Royal Air Force Bury St Edmunds or simply RAF Bury St Edmunds 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 east of

Bury St Edmunds Bury St Edmunds (), commonly referred to locally as ''Bury,'' is a cathedral as well as market town and civil parish in the West Suffolk District, West Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St. Edmunds an ...

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

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 is not to be confused with the RAF grass strip on the western side of Bury St Edmunds known as RAF Westley, an area now part of the town itself. The airfield was originally, and is now again, known as Rougham, as it is located north of that village between the A14 and the main railway line between

and

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in Suffolk, England. It is the county town, and largest in Suffolk, followed by Lowestoft and Bury St Edmunds, and the third-largest population centre in East Anglia, ...

History

It was built during 1941 and 1942 with three intersecting concrete runways. The main runway of 2,000 yards was aligned approximately E–W. It saw extensive use during 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 ...

. The following units were here at some point: * 94th Bombardment Group *

322nd Bombardment Group The 322d Air Expeditionary Group is a provisional United States Air Force unit assigned to the United States Air Forces in Europe. As a provisional unit, it may be activated or inactivated at any time. The group appears to have been activated ...

* 331st Bombardment Squadron * 332nd Bombardment Squadron * 333rd Bombardment Squadron * 410th Bombardment Squadron

Current use

With the end of military control, Bury St Edmunds airfield's concreted areas were broken up, with most of the site being returned to agriculture. The old technical site has been developed into the Rougham Industrial Estate. The T2 hangars are still in use for storage. The control tower, used for many years as a private dwelling, has been restored and is operated as an aviation museum dedicated to the 94th bomb group. The museum is open to the public every Sunday from Easter until October, with free admission. The museum site is also home to the Bury St Edmunds Amateur Radio Society BSEARS radio club. The airfield was closed in June 2023.

References

Citations

Bibliography

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Bury St Edmunds - Rougham airfield

Bury St. Edmunds Airfield

External links