war concentrated official minds and in May 1915 the first major airship station was opened at Capel-le-Ferne, Folkestone, with a number of sub-stations along the south coast. Pulham airship station in Norfolk was commissioned in February 1916, with others to follow further north all the way to the north of Scotland.

The main objective was to protect the fleet and in particular to seek out and destroy enemy U-boats, a new threat in warfare. As mentioned previously, the non-rigid dirigibles were the most numerous in the class and a succession of craft emerged from the navy’s airship factory at Kingsnorth in Kent, many of which were to see service at Pulham. Among the best known were the C-class coastal airships nicknamed ‘blimps’ or ‘Pulham Pigs’ by local people on account of their clumsy-looking shape – in fact most airships which followed later at Pulham were unable to shake off that label. One non-rigid airship shed was constructed at Pulham as well as two rigid sheds, making provision for airships such as the R-23 and R-24, and the many others that appeared after the war.

Ringstead in Norfolk was designated as a sub-station for Pulham to accommodate one of the coastal ‘Pulham Pigs’, but no evidence appears to exist about its use or precise location. In 1920 two German Zeppelins, L64 and L71, arrived at Pulham in accordance with the Armistice surrender terms at the end of the war.

Among the many who saw service on airships was the Hon. Roger Coke, son of the Third Earl of Leicester, of Holkham Hall, Norfolk. As a squadron commander based at Capel he made several flights over the North Sea, later achieving a mention in despatches. He was later to serve in the Royal Air Force during World War Two and was decorated with the Air Force Cross.

Aeroplane Pioneers

Heavier-than-air manned flight had taken off with the achievement of the Wright brothers in 1903. In Europe there was rapid progress during the early years of the century and in 1908 Samuel Cody made the first sustained heavier-than-air manned flight in Great Britain. Zeppelin construction in Germany offered a formidable challenge and the fact was that Britain lagged behind in airship development. Britain’s airship programme faced a number of setbacks that raised the question – did the future lie with airships or aeroplanes? War Office and Admiralty interest in aeroplanes was confined to a watching brief rather than the commitment of a realistic level of funding. Some remarkable individuals took up the challenge, one of the most influential being Winston Churchill who served as President of the Board of Trade in the Liberal Government (1908–10) and First Lord of the Admiralty from 1911. He regarded airships as clumsy and vulnerable so, typical of a man who would never expect anyone to do what he was not prepared to do himself, took several aeroplane flights as a civilian passenger (and on occasion took the controls).

If the diehards of the War Office and Admiralty were slow to react to developments, many private individuals were not. Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe, founder and first proprietor of the Daily Mail, and his successors, offered numerous prizes between 1907 and 1925 for aviation achievements, one of the earliest and most notable being the £1,000 award to Louis Blériot for the first cross-Channel flight on 25 July 1909. This momentous turning point was summed up by the Daily Express in the headline ‘Britain is no longer an island’.

The eastern counties had their fair share of ‘those magnificent men in their flying machines’ with home-grown aeroplane experiments such as those of the brothers Haydn and Hampden Sanders at Kessingland in Suffolk. In October 1909 Haydn succeeded in making the first heavier-than-air flight in Norfolk and Suffolk piloting Sanders Biplane No. 1 from Benacre estate, Kessingland. The Wallis brothers (father and uncle of the late Wing Commander Ken Wallis) constructed and briefly flew the Walbro Monoplane in 1910, billed as ‘the first aeroplane to be built in Cambridge’. In 1912 French aviator Henri Salmet introduced aviation to a wider public by touring much of eastern England, including Clacton, Ipswich and Lowestoft, in his Blériot monoplane as part of a Daily Mail-sponsored flying competition. That same summer Essex-born Bentfield C. Hucks was credited with introducing powered flight to the Norfolk public by touring Yarmouth, Gorleston, Norwich and Eaton, also in a Blériot monoplane. The Eastern Daily Press marked the occasion with the headline ‘The First Aviator at Norwich’ (EDP 12 Aug 1912). Hucks returned the following summer to much acclaim.

In May 1914 a young test pilot of the fledgling Naval Wing of the Royal Flying Corps, Lieutenant Charles Herbert Collet, made what was claimed to be one of the first aeroplane flights over west Norfolk in his German-built DFW Military Arrow Tractor Biplane. He was attempting a long-distance flight from Gosport in Hampshire to Wick in Caithness. Fighting a severe headwind across East Anglia, he was forced down at Donna Nook in Lincolnshire after a record-breaking flight of seven-and-a-half hours. The Leipzig-built DFW machine was quietly retired soon after the war started. Collet was soon to achieve fame as the first pilot to make a bombing raid on the enemy homeland when he attacked the Zeppelin sheds at Düsseldorf in September 1914. Sadly he was shortly to meet his death in the Dardanelles campaign of 1915.

The novelty of flight continued to attract the crowds whenever the opportunity arose, as at Hunstanton in July 1914 only weeks before the outbreak of war. F.P. ‘Freddie’ Raynham flew his Avro 504 Waterplane from Brooklands to give a demonstration in front of 12,000 spectators before flying on to Cromer as part of the Daily Mail-sponsored Circuit of Britain Race. However, the days of ‘fun’ flying were nearly over as Europe moved towards war.

The Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service in War

The Royal Flying Corps had been established in 1912 with a Naval and Military Wing, providing more of a permanent structure in the days ahead. However, by 1914 the naval branch became the Royal Naval Air Service. It had never been an easy relationship, with the military wing having as its main responsibility supporting the army in the field, and the naval wing defending the fleet and the home coastline.

On the outbreak of war in August 1914 the RFC possessed around 180 aeroplanes; RNAS strength amounted to thirty-nine aeroplanes, fifty-two seaplanes (previously known as hydro-aeroplanes) and a few airships. This represented a smaller air arm than either the French or the Germans were able to field, and Britain’s weaker aircraft manufacturing capability meant it had to rely in the early stages of the war on French designs including the FE types (Farman Experimental) and BE types (Blériot Experimental).

The basic unit of air organisation born in these RFC days was the numbered squadron, divided into three flights of around four aeroplanes each. With the expansion of the service, squadrons (at first called reserve aeroplane squadrons) were formed into wings, and later brigades; in due course when the Royal Air Force was formed the higher units, then as now, became groups. The RNAS initially organised its units by location, for example the Eastchurch (Mobile) Squadron, but soon confusingly adopted a system similar to the RFC of numbered squadrons and wings. When the two services combined as the Royal Air Force in 1918 naval units had to be renumbered.

The meagre resources available to the RFC and RNAS were thinly spread. More than half the aeroplane strength of the RFC was allocated to support the British Expeditionary Force in France, and a small contingent from the RNAS based at Eastchurch was sent by Churchill to Belgium to take the war to the enemy homeland. At home the main concentration was defence of the Thames Estuary and London, which was to be shared between RFC and RNAS stations such as Eastchurch, Isle of Sheppey in Kent, the Isle of Grain in the Thames Estuary and Calshot in Hampshire.

At the start of the war the RFC had hardly any presence in Norfolk and Suffolk. A landing ground at Thetford (Snarehill) had been used by aeroplanes and airships during the military manoeuvres of September 1912, but it was not until later in 1915 that an RFC unit was stationed there. In October 1914 a landing ground was designated at Bury St Edmunds for home defence. The defensive screen against possible Zeppelin attack was in the hands of RNAS air stations at Yarmouth (South Denes) and Felixstowe, equipped with landplanes and floatplanes.1

The shock Zeppelin attack on Yarmouth and the north Norfolk coast as far as King’s Lynn in January 1915 prompted demands for more effective home defence far beyond the suburbs of London. There was no truth in the rumour that the aiming point for the Zeppelins in the January raid had been the Royal family at Sandringham House, but Queen Alexandra had urged Lord Fisher, First Sea Lord, to provide ‘a lot of rockets with spikes and hooks to defend the north Norfolk coast’. Such was the novelty of this type of warfare that Lord Fisher even suggested that German prisoners of war should be shot in reprisal if bombs were dropped on civilians. Fortunately, Fisher was ruled out of order on this occasion.

Aerodromes and Landing Grounds

A screen of air defence was to be established between Grimsby and the capital. After all, it would be better to intercept Zeppelins along their favoured routes before they reached London. Accordingly, a number of RNAS night landing grounds, sub-stations to Yarmouth, were opened along the Norfolk and Suffolk coastline in 1915: Aldeburgh, Bacton, Holt (Bayfield), Narborough, Sedgeford and Burgh Castle. In February 1916 the Commander-in-Chief Home Forces assumed responsibility for home defence and this led to a rapid expansion in the number of RFC aerodromes and landing grounds.