RAF Marham is 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 ...
and
military
A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...
airbase
An air base (sometimes referred to as a military air base, military airfield, military airport, air station, naval air station, air force station, or air force base) is an aerodrome used as a military base by a military force for the operation ...
near the village of
Marham
Marham is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk, approximate away from King's Lynn. An RAF station, RAF Marham, is situated nearby at Upper Marham.Ordnance Survey (1999). ''OS Explorer Map 236 - King's Lynn, Downham Ma ...
in the
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ...
county
A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...
of
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 ...
,
East Anglia
East Anglia is an area in the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, a people whose name originated in Anglia, in ...
.
It is home to
No. 138 Expeditionary Air Wing (138 EAW) and, as such, is one of the RAF's "Main Operating Bases" (MOB). Since 6 June 2018, it has been home to the
fifth generation Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning operated by
No. 617 (The Dambusters) Squadron.
No. 207 Squadron, becoming the second Lightning squadron to be based at RAF Marham when it reformed on 1 August 2019 as the F-35
Operational Conversion Unit.
History
Beginnings (1916–1919)
Opened in August 1916 close to the former
Royal Naval Air Station Narborough, later
RAF Narborough, the Marham base was originally a military night landing ground on an site within the boundary of the present day RAF Marham. In 1916, the
aerodrome
An aerodrome (Commonwealth English) or airdrome (American English) is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for publi ...
was handed over to the
Royal Flying Corps (RFC). Throughout the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
, Marham's role was focused on defending Norfolk from
Zeppelin
A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship named after the German inventor Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin () who pioneered rigid airship development at the beginning of the 20th century. Zeppelin's notions were first formulated in 1874Eckener 1938, pp ...
raids.
No. 51 Squadron became the first RFC unit to be stationed at Marham upon their move in September 1916, flying home defence missions.
On the night of 27/28 November 1916, Lt. Gaymer of No. 51 Squadron took off from Marham to intercept Zeppelin
L21. However, he crashed his
Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.2b and was killed after making no contact. L21 was later shot down near
Lowestoft by
Royal Naval Air Service crews.
Outside of home defence, Marham also acted as a training base for night time flying, with this provided by No. 51 Squadron.
No. 191 (Night) Training Squadron was formed at Marham on 6 November 1917 to provide training for night time operations, who were based at Marham until
Upwood
Upwood is a village in the non-metropolitan district and historic county of Huntingdonshire, England, although in the administrative county of Cambridgeshire. Upwood lies approximately north of Huntingdon, near Bury. Upwood is in the civil pa ...
in January 1918. No. 51 Squadron also assisted
No. 190 Training Squadron and
No. 193 Training Squadron, who were based nearby, throughout late 1917 and 1918.
To celebrate the
Armistice
An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from the ...
on 11 November 1918, aircraft from Marham bombed Narborough with bags of flour who in return bombed Marham with bags of soot. No. 51 Squadron departed Marham in May 1919 for
Sutton's Farm, with the aerodrome closing shortly after.
Rearmament (1935–1945)
In the first half of 1935, work started on a new airfield which became active on 1 April 1937, with a resident heavy bomber unit from within
No. 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 ...
.
The first squadron,
No. 38, arrived on 5 May 1937 with
Fairey Hendon
The Fairey Hendon was a British monoplane, heavy bomber of the Royal Air Force, designed by Fairey Aviation in the late 1920s. The aircraft served in small numbers with one squadron of the RAF between 1936 and 1939. It was the first all-metal lo ...
bombers. In June,
No. 115 Squadron re-formed at Marham with the
Handley Page Harrow, initially sharing No. 38 Squadron's Hendons until Harrow deliveries were completed in August.
No. 38 Squadron received
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 ...
Mk. I bombers in December 1938, followed in April 1939 by No. 115 Squadron.
No. 218 Squadron moved to Marham on 27 Nov 1940, also operating Wellingtons. No. 218 Squadron began conversion to the
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 ...
in December 1941 and used the type on operations from 1942.
De Havilland Mosquitos from
No. 105 Squadron also arrived in 1941. Marham became part of the
Pathfinder force. They also tested and proved the
Oboe
The oboe ( ) is a type of double reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common oboe plays in the treble or soprano range.
...
precision bombing aid.
During March 1944, RAF Marham closed for the construction of new concrete
runway
According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt, concrete ...
s, perimeter track, and
dispersal areas, marking the end of its wartime operations. The three new runways were of the familiar wartime triangular pattern, but Marham was one of only two sites built as a heavy bomber airfield (the other was nearby
RAF Sculthorpe) with the runways substantially longer than the standard layout.
Cold War (1946–1982)
From 15 March to 31 October 1946, RAF Marham hosted seven
B-17 Flying Fortressess and three modified
B-29 Super Fortressess 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 ...
(USAAF) during Project "Ruby", which was a series of trials to test the effectiveness of deep penetration bombs such as the
Grand Slam and
Disney
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
against "massive reinforced concrete targets".
Trials began on 25 March and were undertaken by the USAAF B-29s and modified
Lancasters of
No. XV Squadron by attacking the
Nordsee III U-boat pen at
Heligoland
Heligoland (; german: Helgoland, ; Heligolandic Frisian: , , Mooring Frisian: , da, Helgoland) is a small archipelago in the North Sea. A part of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein since 1890, the islands were historically possession ...
and the U-boat assembly plant at
Farge, Germany.
Project "Ruby" ended on 31 October after 22 trials had been completed,
with results concluding that none of the bombs tested were capable of penetrating massive reinforced concrete.
Nine B-29s of the
340th Bombardment Squadron arrived at Marham on 9 June 1947 as part of a "goodwill" visit to the United Kingdom.
Between March 1948 and March 1950, USAF B-29s and
B-50s of the
2nd;
22nd;
43rd;
307th and
509th Bombardment Group
5 (five) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number, and cardinal number, following 4 and preceding 6, and is a prime number. It has attained significance throughout history in part because typical humans have five digits on eac ...
s spent time based at Marham.
On 22 March 1950, the first four of an eventual 70
Boeing Washington B.1s arrived at Marham.
The aircraft were handed over in a ceremony attended by
Secretary of State for Air Arthur Henderson
Arthur Henderson (13 September 1863 – 20 October 1935) was a British iron moulder and Labour politician. He was the first Labour cabinet minister, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1934 and, uniquely, served three separate terms as Leader of t ...
, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief
Bomber Command Air Marshal
Hugh Pughe Lloyd and Major General
Leon W. Johnson
General Leon William Johnson (13 September 1904 – 10 November 1997) was a United States Air Force general who was awarded the Medal of Honor for leading the attack on the Ploesti oil fields during World War II.
A graduate of the United Sta ...
, Commander of the USAF
3rd Air Division
The 3rd Air Division (3d AD) is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with Strategic Air Command, assigned to Fifteenth Air Force, being stationed at Hickam AFB, Hawaii. It was inactivated on 1 April 1992.
...
.
In the 1950s, the airfield was home to RAF units operating the
English Electric Canberra
The English Electric Canberra is a British first-generation, jet-powered medium bomber. It was developed by English Electric during the mid- to late 1940s in response to a 1944 Air Ministry requirement for a successor to the wartime de Havil ...
, and later the
V-bomber force and tankers:
Vickers Valiant and
Handley Page Victor. The station is also one of the few large enough for the operation of
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Si ...
Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, and a number of these aircraft visited on exercises in the 1970s and 1980s.
Tornado GR (1982–2019)
During 1980–83, 24
Hardened Aircraft Shelters were constructed to house future
strike aircraft, which would eventually see the arrival of the
Panavia Tornado
The Panavia Tornado is a family of twin-engine, variable-sweep wing multirole combat aircraft, jointly developed and manufactured by Italy, the United Kingdom and West Germany. There are three primary Tornado variants: the Tornado IDS (inte ...
GR.1 in 1982. These shelters were equipped with the US
Weapon Storage Security System (WS3), each able to store 4
WE.177 nuclear bombs. The first Tornado GR.1 to be delivered to Marham was ''ZA601'' on 24 April 1982 from
BAe Warton, in preparation for the reformation of
No. 617 Squadron which stood up on 1 January 1983.
This was shortly followed by
No. 27 Squadron which reformed at Marham on 12 August.
No. 57 Squadron disbanded at RAF Marham on 30 June 1986, leaving
No. 55 Squadron as the last Victor K.2 unit at the base. In March 1987, the
Tornado Weapons Conversion Unit (TWCU) relocated its Tornados from
RAF Honington to Marham for a period of six months while runway repairs were carried out.
In March 1988,
Hawker Siddeley Nimrod MR.2s of
No. 42 Squadron spent a year based at Marham while
RAF St. Mawgan had its runway repaired.
No. II (Army Co-operation) Squadron relocated from
RAF Laarbruch
Royal Air Force , more commonly known as RAF ICAO EDUL (from 1 January 1995 ETUL) was a Royal Air Force station, a military airfield, located in Germany on its border with the Netherlands. The Station's motto was ().
The site now operates ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...
to Marham in December 1991, bringing with it the Tornado GR.1A and its 'Tornado Infra-Red Reconnaissance System' (TIRRS).
No. 27 Squadron disbanded in September 1993, with its aircraft and crew transferring to
No. 12 (Bomber) Squadron who moved to
RAF Lossiemouth in January 1994.
No. 55 Squadron, the last of the RAF Victor squadrons, disbanded at Marham in October 1993, with the last Victor to leave departing in November.
In December,
No. 39 (1 Photographic Reconnaissance Unit) Squadron arrived at RAF Marham with its Canberra PR.7s and PR.9s from
RAF Wyton.
Following the 1998
Strategic Defence Review it was decided to end the Royal Air Force's
presence in Germany,
No. IX (B) Squadron relocated from
RAF Brüggen
Royal Air Force Brüggen, more commonly known as RAF Brüggen, in Germany was a major station of the Royal Air Force until 15 June 2001. It was situated next to the village of Elmpt, approximately west of Düsseldorf on the Dutch-German b ...
to RAF Marham on 17 July 2001, followed shortly by
No. 31 Squadron on 17 August, who landed their Tornados at Marham at precisely 1331hrs
BST.
No. 39 (1 PRU) Squadron disbanded on 31 July 2006, ending 52 years of Canberra operations at Marham.
Following the closure of
RAF Coltishall in November 2006, RAF Marham was officially granted the
Freedom of the City 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 Episcopal see, See of ...
in 2008 and, as such, is allowed to march through the streets of Norwich with 'bayonets fixed'; this is usually carried out on occasions such as the annual
Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain, also known as the Air Battle for England (german: die Luftschlacht um England), was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defende ...
parade held on 12 September every year.
On the night of 19/20 March 2011, No. IX (B) Squadron Tornado GR4s flew a 3,000-mile round trip from Marham to carry out
Storm Shadow strikes against targets in Libya as part of
Operation Ellamy. Following the
2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review,
No. XIII Squadron was disbanded on 13 May 2011 followed by
No. 14 Squadron on 1 June.
On 26 September 2014, Tornado aircraft began airstrikes against
ISIL as part of
Operation Shader. In 2015, four Tornados (''ZA405'', ''ZA456'', ''ZA548'' and ''ZD788'') from RAF Marham received special markings to mark the 100th anniversaries of Nos. IX (B), 12 (B) and
31 Squadrons, as well as the 40th anniversary of Tornado service.
As part of the draw-down of the RAF's Tornado GR4 fleet,
No. 12 (B) Squadron disbanded on 14 February 2018. Squadron personnel were reassigned to Marham's other Tornado squadrons, No. IX (B) Squadron and No. 31 Squadron.
The last eight deployed Tornado GR4s returned home to RAF Marham from
RAF Akrotiri
RAF Akrotiri ( el, Βασιλική Πολεμική Αεροπορία Ακρωτηρίου) is a large Royal Air Force base on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus. It is located in the Western Sovereign Base Area, one of two areas which compri ...
,
Cyprus
Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ...
, on 4 and 5 February 2019. To mark the nearing Tornado retirement, RAF Marham held a series of 'farewell flypasts' across the United Kingdom on 19, 20 and 21 February. On 28 February, nine Tornado GR4s flew out of RAF Marham for a diamond nine formation flypast over
RAF Cranwell
Royal Air Force Cranwell or more simply RAF Cranwell is a Royal Air Force station in Lincolnshire, England, close to the village of Cranwell, near Sleaford. Among other functions, it is home to the Royal Air Force College (RAFC), which trai ...
, which was holding a graduation parade, before returning to Marham to carry out several passes over the base. RAF Marham saw the final flight of an RAF Tornado (''ZA463'') on 14 March during the disbandment parade of No. IX (B) Squadron and No. 31 Squadron. The Tornado GR4 was completely retired from service on 1 April 2019, leaving the Lightning as the sole type based at RAF Marham.
Project Anvil (2016–2018)
Project Anvil was the £250 million programme of investment to provide Marham with new and upgraded infrastructure for F-35B Lightning operations. The enabling works, worth £25 million, were undertaken by
Balfour Beatty and Henry Brothers with work commencing in May 2016. These works involved demolition of hangar no. 3 located on the north side of the airfield. The hangar dated from the 1930s and was last used for Tornado depth engineering. In its place the new Lightning Maintenance and Finish Facility was completed.
In late 2016
Wates Group
Wates Group Ltd is one of the largest family owned construction, property services and development companies in the United Kingdom.
Wates Giving, the firm's charitable foundation, has donated over £10 million since 2008.
History
Edward Wates ...
was awarded a £27 million contract to construct a new squadron building for No. 617 Squadron in the south west hardened aircraft shelters area. Construction began in March 2017 and was completed in spring 2018.
The Lightning National Operating Centre (NOC) was constructed on the north-west side of the airfield, near the station golf course. The NOC was designed to accommodate around 125 personnel who form the Lightning Force Headquarters and Logistics Operating Centre.
The NOC, the first Project Anvil building to be completed, was opened by
the Queen, the station's Honorary Air Commodore, on 2 February 2018. In April 2016 Balfour Beatty were awarded a contract worth £82.5 million to construct a joint
Lockheed Martin
The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American aerospace, arms, defense, information security, and technology corporation with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It ...
/
BAE Systems
BAE Systems plc (BAE) is a British multinational arms, security, and aerospace company based in London, England. It is the largest defence contractor in Europe, and ranked the seventh-largest in the world based on applicable 2021 revenue ...
Lightning European Maintenance Hub. The hub comprised an Integrated Training Centre (ITC), a Logistics Operations Centre and a Maintenance and Finishing Facility (M&F) across three separate sites at Marham. The ITC was built on the south side of the airfield and was designed to provide maintainer training and accommodate the Lightning Full Mission
Simulators
A simulation is the imitation of the operation of a real-world process or system over time. Simulations require the use of models; the model represents the key characteristics or behaviors of the selected system or process, whereas the ...
.
The final construction contracts, worth £135 million, were awarded to
Galliford Try and Lagan Construction in June 2017. The work included construction of a new hangar to replace hangar no. 1, rebuilding of Marham's runways, installation of vertical landing pads, new taxiways and refurbishment of 90% of existing taxiways and airfield operating surfaces. Both runways were rebuilt during a three-week period (8–28 September 2017), which saw all flying cease and the laying of more than 18,000 tonnes of new
asphalt
Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term ...
. The resurfacing works were completed by June 2018. Project Anvil also included construction of servicing platforms and refurbishment of hardened aircraft shelters. Facilities for the Operational Conversion Unit (OCU) were built between the No. 617 Squadron hardened aircraft shelters and the Integrated Training Centre.
F-35B Lightning (2018–)
The Ministry of Defence announced in March 2013 that the British fleet of
Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning aircraft, which would be operated jointly by the RAF and
Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm
The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) is one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy and is responsible for the delivery of naval air power both from land and at sea. The Fleet Air Arm operates the F-35 Lightning II for maritime strike, the AW159 Wi ...
, would be based at RAF Marham. The Lightning is a
fifth-generation short take-off and vertical landing
A short take-off and vertical landing aircraft (STOVL aircraft) is a fixed-wing aircraft that is able to take off from a short runway (or take off vertically if it does not have a heavy payload) and land vertically (i.e. with no runway). The ...
(STOVL) multi-role aircraft designed to operate from the Royal Navy's aircraft carriers.
The first aircraft arrived at Marham on 6 June 2018, when four F-35Bs of No. 617 (Dambusters) Squadron, supported by three
Voyagers and an
Atlas
An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of maps of Earth or of a region of Earth.
Atlases have traditionally been bound into book form, but today many atlases are in multimedia formats. In addition to presenting geogra ...
, made an eight-hour flight across the Atlantic from
Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort in
South Carolina
)''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no)
, anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind"
, Former = Province of South Carolina
, seat = Columbia
, LargestCity = Charleston
, LargestMetro = ...
. The RAF announced on 5 July 2017 that
No. 207 Squadron will be the
Operational Conversion Unit for the F-35 Lightning. No. 617 (Dambusters) Squadron, became the first operational unit on 11 January 2019.
Six F-35Bs of No. 207 Squadron arrived at RAF Marham from
Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort on 16 July 2019 before the squadron officially reformed on 1 August 2019.
In late January 2020, F-35Bs from No. 207 Squadron departed for
HMS ''Queen Elizabeth'', becoming the first British squadron in a decade to operate jets from a British carrier in home waters. On 3 February 2020,
Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...
visited personnel at the base and inspected the F-35B aircraft, her first official royal engagement of the new decade.
On 3 September 2020, ten
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through c ...
F-35Bs from
VMFA-211 arrived at RAF Marham to operate alongside ''the Dambusters''. On 22 September, both squadrons embarked on HMS ''Queen Elizabeth'' for Exercise Joint Warrior. In late October, both units participated in Exercise Crimson Warrior - the largest UK exercise in over a decade.
Role and operations
Command
Group Captain Phil Marr was appointed as RAF Marham station commander in July 2021. The station is close to the Royal Estate of
Sandringham and
Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...
was the station's
Honorary Air Commodore. The Queen made a number of visits to the station, most recently on 3 February 2020.
The station is under the command of
No. 1 Group (Air Combat).
F-35B Lightning operations
RAF Marham is home to No. 617 Squadron, a front line unit operating the F-35B Lightning, and No. 207 Squadron – the F-35
Operational conversion unit (OCU).
[
]
Expeditionary Air Wing
No. 138 Expeditionary Air Wing (No. 138 EAW) was formed at Marham on 1 April 2006 to create a deployable air force structure.
Supported units
RAF Marham is the 'parent' station of
* RAF Holbeach Bombing Range
* RRH Neatishead (formerly parented by RAF Coltishall)
Based units
Royal Air Force
No. 1 Group (Air Combat)
* Lightning Force
**Lightning Force Headquarters
** No. 207 Squadron – F-35B Lightning
** No. 617 Squadron – F-35B Lightning
No. 2 Group (Air Combat Support)
* No. 3 RAF Force Protection Wing
**No. 3 RAF Force Protection Wing Headquarters
** No. 2620 (County of Norfolk) Squadron (Royal Auxiliary Air Force) Regiment
**No. 6 RAF Police Squadron
** No. 15 Squadron RAF Regiment
British Army
Royal Engineers
The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is head ...
( 8 Engineer Brigade, 12 (Force Support) Engineer Group)
* 20 Works Group Royal Engineers (Air Support)
** 534 Specialist Team Royal Engineers (Airfields) (STRE)
Civilian
* RAF Marham Aero Club - Cessna 150
Heritage
Station badge and motto
RAF Marhams's badge, awarded in October 1957 when it was home to part of the RAF V-Force, features a blue coloured bull with its head lowered and facing towards the viewer. The bull, an animal considered to be aggressive to intruders entering its area, represented Marham's nuclear deterrence
Deterrence theory refers to the scholarship and practice of how threats or limited force by one party can convince another party to refrain from initiating some other course of action. The topic gained increased prominence as a military strategy ...
role. For the same reason, the station's motto
A motto (derived from the Latin , 'mutter', by way of Italian , 'word' or 'sentence') is a sentence or phrase expressing a belief or purpose, or the general motivation or intention of an individual, family, social group, or organisation. M ...
is ''Deter''.
Gate Guardians
In March 2020, Marham's gate guardian
A gate guardian or gate guard is a withdrawn piece of equipment, often an aircraft, armoured vehicle, artillery piece, or locomotive, mounted on a plinth and used as a static display near to and forming a symbolic display of "guarding" the main ...
Panavia Tornado GR.1 ''ZA407'' was removed from the station entrance, to take up a role as fire fighting training aid. It was replaced on the gate by Tornado GR.4 ''ZA614''.
Marham has one other preserved aircraft on the station: English Electric Canberra PR.9 ''XH169'', which has been on display within the main technical site since November 2007. Until November 2020, outside the station headquarters building was Handley Page Victor K.2 ''XH673'', which was scrapped after failing to find a new owner.
Former squadrons
See also
* List of Royal Air Force stations
References
Bibliography
*
*
External links
*
Marham Matters
– station magazine
UK Military Aeronautical Information Publication – Marham (EGYM)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marham
Military units and formations established in 1916
Royal Air Force stations in Norfolk
Royal Air Force stations of World War II in the United Kingdom
Royal Flying Corps airfields
1916 establishments in England