Royal Air Force Ludham or more simply RAF Ludham 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 approximately northeast of the village of

Ludham Ludham is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the English county of Norfolk, in the Norfolk Broads, at the end of a dyke leading to Womack Water and flowing into the River Thurne. It lies to the East of Ludham Bridge, which ...

, and east-northeast 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 county of

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. Although most of the airfield site has returned to agriculture, a small portion of the east–west runway is still used for private flying.

History

The airfield at Ludham was built by Richard Costain Ltd and became operational in November 1941 as a second satellite for the main fighter station at

RAF Coltishall Royal Air Force Coltishall more commonly known as RAF Coltishall is a former Royal Air Force List of former Royal Air Force stations, station located north-north-east of Norwich, in the England, English Counties of the United Kingdom, county ...

sited north of

, three tarmac-covered concrete runways and ancillary buildings being built on the land which had belonged to Fritton Farm. A total of ten RAF fighter squadrons (eight flying various marks of

Supermarine Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was used by the Royal Air Force and other Allies of World War II, Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. It was the only British fighter produced conti ...

, and two flying the

Hawker Typhoon The Hawker Typhoon was a British single-seat fighter-bomber, produced by Hawker Aircraft. It was intended to be a medium-high altitude interceptor aircraft, interceptor, as a replacement for the Hawker Hurricane, but several design problems we ...

1B were based here between December 1941 and July 1945. Fighter duties from Ludham were fairly regular and generally coastal and convoy patrols of little note, but the results of one sortie on 28 January 1943 by No. 167 Squadron RAF, whose Spitfires were scrambled to intercept and shoot down a German

Junkers Ju 88 The Junkers Ju 88 is a twin-engined multirole combat aircraft designed and produced by the German aircraft manufacturer Junkers Aircraft and Motor Works. It was used extensively during the Second World War by the ''Luftwaffe'' and became one o ...

that was harassing shipping off the East coast, was witnessed by HM The King and

Queen Queen most commonly refers to: * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen (band), a British rock band Queen or QUEEN may also refer to: Monarchy * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Q ...

, who happened to be visiting the station that same afternoon. Although allocated to 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) as Station 177 in August 1943 no American units were based there and there was an uneventful period of little or no activity.

HMS Flycatcher

On 24 August 1944 it was transferred from

No. 12 Group RAF No. 12 Group RAF (12 Gp) of the Royal Air Force was a group, a military formation, that existed over two separate periods, namely the end of the First World War when it had a training function and from just prior to the Second World War until t ...

to the

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong * Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Tra ...

and known as Royal Naval Air Station Ludham, (or RNAS Ludham). Its primary function was a headquarters for the Mobile Naval Airfields Organisation (MNAO). It was also the Mobile Operational Naval Air Base (MONAB) Assembly Station and was able to provide accommodation for two MONABs. RNAS Ludham was commissioned as on 4 September under the command of

Commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank as well as a job title in many army, armies. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countri ...

( A) J.B. Wilson, RN, Senior Officer Mobile Naval Airfields Organisation (SNOMNAO). Notably the airbase was not open for flying while in use by Royal Navy but here the first five MONABs and one Transportable Aircraft Maintenance Yard (TAMY) were assembled and despatched.

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

L.J.S. Edes, RN, took command of RNAS Ludham and assumed the title SNOMNAO, on 1 November 1944. The airfield was quite a distance from the port of embarkation and had inferior road and rail links and the Air Ministry offered to swap

RAF Middle Wallop Middle Wallop is a village in the civil parish of Nether Wallop in Hampshire, England, on the A343 road. At the 2011 Census the population was included in the civil parish of Over Wallop. The village has a public house, The George Inn, and ...

for RNAS Ludham, and therefore HMS ''Flycatcher'' was "

paid off Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to placing a warship i ...

" and RNAS Ludham closed on 16 February 1945. The commission transferred to RNAS Middle Wallop.

Return to the RAF and later use

The RAF then took back control of Ludham, when some limited detachments by fighter squadrons took place, but the site was eventually closed down in 1946. By 1961 the land had been re-acquired by local farmers with various buildings still remaining around the perimeter and, although most of the airfield site has returned to agriculture, there is a small hangar for private aircraft that use a small portion of the east–west runway for private flying.

Based units

The following units were here at some point: *

No. 1 Squadron RAF Number 1 Squadron, also known as No. 1 (Fighter) Squadron, is a squadron of the Royal Air Force. It was the first squadron to fly a VTOL aircraft. It currently operates Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft from RAF Lossiemouth. The squadron motto, ' ...

No. 19 Squadron RAF No. 19 Squadron (sometimes written as No. XIX Squadron) is a Squadron (aviation), squadron of the Royal Air Force. It was the first squadron to operate the Supermarine Spitfire. It currently operates the UK's Control and Reporting Centre from RAF ...

* No. 91 (Nigeria) Squadron RAF * No. 167 (Gold Coast) Squadron RAF * No. 195 Squadron RAF * No. 602 (City of Glasgow) Squadron AAF * No. 603 (City of Edinburgh) Squadron AAF * No. 610 (County of Chester) Squadron AAF * No. 611 (West Lancashire) Squadron AAF * No. 1489 (Fighter) Gunnery Flight RAF * No. 2819 Squadron RAF Regiment *

No. 2893 Squadron RAF Regiment This is a list of units of the Royal Air Force Regiment. The RAF Regiment is the ground fighting force of the Royal Air Force and is charged mainly with protecting military airfields, among other duties. First formed in 1942 to protect the airfi ...

History

HMS Flycatcher

Return to the RAF and later use

Based units

References

Citations

Bibliography