Royal Air Force Methwold or more simply RAF Methwold is a

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) an ...

station located north east of Feltwell,

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 Nor ...

and north west of

Thetford Thetford is a market town and civil parish in the Breckland District of Norfolk, England. It is on the A11 road between Norwich and London, just east of Thetford Forest. The civil parish, covering an area of , in 2015 had a population of 24, ...

, Norfolk,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

History

RAF Methwold opened as a dispersal airfield for

RAF Feltwell Royal Air Force Feltwell or more simply RAF Feltwell is a Royal Air Force station in Norfolk, East Anglia that is used by the United States Air Forces in Europe – Air Forces Africa. The station is located about 10 miles west of Thetford, and ...

in the Winter of 1938.

Vickers Wellington The Vickers Wellington was a British twin-engined, long-range medium bomber. It was designed during the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey. Led by Vickers-Armstrongs' chief designer Rex Pierson; a key feature of the aircraft is its ...

bombers from Feltwell continued to use the site as a satellite base until the grass airfield was transferred to No. 2 Group in the exchange of bases with No. 3 Group, in the summer of 1942. Several asphalt hardstandings were put down for aircraft during 1940–1941. In August 1943, the airfield was closed to flying while it was upgraded to A standard. Three concrete runways were built, the main aligned on 06-24 (2,000 yards), 11-29 (1,600 yards) and 17-35 (1,500 yards). 36 hardstandings were built, 35 of the loop type and a single pan. The original asphalt pans were not retained. Following this work, RAF Methwold was a higher standard base than its parent at Feltwell. The airfield was returned to No. 3 Group and became a sub-station of

RAF Mildenhall Royal Air Force Mildenhall or RAF Mildenhall is a Royal Air Force (RAF) station located near Mildenhall in Suffolk, England. Despite its status as a Royal Air Force station, it primarily supports United States Air Force (USAF) operations, ...

. 43 aircraft either failed to return or crashed during the operations from RAF Methwold; 25 Venturas, 6 Stirlings, and 12 Lancasters.

Methwold aircraft

Several types of aircraft have operated out of Methwold, among these: *

Lockheed Ventura The Lockheed Ventura is a twin-engine medium bomber and patrol bomber of World War II. The Ventura first entered combat in Europe as a bomber with the RAF in late 1942. Designated PV-1 by the United States Navy (US Navy), it entered combat in 1 ...

Short Stirling The Short Stirling was a British four-engined heavy bomber of the Second World War. It has the distinction of being the first four-engined bomber to be introduced into service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). The Stirling was designed during t ...

Avro Lancaster The Avro Lancaster is a British Second World War heavy bomber. It was designed and manufactured by Avro as a contemporary of the Handley Page Halifax, both bombers having been developed to the same specification, as well as the Short Stir ...

Airspeed Horsa The Airspeed AS.51 Horsa was a British troop-carrying glider used during the Second World War. It was developed and manufactured by Airspeed Limited, alongside various subcontractors; the type was named after Horsa, the legendary 5th-century ...

North American Harvard The North American Aviation T-6 Texan is an American single-engined advanced trainer aircraft used to train pilots of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF), United States Navy, Royal Air Force, Royal Canadian Air Force and other air forces ...

;Based units * No. 57 Squadron RAF * No. 214 Squadron RAF *

No. 21 Squadron RAF No. 21 Squadron of the Royal Air Force was formed in 1915 and was disbanded for the last time in 1979. The squadron is famous for Operation Jericho on 18 February 1944, when the crews of Mosquitoes breached the walls of a Gestapo prison at Amie ...

No. 464 Squadron RAAF No. 464 Squadron RAAF is a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) unit responsible for public relations. It was originally formed in the United Kingdom during 1942 as a bomber unit. It comprised personnel from Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand, ...

No. 487 Squadron RNZAF No. 487 (NZ) Squadron was a light bomber squadron established for service during the Second World War. It was a New Zealand squadron formed under Article XV of the Empire Air Training Plan. Although many of its flying personnel were largely draw ...

No. 149 Squadron RAF No. 149 Squadron RAF was a Royal Air Force Squadron between 1918 and 1956. Formed 1918 in the Royal Flying Corps as a night-bomber unit, it remained in that role for the rest of its existence which spanned three periods between 1918 and 1956. ...

No. 218 Squadron RAF No. 218 Squadron RAF was a squadron of the Royal Air Force. It was also known as No 218 (Gold Coast) Squadron after the Governor of the Gold Coast (modern Ghana) and people of the Gold Coast officially adopted the squadron. History World War ...

* No. 207 Squadron RAF *

No. 320 (Netherlands) Squadron RAF No. 320 (Netherlands) Squadron RAF was a unit of the Royal Air Force during World War II formed from the personnel of the Royal Netherlands Naval Air Service. History Formation Formed on 1 June 1940 at RAF Pembroke Dock, after flying from the ...

* No. 3 Flying Training School RAF *

No. 3 Service Flying Training School RAF 03 may refer to: __NOTOC__ Dates The years 1803, 1903, or 2003 Music * ''03'' (Twelve album), 2007 * ''03'' (Son of Dave album), 2008 * ''03'' (Urban Zakapa album), 2013 Other uses * 3 (number) * 3, Triq ix-Xatt, a nineteenth-century building ...

* No. 21 Heavy Glider Maintenance Section

Current use

After closure as an operational airfield in April 1946, the airfield remained under care and maintenance until it was finally sold in the 1960s. Today the majority of the site has been returned to agriculture, with two hangars remaining in use as agricultural grain stores and two others used for packaging Quorn and Cauldron products (Marlow Foods) for sale in supermarkets. To the southern edge of the site a well-preserved battle headquarters and some gunpits along with a number of air raid shelters may be found.

References

External links

RAF History – Bomber Command 60th Anniversary

Local History Group with an interest in "All Things Methwold" Publishers of a booklet on RAF Methwold {{DEFAULTSORT:Methwold Royal Air Force stations in Norfolk Royal Air Force stations of World War II in the United Kingdom

History

Methwold aircraft

Current use

See also

References

External links