The former Royal Air Force Swanton Morley, more commonly known as RAF Swanton Morley, was a

Royal Air Force station The Royal Air Force (RAF) operates several stations throughout the United Kingdom and overseas. This includes front-line and training air bases, support, administrative and training stations with no flying activity, unmanned airfields used fo ...

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 ...

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 ...

, located near to the village of Swanton Morley. The site, now known as

Robertson Barracks Robertson Barracks is a major Australian Army base located in the Northern Territory of Australia within the suburb of Holtze in the Municipality of Litchfield about east of the Darwin city centre. The barracks were built during the 1990s. Th ...

, is occupied by the Queen's Dragoon Guards.

History

Swanton Morley was a new station planned under the RAF expansion scheme but not completed before the start of 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 opposi ...

. It was part of 2 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 ...

until December 1944 when it was given over to 100 Group - the RAF unit responsible for countering German defences against the British strategic bombing - as they needed another airfield close to their HQ at

Bylaugh Bylaugh is a civil parish in Norfolk, England north-east of East Dereham and WNW of Norwich. For the purposes of local government it falls within the Upper Wensum Ward of Breckland District Council and the Elmham and Mattishall Division ...

Hall. On 4 July 1942, American and British airmen took off from this station as part of the first combined bombing raid of World War II. 226 Squadron RAF had been tutoring the US 15th Bombardment Squadron. Both Winston Churchill and General Eisenhower were at RAF Swanton Morley for this mission, which saw six crews from 15th Bombardment Squadron fly a raid with six crews from the RAF, using Boston light bombers belonging to 226 Squadron. The raid was made at low level against German airfields in the Netherlands. During the Second World War the station was home to the Bomber Support Development Unit (BSDU) of 100 Group. After the Second World War the station was home to No. 1 Air Signallers' School, and the

Radio Warfare Establishment RAF Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

, which later moved to RAF Watton. At a later date Swanton Morley became home to the Central Servicing Development Establishment (CSDE) and the Maintenance Analysis and Computing Establishment (MACE), formerly known as the Maintenance Data Centre (MDC). From June 1953 to 1995 the station was also used by 611 Volunteer Gliding School, when the station was listed for closure under ''

Options for Change Options for Change was a restructuring of the British Armed Forces in summer 1990 after the end of the Cold War. Until this point, UK military strategy had been almost entirely focused on defending Western Europe against the Soviet Armed Forces, ...

''. The station held popular

airshow An air show (or airshow, air fair, air tattoo) is a public event where aircraft are exhibited. They often include aerobatics demonstrations, without they are called "static air shows" with aircraft parked on the ground. The largest air show ...

s during the 1980s. On 6 September 1995 the station was transferred to the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkha ...

and renamed

Facilities

The station was equipped with a grass surface airfield with three main runways, a perimeter track with 31 loop hardstandings, four T-type hangars, four blister hangars and one J-type hangar. The station was also equipped with a Watch Office with Met. Section, utility buildings and barracks for a total staff of 1,968 males and 390 females.Bomber Command - Swanton Morley

Squadrons and other units

The following units were here at some point:

References

Citations

Bibliography

External links

Documentary on the first US/UK air raid of World War 2, flown from this station.
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Swanton Morley Royal Air Force stations in Norfolk Royal Air Force stations of World War II in the United Kingdom