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Royal Air Force Methwold or more simply RAF Methwold 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 north east of
Feltwell Feltwell is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. Feltwell is located north-west of Thetford and south-west of Norwich. History Feltwell's name is of Anglo-Saxon origin and derives from the Old English for a spring or ...
,
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 ...
and north west of
Thetford Thetford is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Breckland District of Norfolk, England. It is on the A11 road (England), A11 road between Norwich and London, just east of Thetford Forest. The civil parish, coverin ...
, Norfolk,
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
.


History

RAF Methwold opened as a dispersal airfield for
RAF Feltwell Royal Air Force Feltwell or more simply RAF Feltwell is a Royal Air Force station in Norfolk, East Anglia that is used by the United States Air Forces in Europe – Air Forces Africa. The station is located about 10 miles west of Thetford, and ...
in the winter of 1938.
Vickers Wellington The Vickers Wellington (nicknamed the Wimpy) is 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 t ...
bombers from Feltwell continued to use the site as a satellite base until the grass airfield was transferred to
No. 2 Group No. 2 Group is a Group (military aviation unit)#United Kingdom, group of the Royal Air Force which was first activated in 1918, served from 1918–20, from 1936 through the Second World War to 1947, from 1948 to 1958, from 1993 to 1996, was reac ...
in the exchange of bases with No. 3 Group, in the summer of 1942. Several asphalt hardstandings were put down for aircraft during 1940–1941. In August 1943, the airfield was closed to flying while it was upgraded to A standard. Three concrete runways were built, the main aligned on 06-24 (2,000 yards), 11-29 (1,600 yards) and 17-35 (1,500 yards). 36 hardstandings were built, 35 of the loop type and a single pan. The original asphalt pans were not retained. Following this work, RAF Methwold was a higher standard base than its parent at Feltwell. The airfield was returned to No. 3 Group and became a sub-station of
RAF Mildenhall Royal Air Force Mildenhall, or more simply RAF Mildenhall , is a Royal Air Force List of Royal Air Force stations, station located near Mildenhall, Suffolk, Mildenhall in Suffolk, England. Despite its status as a List of Royal Air Force stations, ...
. 43 aircraft either failed to return or crashed during the operations from RAF Methwold; 25 Venturas, 6 Stirlings, and 12 Lancasters.


Units

;Based units *
No. 57 Squadron RAF Number 57 Squadron, also known as No. LVII Squadron, is a Royal Air Force flying training squadron, operating the Grob G 120TP, Grob Prefect T1 from RAF Cranwell, Lincolnshire. It was formed in 1916 during World War I as part of the Royal Flyi ...
*
No. 214 Squadron RAF No. 214 Squadron is a former unit of the Royal Air Force. History World War I No 214 Squadron was formed from No. 14 Squadron Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS), itself formerly ''No. 7A Squadron RNAS'' only taking on the new number on 9 December ...
*
No. 21 Squadron RAF No. 21 Squadron of the Royal Air Force was formed in 1915 and was disbanded for the last time in 1979. The squadron is famous for Operation Jericho on 18 February 1944, when the crews of Mosquitoes breached the walls of a Gestapo prison at Ami ...
*
No. 464 Squadron RAAF No. 464 Squadron RAAF is a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) unit responsible for public relations. It was originally formed in the United Kingdom during 1942 as a bomber unit. It comprised personnel from Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand, ...
*
No. 487 Squadron RNZAF No. 487 (NZ) Squadron was a light bomber squadron established for service during the Second World War. It was a New Zealand squadron formed under Article XV of the Empire Air Training Plan. Although many of its flying personnel were largely dra ...
*
No. 149 Squadron RAF No. 149 Squadron RAF was a Royal Air Force Squadron between 1918 and 1956. Formed 1918 in the Royal Flying Corps as a night-bomber unit, it remained in that role for the rest of its existence which spanned three periods between 1918 and 1956. ...
*
No. 218 Squadron RAF No. 218 Squadron RAF was a squadron of the Royal Air Force. It was also known as No 218 (Gold Coast) Squadron after the Governor of the Gold Coast (modern Ghana) and people of the Gold Coast officially adopted the squadron. History World War ...
* No. 207 Squadron RAF *
No. 320 (Netherlands) Squadron RAF No. 320 (Netherlands) Squadron RAF was a unit of the Royal Air Force during World War II formed from the personnel of the Royal Netherlands Naval Air Service. History Formation Formed on 1 June 1940 at RAF Pembroke Dock, after flying from th ...
*
No. 3 Flying Training School RAF No. 3 Flying Training School is a Royal Air Force military training school, which manages elementary flying training for the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force and also for the training of all non-pilot aircrew for the RAF and is home to the Centra ...
* No. 3 Service Flying Training School RAF * No. 21 Heavy Glider Maintenance Section


Current use

After closure as an operational airfield in April 1946, the airfield remained under care and maintenance until it was finally sold in the 1960s. Today the majority of the site has been returned to agriculture, with two hangars remaining in use as agricultural grain stores and two others used for packaging
Quorn Quorn is a brand of meat substitute products. Quorn originated in the UK and is sold primarily in Europe, but is available in 11 countries. The brand is owned by parent company Monde Nissin. Quorn is sold as both a cooking ingredient and as ...
and Cauldron products (Marlow Foods) for sale in supermarkets. To the southern edge of the site a well-preserved battle headquarters and some gunpits along with a number of air raid shelters may be found.


See also

*
List of Norfolk airfields This is a list of current or former airfields, airports and airbases, both civilian and military, within the English county of Norfolk, East Anglia. They may have been used by the Royal Flying Corps (RFC), Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS), Royal Ai ...
*
List of former Royal Air Force stations This list of former RAF stations includes most of the stations, airfields and administrative headquarters previously used by the Royal Air Force. They are listed under any former county or country name which was appropriate for the duration of ...


References


External links


RAF History – Bomber Command 60th Anniversary


Local History Group with an interest in "All Things Methwold" Publishers of a booklet on RAF Methwold {{DEFAULTSORT:Methwold Royal Air Force stations in Norfolk Royal Air Force stations of World War II in the United Kingdom