The area 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 ...

between the Salhouse and Plumstead roads (outside of the outer ring road) was originally the

Cavalry Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from "cheval" meaning "horse") are soldiers or warriors who fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were the most mobile of the combat arms, operating as light cavalry ...

Training Ground and then became the

Royal Flying Corps "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colors = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , decorations ...

Mousehold Heath aerodrome where

Boulton Paul Boulton Paul Aircraft Ltd was a British aircraft manufacturer that was incorporated in 1934, although its origins in aircraft manufacturing began earlier in 1914, and lasted until 1961. The company mainly built and modified aircraft under co ...

, among other manufacturers, passed over the aircraft they made for service. It was sometimes known as Norwich aerodrome by the Royal Flying Corps before it became Royal Air Force Mousehold Heath in April 1918. After the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Boulton and Paul continued to use the site. The Norwich & Norfolk Aero Club was formed at the airfield in 1927 which then became the first

Norwich Airport Norwich Airport is an international airport in Hellesdon, Norfolk, England, north of Norwich. In 2017, Norwich Airport was the 28th busiest airport in the UK and busiest in the East Anglia region. Norwich Airport has a CAA Public Use Aero ...

in 1933. The airfield fell into disuse during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and has now mostly been redeveloped for housing.

History

The following squadrons and units were posted here at some point: *No. 3 Aircraft Acceptance Park was formed at the aerodrome on 22 March 1917 originally as the Norwich Aircraft Acceptance Park later designated the No. 3 (Norwich) Aircraft Acceptance Park and on 26 July 1919 became the Norwich Storage Park. The park accepted aircraft into service from local manufacturers Boulton Paul,

Mann Egerton Mann, Egerton & Company Ltd. was an automotive and aerospace company which was headquartered in Norwich, United Kingdom. During its history the company was variously active in automotive retailing, aircraft manufacturing, automotive coachbuildi ...

, Portholme and

Ransome Simms & Jeffries Ransome may refer to: * Ransome, Queensland, Australia, a suburb of Brisbane * 6440 Ransome, an asteroid * Ransome Airlines, a regional airline in the United States * Ransome (surname) * Ransome Gillett Holdridge (1836–1899), an early San Francis ...

. * No. 3 Group headquarters was located at Mousehold Heath between July and November 1919.

Current use

Several original buildings remain in industrial use, including hangars and other buildings on the

Salhouse Salhouse is a village and civil parish in the Broads in the English county of Norfolk. It lies south of the River Bure and Salhouse Broad, about north-east of Norwich. The civil parish has an area of and in the 2001 census had a population o ...

Industrial Estate. Part of the flying field survives as the playing field for the

Open Academy Open Academy (formerly Heartsease High School) is a secondary school with Academy (English school), academy status located in the Heartsease Estate, Norwich, Heartsease area of Norwich, in the English county of Norfolk. History The academy was f ...

, formerly Heartsease High School.Mousehold Heath

References

Citations

External links

UK Airfields & Airports article on Mousehold

Bibliography