Royal Air Force Shepherds Grove or more simply RAF Shepherds Grove is a former

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

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 in

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

, active from 1943–44 to 1966. Shepherds Grove was host to units of 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 ...

Eighth Air Force The Eighth Air Force (Air Forces Strategic) is a numbered air force (NAF) of the United States Air Force's Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC). It is headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. The command serves as Air Forces S ...

. During the Cold war it was also one of the 20

Thor Thor (from ) is a prominent list of thunder gods, god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding æsir, god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology, sacred g ...

IRBM An intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) is a ballistic missile with a range between (), categorized between a medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM) and an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). Classifying ballistic missiles by ran ...

missile bases in the UK, as part of

Project Emily Project Emily was the deployment of American-built Thor intermediate-range ballistic missiles (IRBMs) in the United Kingdom between 1959 and 1963. Royal Air Force (RAF) Bomber Command operated 60 Thor missiles, dispersed to 20 RAF air stations ...

Units

The following units were here at some point: * 78th Fighter-Bomber Squadron between 1952–1956 and 1957–1958 * No. 82 Squadron RAF between 22 July 1959 and 10 July 1963 with

* No. 196 Squadron RAF between 26 January 1945 and 16 March 1946 with the Short Stirling IV & V * No. 299 Squadron RAF between 25 January 1945 and 15 February 1946 with the Stirling IV & V * No. 1657 Heavy Conversion Unit RAF (May - October 1944) * No. 1677 (Target Towing) Flight RAF (January - April 1945) * Detachment of the Air Despatch Letter Service Squadron (4 - 15 March 1946) * Flying Wing of the Radio Warfare Establishment (June - September 1946) became the Flying Wing of the Central Signals Establishment (September 1946 - October 1948)

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External links

The Grover's SiteThe 1954 Shepherds Grove AlbumThe 1958 Shepherds Grove AlbumAerial photo from Multimap.ComRAF Shepherds Grove
photos taken in 2006
the UnOfficial 81st SPS RAF Bentwaters/Woodbridge Site
the UnOfficial gathering place for the men and women who served in the USAF 81st Security (Air) Police Squadron at RAF Bentwaters and RAF Woodbridge. {{DEFAULTSORT:Shepherds Grove Installations of the United States Air Force in the United Kingdom Royal Air Force stations in Suffolk Royal Air Force stations of World War II in the United Kingdom Military airbases established in 1944 Military installations closed in 1966 1944 establishments in England 1966 disestablishments in England

Units

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