Royal Air Force Swannington or more simply RAF Swannington 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 south of Cawston and north west 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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

. It was opened in April 1944, being developed from the estate of Haveringland Hall, and sold in 1957, though the Royal Air Force (RAF) left in November 1947. The site is now used for agriculture, though evidence of concrete runways and buildings remains; it lies largely within the civil parishes of

Brandiston Brandiston is a small village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. Brandiston is located south-east of Reepham and north-west of Norwich. Brandiston's civil parish also includes the small hamlet of Guton. History Brandiston ...

, with St Nicholas' Church to the north of the site, and Haveringland, with St Peter's Church close to one of the taxiways at the eastern end,Haveringland church remembers RAF Swannington
at networknorwich.co.uk, retrieved 7 February 2018 and Guton Hall and a river valley separating the area from Little Witchingham civil parish to the west. Part of the Brandiston-Swannington road still runs over remains of the runways.

History

The first squadrons to use Swannington were No. 85 Squadron RAF, which moved from

RAF West Malling Royal Air Force West Malling or more simply RAF West Malling is a former Royal Air Force station located south of West Malling, Kent and west of Maidstone, Kent, England. Originally used as a landing area during the First World War,

, and No. 157 Squadron RAF from

RAF Valley Royal Air Force Valley or more simply RAF Valley () is a Royal Air Force station on the island of Anglesey, Wales, and which is also used as Anglesey Airport. It provides both basic and advanced fast-jet training using the Beechcraft Texan T. ...

; these were under the command of

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 ...

and flew

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. These squadrons supported bombing support operations as part of

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 ...

. Both squadrons were temporarily moved to

to counter the

V-1 flying bomb The V-1 flying bomb ( "Vengeance Weapon 1") was an early cruise missile. Its official Reich Aviation Ministry () name was Fieseler Fi 103 and its suggestive name was (hellhound). It was also known to the Allies as the buzz bomb or doodlebug a ...

threat before returning in late August 1944 to re-commence bomber support operations. On 27 June 1945 85 Squadron moved to RAF Castle Camps; and shortly after, on 16 August 1945, 157 Squadron disbanded, and the airfield was passed over to

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 ...

. Swannington was the headquarters for No. 274 Maintenance Unit RAF (MU) for

RAF Little Snoring Royal Air Force Little Snoring or more simply RAF Little Snoring is a former Royal Air Force station located immediately north of the Norfolk village of Little Snoring, approximately east-northeast from the town of Fakenham. The airfield rema ...

RAF North Creake Royal Air Force North Creake or more simply RAF North Creake is a former Royal Air Force station located southwest of Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk and northwest of Fakenham, Norfolk, England. History Second World War Originally used in 1941 ...

and RAF Oulton. All these stations had mothballed Mosquitos of all versions, and there were also several hundred new

Rolls-Royce Merlin The Rolls-Royce Merlin is a British Coolant#Liquids, liquid-cooled V12 engine, V-12 Reciprocating engine, piston aero engine of 27-litre (1,650 cu in) Engine displacement, capacity. Rolls-Royce Limited, Rolls-Royce designed the engine an ...

engines in their crates. Between 1946 and 1947 the role of the site was to service and carry out important modifications to aircraft before they were flown out to a permanent MU for in-depth service, from where they were sold to foreign powers. Airframes which were beyond their sell-by date were towed to the dump and burnt after recovery of spare parts, including engines. ;Other units *

No. 451 Squadron RAAF No. 451 Squadron was a Royal Australian Air Force army cooperation and fighter aircraft, fighter squadron of World War II. It was formed at Bankstown, New South Wales, on 12 February 1941 and began flying operations on 1 July as part of the Nort ...

No. 229 Squadron RAF No. 229 Squadron RAF was a squadron of the Royal Air Force, and is an officially accredited Battle of Britain Squadron. It became No. 603 Squadron RAF in January 1945. History Formation and World War I No. 229 Squadron RAF was formed on 20 ...

Current use

Haveringland Hall was demolished c. 1948. Many

Nissen hut A Nissen hut is a prefabricated steel structure originally for military use, especially as barracks, made from a 210° portion of a cylindrical skin of corrugated iron. It was designed during the First World War by the Canadian-American-British e ...

s were sited in the extensively wooded and landscaped garden. After the decommissioning of the RAF station, these grounds were used for a caravan and camping ground.

References

Citations

Bibliography

External links

Control Towers – Pictures of the site today
{{DEFAULTSORT:Swannington Royal Air Force stations in Norfolk Royal Air Force stations of World War II in the United Kingdom Military airbases established in 1944 Military airbases closed in 1947