Royal Air Force Langham or more simply RAF Langham 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, located at Langham, northwest of

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

in the

English county The counties of England are a type of subdivision of England. Counties have been used as administrative areas in England since Anglo-Saxon times. There are three definitions of county in England: the 48 ceremonial counties used for the purpo ...

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

. It operated between 1940 and 1961. The airfield was the most northerly of the wartime RAF airfields in Norfolk and its position, just from the

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 ...

at Blakeney, made it a suitable site for

RAF Coastal Command RAF Coastal Command was a formation within the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was founded in 1936, when the RAF was restructured into Fighter, Bomber and Coastal commands and played an important role during the Second World War. Maritime Aviation ...

aircraft. The airfield was built during the early months of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

as a dispersal and satellite station to RAF Bircham Newton. It became operational in the summer of 1940.

History

The airfield was originally laid out with three grass runways. The station became fully self-supporting in 1942, when it was upgraded with three concrete runways (tar-covered), three T2 type and four Blister hangars, an encircling perimeter track and 36 spectacle-shape hardstandings, plus a Type 12779/41 control tower and normal Mk 2 approach lighting for night operations. Primarily used by RAF Coastal Command throughout the war, it was placed on Care and Maintenance in 1947, but reactivated during the Korean War. It was later used as an emergency landing strip for RAF Sculthorpe, before final closure in 1961.

Based units

The following units were based at Langham:

Notable operations and events

On 2 October 1944 six Bristol Beaufighter of Coastal Command took off from Langham to carry out a night patrol along the

Frisian Islands The Frisian Islands, also known as the Wadden Islands or the Wadden Sea Islands, form an archipelago at the eastern edge of the North Sea in northwestern Europe, stretching from the northwest of the Netherlands through Germany to the west of Denm ...

off the coast of the Netherlands. Their task was to randomly attack any enemy shipping encountered there. One of the aircraft (NT 909) was piloted by New Zealander

Warrant Officer Warrant officer (WO) is a Military rank, rank or category of ranks in the armed forces of many countries. Depending on the country, service, or historical context, warrant officers are sometimes classified as the most junior of the commissioned ...

Douglas Mann with English navigator Flight Sergeant Donald Kennedy. Close to the island of

Borkum Borkum (; ) is an island and a municipality in the Leer District in Lower Saxony, northwestern Germany. It is situated east of Rottumeroog and west of Juist. Geography Borkum is bordered to the west by the Westerems strait (which forms the ...

the plane attacked a convoy, but in poor visibility struck an unknown obstacle causing Mann to lose control. The convoy's escort opened fire on the stricken plane shooting it down and, after some difficulty, Mann and Kennedy took to their rescue dinghy. After several abortive rescue attempts the airmen were finally rescued by High Speed Launch 2679, stationed at

Gorleston-on-Sea Gorleston-on-Sea (), historically and colloquially known as Gorleston, is a seaside town in the borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England. It lies to the South of Great Yarmouth, on the opposite side of the mouth of the River Yare. Historic ...

, on 10 October after being in the sea for eight days. Both men suffered from acute

hypothermia Hypothermia is defined as a body core temperature below in humans. Symptoms depend on the temperature. In mild hypothermia, there is shivering and mental confusion. In moderate hypothermia, shivering stops and confusion increases. In severe ...

and immersion foot. They were taken to

Great Yarmouth Great Yarmouth ( ), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside resort, seaside town which gives its name to the wider Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of Norwich. Its fishing industry, m ...

Naval Hospital, eventually making a full recovery. Mann returned to 489 Squadron and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Current use

The station was purchased by Bernard Matthews Ltd, who constructed turkey sheds on the runways. This has preserved large sections of the runways. A small aircraft repair and maintenance facility is based in buildings to the south side of the airfield, and uses the southern perimeter track and adjacent grass area for flying operations. Surviving buildings on the site include the control tower and a dome trainer building used for the instruction of ground-to-air anti-aircraft gunnery. Langham Dome, which sits on the edge of the former base, is one of only a half dozen such sites surviving in the United Kingdom. It was built in 1942. Film of enemy aircraft was projected onto its walls for target practice. The structure has been restored and a museum installed with funding from

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

and the National Heritage Lottery Fund. In 2015 a documentary about the dome was broadcast by

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

References

Citations

Bibliography

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External links

Bircham Newton Memorial ProjectLangham Dome website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Langham Royal Air Force stations in Norfolk Royal Air Force stations of World War II in the United Kingdom