Beccles Airfield, also known as Beccles Airport or Beccles Aerodrome , is located southeast of

Beccles Beccles ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the East Suffolk District, East Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer Map OL40: The Broads: (1:25 000) : . The town is located along the A145 r ...

in the county of

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 ...

, England. Built during the Second World War, it has operated as a heliport servicing the

North Sea oil North Sea oil is a mixture of hydrocarbons, comprising liquid petroleum and natural gas, produced from petroleum reservoirs beneath the North Sea. In the petroleum industry, the term "North Sea" often includes areas such as the Norwegian ...

and gas industry and currently operates as a base for private flights, flight training and parachuting. Beccles Aerodrome has a CAA Ordinary Licence (Number P837) that allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction as authorised by the licensee (RainAir (Beccles) Limited). The aerodrome is not licensed for night use. The current airstrip consists of around of the original wartime concrete surface with of grass airstrip.UK AIP – Beccles
NATS aeronautical information service. Retrieved 25 June 2011.

Origin and wartime use

Always known locally as Ellough Airfield, Beccles airfield was built under the direction of London construction company Holland, Hannen & Cubitts for 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) and completed in August 1942.Beccles (Ellough) Airfield
Heritage Gateway. Retrieved 25 June 2011. It used the three concrete runway layout typical of many bomber airfields in

East Anglia East Anglia is an area of the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, with parts of Essex sometimes also included. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, ...

, known as Class A layout, and was built for the 8th Air Force and allocated airfield number 132. It is possible that Ellough was intended to be used by the 3d Air Division, 95th Combat Bombardment Wing. The 95th had two Bombardment Groups, the 489th at RAF Halesworth and the 491st at RAF Metfield. Other combat wings had three Bomber Groups. The airfield was the last to be completed in Suffolk during the war and the USAAF had no use for the airfield so it passed briefly to

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 during World War II#Europe, strategic bombing of Germany in W ...

before being operated by No. 16 Group RAF, RAF Coastal Command from August 1944.History of Beccles (Ellough) Airfield
The field was used as an air-sea rescue post until closure in 1945, and saw operation by various RAF and FAA squadrons operating such diverse types as

Vickers Warwick The Vickers Warwick was a British twin-engined bomber aircraft developed and operated during the Second World War that was primarily used in other roles. In line with the naming convention followed by other RAF heavy bombers of the era, it wa ...

Fairey Barracuda The Fairey Barracuda was a British carrier-borne torpedo and dive bomber designed by Fairey Aviation. It was the first aircraft of this type operated by the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy to be fabricated entirely from metal. The Barra ...

, Supermarine Walrus,

Fairey Swordfish The Fairey Swordfish is a retired biplane torpedo bomber, designed by the Fairey Aviation Company. Originating in the early 1930s, the Swordfish, nicknamed "Stringbag", was principally operated by the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy. It was a ...

, Supermarine Sea Otter and Fairey Albacore on air-sea rescue and anti-shipping duties.Beccles (Ellough)
Control towers.co.uk. Retrieved 25 June 2011. The

Fleet Air Arm The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) is the naval aviation component of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy (RN). The FAA is one of five :Fighting Arms of the Royal Navy, RN fighting arms. it is a primarily helicopter force, though also operating the Lockhee ...

used temporary lodging facilities at RAF Beccles under the

stone frigate A stone frigate is a naval establishment on land. 'Stone frigate' is an informal term which has its origin in Britain's Royal Navy (RN), after its use of Diamond Rock, an island off Martinique, as a 'sloop of war' to harass the First French ...

name ''HMS Hornbill II''. One of Ellough's few claims to fame is that in 1943 it was used by

de Havilland Mosquito The de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito is a British twin-engined, multirole combat aircraft, introduced during the World War II, Second World War. Unusual in that its airframe was constructed mostly of wood, it was nicknamed the "Wooden Wonder", or " ...

s of 618 Squadron to practise dropping spinning bombs called 'Highball' which were a derivative of the bouncing bombs used by 617 "Dambuster" Squadron to breach dams in Germany in May 1943. The use of 'Highball' is shown in the 1970 film '' Mosquito Squadron''. In an interview late in his life, Captain (N) "Winkle" Brown, the first person to land a Mosquito on an aircraft carrier, recalls visiting the airfield to demonstrate deck landing skills to RAF personnel there. In the course of his visit, he encountered Barnes Wallis, designer of the bouncing bombs. The wartime control tower was demolished in 2009. The airfield was the most easterly wartime airfield in England.

Units

The site was used by different units:

Post-war use

After the war the airfield remained dormant until 1965 when BEA Helicopters moved in to the hangars at the eastern end, serving

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

oil and gas rigs with Sikorsky S-61 helicopters. Helicopter operations were transferred to Norwich International Airport in the 1990s. The airfield has been home to RainAir since 1997 when Rainer Forster transferred his flight training operations from Swanton Morley. The airfield is the base for No. 28 (Suffolk) Civil Air Patrol Unit, a volunteer organisation which aims to aid the emergency services.No. 28 (Suffolk) Civil Air Patrol Unit
, RainAir (Beccles). Retrieved 25 June 2011. UK Parachuting carry out free-fall parachute training from the airfield,History
UK Parachuting. Retrieved 25 May 2011. Virage Helicopter Academy conduct Helicopter training and Mid Anglia Microlights carry out Microlight flying training in both 3-axis (fixed wing) and weightshift machines. Since early 2016 Skylark Radio Control Flyers have been authorised to fly their models at the airfield operating from the concrete runway 09/27 in close cooperation with Rain Air operations.

Other uses

Most of the runways have been broken up and much of the area of the airfield is now used for a variety of industrial uses. Beccles printing company William Clowes Ltd. moved their main factory to the site in 2004. Plastics company Promens operates a warehouse on the park which has the UK's largest solar roof installation with a generating capacity of 1.65MW.The UK's largest solar roof installation launched at Promens in Beccles
''Eastern Daily Press'', 20 July 2011. Retrieved 20 July 2011. Large solar farms are located at the west and south points of the airfield. Other areas of the site are used for agricultural use and as a site for a

farmers market A farmers' market (or farmers market according to the AP stylebook, also farmer's market in the Cambridge Dictionary) is a physical retail marketplace intended to sell foods directly by farmers to consumers. Farmers' markets may be indoors or ...

. A kart circuit,

Ellough Park Raceway Ellough Park Raceway is a kart racing track in Ellough in the English county of Suffolk. It is located around south-east of the market town of Beccles Beccles ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the East Su ...

, also occupies part of the airfield site.

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* Bowyer, M.J.F. (2000). ''Action Stations Revisited'', Crecy Publishing. * *Holmes, M.R. (1994).
RAF Beccles at War 1943–45
'' Beccles: R & R Print (Beccles) Ltd. * * Smith, G. (1995) ''Suffolk Airfields in the Second World'', Countryside Books *

External links

Beccle Aerodrome websiteMid Anglia Microlights
* {{authority control Airports in England Airports in the East of England Transport in Suffolk Beccles Parachuting in the United Kingdom