RAF Newmarket was 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 near Newmarket,

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include ...

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 ...

, near the border with

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to t ...

. It was opened in 1939 and closed in 1945.

History

Meteor DG202G at RAF Mueum London in November 2011

The RAF station was actually a grass-strip on Newmarket's Rowley Mile Racecourse. The grass strip is still used by light aircraft today. In July and August 1942, ground running and taxiing tests were carried out at RAF Newmarket with a

prototype A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and software programming. A prototype is generally used to ...

of the new

Gloster Meteor The Gloster Meteor was the first British jet fighter and the Allies of World War II, Allies' only jet aircraft to engage in combat operations during the Second World War. The Meteor's development was heavily reliant on its ground-breaking turb ...

jet fighter. The station was a sub-station of No. 32 Base, 3 Group,

RAF Bomber Command RAF Bomber Command controlled the Royal Air Force's bomber forces from 1936 to 1968. Along with the United States Army Air Forces, it played the central role in the strategic bombing of Germany in World War II. From 1942 onward, the British bo ...

, directed from

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, ...

, from April 1942 to February 1945. In 1944 the station came under the control of

No. 3 Group RAF No. 3 Group (3 Gp) of the Royal Air Force was an RAF group first active in 1918, again in 1923–26, part of RAF Bomber Command from 1936 to 1967, and part of RAF Strike Command from 2000 until it disbanded on 1 April 2006. No. 3 Group was first ...

.RAFWeb.org
Newmarket
accessed January 2021. The original station was closed in 1945. In the 1950s-60s a new camp appeared under the name RAF Newmarket on the Dullingham Road. This was a Communications Unit under

RAF Signals Command Signals Command was the British Royal Air Force's command responsible for control of signals units from 1958 to 1969. It was based at RAF Medmenham near Marlow, Buckinghamshire. History Originally, on 24 April 1946, No. 90 (Signals) Group RAF wa ...

and contained Eastern Communications Centre (Commcen Eastern) and North Eastern Communications Centre (Commcen North East) and staffed mainly by National Service and Regular Personnel. The administration of this camp was from RAF Waterbeach. This was a relay station handling signals traffic between all RAF bases in the Eastern and North Eastern areas.

Squadrons and units

* No. 2 Squadron RAF detachment (1943) - North American Mustang I. * No. 75 (New Zealand) Squadron RAF (1942-1943) - Short Stirling I & III. * No. 99 Squadron RAF (1939-1941) - Vickers Wellington I, IA & IC. *

No. 107 Squadron RAF No. 107 Squadron RAF was a Royal Flying Corps bomber unit formed during the First World War. It was reformed in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War and was operational during the Cold War on Thor Intermediate Range Ballistic Missiles. ...

detachment (1939-1941) - Bristol Blenheim I & IV. *

No. 138 Squadron RAF No. 138 Squadron RAF was a squadron of the Royal Air Force that served in a variety of roles during its career, last disbanded in 1962. It was the first 'V-bomber' squadron of the RAF, flying the Vickers Valiant between 1955 and 1962. History ...

(1941) - Westland Lysander IIIA & Armstrong Whitworth Whitley V. *

No. 161 Squadron RAF No. 161 (Special Duties) Squadron was a highly secretive unit of the Royal Air Force, performing missions as part of the Royal Air Force Special Duties Service. It was tasked with missions of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) and the Secr ...

(1942) - Westland Lysander IIIA, Lockheed Hudson I & Armstrong Whitworth Whitley V. *

No. 453 Squadron RAAF No. 453 Squadron is an air traffic control unit of the Royal Australian Air Force. It was established at Bankstown, New South Wales, in 1941 as a fighter squadron, in accordance with Article XV of the Empire Air Training Scheme for overseas se ...

(1943 for one week) - Supermarine Spitfire VB. The following units were also here at some point:

Notes

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Newmarket Royal Air Force stations in Suffolk Royal Air Force stations of World War II in the United Kingdom Military installations established in 1939 Military installations closed in 1945