Royal Air Force Oulton or more simply RAF Oulton 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 ...

satellite station A broadcast relay station, also known as a satellite station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator (U.S.), re-broadcaster (Canada), repeater (two-way radio) or complementary station (Mexico), is a broadcast transmitter which repeats (or tran ...

located west of

Aylsham, Norfolk Aylsham ( or ) is a historic market town and civil parish on the River Bure in north Norfolk, England, nearly north of Norwich. The river rises near Melton Constable, upstream from Aylsham and continues to Great Yarmouth and the North Sea, a ...

and northwest of

Norwich, Norfolk 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 Norw ...

, England. The airfield was built over 1939 and 1940 as a bomber airfield with T2 type hangars and grass runways, the facility operating as a satellite airfield of nearby RAF Horsham St. Faith between July 1940 and September 1942 after which it operated as a satellite airfield of

RAF Swanton Morley Robertson Barracks, formerly RAF Swanton Morley, is a military installation near Swanton Morley in Norfolk. It is home to 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards and is set to close in 2029. History RAF Swanton Morley RAF Swanton Morley was a new stat ...

History

In September 1943, Oulton was transferred from 2 Group to 3 Group and closed to flying for re-construction as a heavy bomber base with concrete runways, taxiways and parking areas. The work was completed in April 1944 and the airfield transferred to

No. 100 Group RAF No. 100 (Bomber Support) Group was a special duties group within RAF Bomber Command. The group was formed on 11 November 1943 to consolidate the increasingly complex business of electronic warfare and countermeasures in one organisation. The ...

. Flying operations ceased at the end of July 1945, after which it was taken over by

RAF Maintenance Command RAF Maintenance Command was the Royal Air Force command which was responsible for controlling maintenance for all the United Kingdom-based units from formation on 1 April 1938 until being renamed RAF Support Command on 31 August 1973. Histor ...

which used it to store

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 until November 1947. ;Additional Units: * No. 18 Heavy Glider Maintenance Section * No. 274 Maintenance Unit RAF * No. 1428 (Ferry Training) Flight RAF * No. 2873 Squadron RAF Regiment * No. 2874 Squadron RAF Regiment

Current use

The site is now farmland.

Museum

The RAF Oulton Museum is housed on the

Blickling Hall Blickling Hall is a Jacobean stately home situated in 5,000 acres of parkland in a loop of the River Bure, near the village of Blickling north of Aylsham in Norfolk, England. The mansion was built on the ruins of a Tudor building for Sir He ...

estate, belonging to the

National Trust The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...

References

Citations

Bibliography

*Bowyer, J.F. ''Action Stations 1: Wartime military airfields of East Anglia 1939''. Wellingborough, UK: Patrick Stephens Limited, Second edition, 1990. . *"Your Questions Answered...Oulton, Norfolk". ''Air Pictorial'', October 1967. p. 373.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Oulton Royal Air Force stations in Norfolk Royal Air Force stations of World War II in the United Kingdom