Royal Air Force Ludham or more simply RAF Ludham is a former

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

station Station may refer to: Agriculture * Station (Australian agriculture), a large Australian landholding used for livestock production * Station (New Zealand agriculture), a large New Zealand farm used for grazing by sheep and cattle ** Cattle statio ...

located near the village of

Ludham Ludham is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk, in the Norfolk Broads, at the end of a dyke leading to Womack Water and flowing into the River Thurne. It lies to the East of Ludham Bridge, which is on the River Ant. It cov ...

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

History

The airfield at Ludham was built by Richard Costain Ltd and became operational in November 1941 as a second satellite for the main fighter station at

RAF Coltishall Royal Air Force Coltishall, more commonly known as RAF Coltishall , is a former Royal Air Force station located North-North-East of Norwich, in the English county of Norfolk, East Anglia, which operated from 1938 to 2006. It was a fighter airf ...

sited north of

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

, three tarmac-covered concrete runways and ancillary buildings being built on the land which had belonged to Fritton Farm. A total of ten RAF fighter squadrons (eight flying various marks of

Supermarine Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Grif ...

, and two flying the

Hawker Typhoon The Hawker Typhoon is a British single-seat fighter-bomber, produced by Hawker Aircraft. It was intended to be a medium-high altitude interceptor, as a replacement for the Hawker Hurricane, but several design problems were encountered and i ...

1B were based here between December 1941 and July 1945. Fighter duties from Ludham were fairly regular and generally coastal and convoy patrols of little note, but the results of one sortie on 28 January 1943 by

No. 167 Squadron RAF No. 167 Squadron RAF is a former Royal Air Force List of Royal Air Force aircraft squadrons, squadron. History Inter-war years 167 Squadron was formed on 18 November 1918 just after the Armistice of the World War I, First World War at RAF Birc ...

, whose Spitfires were scrambled to intercept and shoot down a German Ju 88 that was harassing shipping off the East coast, was witnessed by HM The King and

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

, who happened to be visiting the station that same afternoon. Although allocated to the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

(USAAF) as Station 177 in August 1943 no American units were based there and, after an uneventful period of little or no activity, on 24 August 1944 it was transferred from

No. 12 Group RAF No. 12 Group of the Royal Air Force was a group, a military formation, that existed over two separate periods, namely the end of the First World War when it had a training function and from just prior to the Second World War until the early 1960s ...

to the

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong * Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral * Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings *Admiralty, Tr ...

and occupied by the

Mobile Naval Airfields Organisation Mobile Operational Naval Air Bases (MONABs) were a series of mobile units first formed in 1944 to provide logistical support to the Fleet Air Arm aircraft of the Royal Navy's British Pacific Fleet towards the end of World War II. Each unit was ...

. Ludham was then commissioned as HMS ''Flycatcher'', RNAS Ludham on 4 September 1944 under the command of the Senior Officer Mobile Naval Airfields Organisation. At Ludham the MNAO assembled and despatched the first five

Mobile Naval Air Bases Mobile Operational Naval Air Bases (MONABs) were a series of mobile units first formed in 1944 to provide logistical support to the Fleet Air Arm aircraft of the Royal Navy's British Pacific Fleet towards the end of World War II. Each unit was ...

(MONAB) and one "Transportable Aircraft Maintenance Yard" (TAMY). In February 1945 HMS ''Flycatcher'' moved from Ludham to

RAF Middle Wallop Middle Wallop is a village in the civil parish of Nether Wallop in Hampshire, England, on the A343 road. At the 2011 Census the population was included in the civil parish of Over Wallop. The village has a public house, The George Inn, and a pet ...

in Hampshire as this location was more advantageous to shipping the assembled units to the

Far East The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons. The ter ...

. The RAF then took back control of Ludham, when some limited detachments by fighter squadrons took place, but the site was eventually closed down in 1946. By 1961 the land had been re-acquired by local farmers with various buildings still remaining around the perimeter and, although most of the airfield site has returned to agriculture, a small portion of the east–west runway is still used for private flying.

Based units

The following units were here at some point: *

No. 1 Squadron RAF Number 1 Squadron, also known as No. 1 (Fighter) Squadron, is a squadron (aviation), squadron of the Royal Air Force. It was the first squadron to fly a VTOL aircraft. It currently operates Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft from RAF Lossiemouth. Th ...

No. 19 Squadron RAF Number 19 Squadron (sometimes written as No. XIX Squadron) is a squadron of the Royal Air Force. It was the first squadron to operate the Supermarine Spitfire. It currently operates the UK's Control and Reporting Centre from RAF Boulmer. No. 19 S ...

No. 91 Squadron RAF No 91 (Nigeria) Squadron was a squadron of the Royal Air Force but is no longer operational. The name acknowledges the contribution made by Nigeria to the cost of the squadron's aeroplanes. World War I A 91 squadron was initially formed in Se ...

* No. 195 Squadron RAF * No. 602 Squadron RAF * No. 603 Squadron RAF *

No. 610 Squadron RAF No. 610 (County of Chester) Squadron of the Royal Air Force was a Squadron of the Auxiliary Air Force. Comprising very high quality pilots, often ex- RAF officers and occasionally locally based company Test pilots from companies such as de Havil ...

No. 611 Squadron RAF No. 611 (West Lancashire) Squadron is a British Royal Air Force squadron. It was first formed in 1936 and was disbanded in 1957 after seeing combat as a fighter unit during the Second World War. It was reformed as a reserve squadron in 2013. His ...

* No. 1489 (Fighter) Gunnery Flight RAF * No. 2819 Squadron RAF Regiment * No. 2893 Squadron RAF Regiment

References

Citations

Bibliography

*{{cite book , last1=Falconer, first1=J, title=RAF Fighter Airfields of World War 2 , year=1998 , publisher= Ian Allan Publishing, location= UK, isbn=0-7110-2175-9

Ludham