Sculthorpe Training Area, previously RAF Sculthorpe is a training site owned by the British

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

. It is about west of Fakenham in Norfolk, England. It forms part of the

Defence Training Estate Defence Training Estates is an organisation within the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), Ministry of Defence. It is the operating division of the Defence Infrastructure Organisation, and is responsible for the management of the ...

. The training area was the former Royal Air Force (RAF) Station Sculthorpe, which closed circa 1992. The airfield has been home to many visiting airmen and support crews of the RAF and United States Air Force (USAF). In 1997, the Ministry of Defence sold the entire technical, domestic and administrative site including the married quarters site previously occupied by the USAF to the Welbeck Estate Group. After the sale, the airfield was retained for military training usage.

History

Second World War

RAF Sculthorpe was built as the second satellite airfield of

RAF West Raynham Royal Air Force West Raynham or more simply RAF West Raynham is a former Royal Air Force station located west of West Raynham, Norfolk and southwest of Fakenham, Norfolk, England. The airfield opened during May 1939 and was used by RAF Bomb ...

a few miles to the south, the first being RAF Great Massingham. Work was begun in the spring of 1942 and the airfield was laid out as one of only two RAF heavy bomber airfields with the familiar wartime triangular three runway layout expanded by 50 percent, the main runway being long compared to the standard and the subsidiary runways being 6,000 feet compared to around . The work involved construction of the concrete runways, dispersals site, mess facilities and accommodation. Much of the work was completed by Irish labour working for the company

Bovis Construction Bovis Construction (formerly C. W. Bovis & Co.) was a major British construction business. It was acquired by Lendlease in 1999. History C. W. Bovis & Co was founded by Charles William Bovis in London in 1885.No. 342 Squadron () of the Free French Air Forces within No. 2 Group from RAF West Raynham. This squadron operated two flights of the Douglas Boston aircraft along with the related Douglas Havoc aircraft for training. No. 342 Squadron stayed until 19 July 1943 when they moved to RAF Great Massingham. On 20 July 1943 the

Royal New Zealand Air Force The Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) ( mi, Te Tauaarangi o Aotearoa, "The Warriors of the Sky of New Zealand"; previously ', "War Party of the Blue") is the aerial service branch of the New Zealand Defence Force. It was formed from New Zeala ...

(RNZAF) and

Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

(RAAF) moved in with

No. 487 Squadron RNZAF No. 487 (NZ) Squadron was a light bomber squadron established for service during the World War II, Second World War. It was a New Zealand squadron formed under Article XV squadrons, Article XV of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, Empire ...

and

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, ...

taking up residence with their

Lockheed Ventura The Lockheed Ventura is a twin-engine medium bomber and patrol bomber of World War II. The Ventura first entered combat in Europe as a bomber with the RAF in late 1942. Designated PV-1 by the United States Navy (US Navy), it entered combat in 1 ...

aircraft having moved from RAF Methwold before converting at Sculthorpe onto the

de Havilland Mosquito The de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito is a British twin-engined, shoulder-winged, multirole combat aircraft, introduced during the Second World War. Unusual in that its frame was constructed mostly of wood, it was nicknamed the "Wooden Wonder", or ...

. On 20 September 1943, 21 Squadron moved in from RAF Oulton, also with Mosquitos, to form the Sculthorpe Wing (

No. 140 Wing RAF No. 140 Wing RAF was a formation of the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. It comprised No. 21 Squadron RAF, No. 464 (RAAF) Squadron RAF and No. 487 (RNZAF) Squadron RAF. It carried out many notable low-level bombing operations, in ...

). The wing stayed at Sculthorpe, completing more than 100 missions, before departing for

RAF Hunsdon Hunsdon is a village and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England. It is around east of Ware and north-west of Harlow. The population of the village taken at the 2011 Census was 1,080. See also *Baron Hunsdon *Hunsdon Airfield *The Hundred Pa ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

on 31 December 1943. In January 1944

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 gr ...

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 ...

moved in with

Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Relatively fast and high-flying for a bomber of its era, the B-17 was used primarily in the European Theater ...

aircraft for use in electronic warfare support 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 of Germany in World War II. From 1942 onward, the British bo ...

to be joined by crews from the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) 96th Bomb Group from RAF Snetterton Heath, known at Sculthorpe and thereafter as the 803rd Bomb Squadron of the USAAF. In April 1944 the 803rd and 214 Squadron departed for RAF Oulton leaving Sculthorpe empty for its redevelopment as a "very heavy bomber base" with the work not being completed until the spring of 1946. A number of units were also posted here: * No. 11 Heavy Glider Maintenance Section * No. 140 Airfield * No. 1699 (Fortress Training) Flight RAF * Mosquito Conversion Flight RAF

Cold War

Sculthorpe was refurbished for USAF use during the Berlin Crisis in 1949 and then later, in 1952, it became home for the 49th Air Division (Operational) and the

47th Bombardment Wing The 47th Flying Training Wing is a United States Air Force pilot training wing based at Laughlin Air Force Base, near Del Rio, Texas. It is one of five pilot training units in the Air Force's Air Education and Training Command which conducts ...

, who were to stay for a decade. The 49th Air Division maintained operational control of the 47th Bomb WG and the

20th Fighter-Bomber Wing The 20th Fighter Wing is a wing of the United States Air Force and the host unit at Shaw Air Force Base South Carolina. The wing is assigned to Air Combat Command's Fifteenth Air Force. The wing's mission is to provide, project, and sustain ...

which provided tactical nuclear weapons support to the

Supreme Allied Commander Europe The Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) is the commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) Allied Command Operations (ACO) and head of ACO's headquarters, Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE). The commander is ...

(SACEUR). Later the

81st Fighter-Bomber Wing The 81st Training Wing is a wing (air force unit), wing of the United States Air Force and the host wing at Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi. The 81st Training Wing has the Air Force's largest Technical Training Group and trains more than 40, ...

was provided a nuclear capability and assigned to the operational control of the 49th Air Division. The Soviet Union's enormous conventional force in eastern Europe posed a major problem for NATO due to the Soviets maintaining high personnel levels after World War II when most of the American and British forces had demobilized. To counter this Soviet threat to Western Europe, NATO decided to expand their tactical nuclear force by introducing the North American B-45 Tornado to the UK. The U.S.

Tactical Air Command Tactical Air Command (TAC) is an inactive United States Air Force organization. It was a Major Command of the United States Air Force, established on 21 March 1946 and headquartered at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia. It was inactivated on 1 J ...

had about 100 of these four-engine jet bombers, each capable of dropping five tactical nuclear bombs. In the summer of 1952, the Pentagon decided to deploy the 47th Bomb Wing to Sculthorpe from

Langley Air Force Base Langley Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located in Hampton, Virginia, adjacent to Newport News, Virginia, Newport News. It was one of List of airfields of the Training Section of the United States Army Air Service, thirty-two ...

, Virginia. The movement of the 49th AD, 47 Bomb Wg and the 20th FB WG was the first unit deployment since World War II. The squadrons of the 47th Bomb WG were: *

84th Bombardment Squadron The 84th Bombardment Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the post-World War II-era 47th Bombardment Wing, stationed at RAF Sculthorpe, England. It was inactivated on 22 June 1962. History Antisubmarin ...

(B-45, B-66) (17 November 1952 – 22 June 1962) * 85th Bombardment Squadron (B-45, B-66) (17 November 1952 – 22 June 1962) *

420th Air Refueling Squadron 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest c ...

(KB-29, KB-50) (25 September 1955 – 23 March 1962) *

86th Bombardment Squadron Area codes 084 and 086 are Nigerian telephone area codes serving the cities of Port Harcourt and Ahoada in Rivers State. They fall under the Southeast Zone in the National Numbering Plan (NNP) restructured in 2003. When in Port Harcourt or Ahoad ...

(B-45, B-66) (23 March 1954 – 22 June 1962) *

19th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music ...

(RB-45C) (7 May 1954 – 1 December 1958) Due to a shortage of space at Sculthorpe, the 86th BS operated from RAF Alconbury as a detachment of the 47th. In addition to the B-45 squadrons at Sculthorpe, the 47th's sister wing, the 20th Fighter-Bomber Wing with the nuclear capable North American F-84G "Thunderjet" were transferred to RAF Wethersfield in Essex. From 1954 to 1958, the 19th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron also flew the reconnaissance version of the B-45 known as the RB-45. The 19th TRS was assigned to the 47th Bomb Wing from May 1954 to December 1958. When the 19th began to re-equip with RB-66's in 1957, its RB-45's were transferred to other squadrons of the 47th Bomb Wing. By 1957, hosting 10,000 personnel it was the biggest USAFE base in Europe. In May 1958, the re-equipping of the 47th Bombardment Wing began and Douglas B-66 Destroyers began to replace the B-45s. With this equipment change, the 47th's squadrons were redesignated "Bombardment Squadron (Tactical)". During 1960–1962 the 47th performed air refueling missions assigning Boeing KB-50J tankers to the 420th Air Refueling Squadron from 15 March 1960 to 22 June 1962. The KB-50s were specially equipped with two

General Electric J47 The General Electric J47 turbojet (GE company designation TG-190) was developed by General Electric from its earlier J35. It first flew in May 1948. The J47 was the first axial-flow turbojet approved for commercial use in the United States. It ...

turbojet engines that enabled the tankers to match the speed of the faster jet fighters during refueling; however most of the KB-50s were more than fifteen years old and were too slow to refuel the faster tactical jets of USAFE. The 420th ARS was inactivated on 25 March 1964. In 1962 Project Clearwater halted large scale rotational bomber deployments to Britain with Sculthorpe, along with RAF Fairford, RAF Chelveston, and RAF Greenham Common, being turned over to USAFE for tactical air use. As a result, the 47th Bomb Wing was inactivated on 22 June 1962. A number of the aircraft were reassigned to the 42nd TRS,

10th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing The 10th Air Base Wing (10 ABW) is a non-flying United States Air Force unit that is the host wing for the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The Wing provides all base-level support activities to the Academy ...

at RAF Chelveston and modified with the electronic counter-measures tail system. With the inactivation of the 47th, Sculthorpe was put under the command of the 7375th Combat Support Group, the 7375th was later replaced by the Detachment 1, 48th Tactical Fighter Wing. In 1979 Handley Page Victor aerial tankers from 55 & 57 Squadrons and Canberra target towing aircraft of 100 Squadron operated from Sculthorpe when the runway at

RAF Marham RAF Marham is a Royal Air Force station and military airbase near the village of Marham in the English county of Norfolk, East Anglia. It is home to No. 138 Expeditionary Air Wing (138 EAW) and, as such, is one of the RAF's "Main Operating ...

was re-surfaced. In spring 1982 units from RAF Coltishall in the eastern Norfolk moved to Sculthorpe while the Coltishall runway was resurfaced. During the spring and summer of 1983, units of the

48th Tactical Fighter Wing The 48th Fighter Wing (48 FW) is part of the United States Air Force's Third Air Force, assigned to Headquarters Air Command Europe and United States Air Forces in Europe ( USAFE). It is based at RAF Lakenheath, England. The 48 FW is the only F ...

deployed to RAF Sculthorpe because their home station, RAF Lakenheath was having its runway resurfaced. During the summer of 1984 the

F-4E The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II is an American Tandem#Aviation, tandem two-seat, twinjet, twin-engine, all-weather, long-range supersonic aircraft, supersonic jet interceptor aircraft, interceptor and fighter-bomber originally developed ...

and F-4G Phantom squadrons from

Spangdahlem Air Base Spangdahlem Air Base (IATA: SPM, ICAO: ETAD, former code EDAD) is a NATO air base with the USAF as a tenant constructed between 1951 and 1953 and located near the small German town of Spangdahlem, approximately 30 km NNE of the city of Trier ...

, West Germany, operated from RAF Sculthorpe to allow runway re-surfacing at Spangdahlem to take place. During most of 1988 and part of 1989, deploying

C-130 Hercules The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is an American four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built by Lockheed Corporation, Lockheed (now Lockheed Martin). Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 ...

units from the 463rd Tactical Airlift Wing ( Dyess AFB, Texas), the 314th TAW (

Little Rock AFB Little Rock Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located approximately northeast of Little Rock, Arkansas. Little Rock AFB is the primary C-130 Hercules training base for the Department of Defense, training C-130 pilots, navigat ...

, Arkansas), and the 317th TAW ( Pope AFB, North Carolina) were forced to operate from RAF Sculthorpe due to runway resurfacing at RAF Mildenhall. In August 1989 the Lockheed TR-1A squadron from RAF Alconbury operated from RAF Sculthorpe whilst Alconbury's runway was re-surfaced. The airfield became inactive at the end of the Cold War; an end-of-use date of 2 October 1992 is quoted.

Post RAF use

The airfield, now known as the Sculthorpe Training Area, is retained by the Ministry of Defence and forms part of the

. During 2016, it was used by the USAF 352nd SOG, based at RAF Mildenhall, to perform training in low flying, airdrops, and rescue and recovery missions. These exercises were conducted by

MC-130 Hercules The Lockheed MC-130 is the basic designation for a family of special mission aircraft operated by the United States Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC), a wing of the Air Education and Training Command, and an AFSOC-gained wing of the ...

and CV-22 Ospreys. During the mid-1990s the entire technical and domestic site was sold to Roger Byron-Collins' Welbeck Estate Group by Defence Estates. The domestic married quarters site included a number of single storey "tobacco houses". The housing estate was renamed "Wicken Village" and, after refurbishment, the houses were sold. The remaining technical site including barrack blocks, post exchange (PX), church, guardroom, gymnasium, community centres, and extensive storage and industrial units were sold to a single purchaser and there is now a fledgling industrial park. The Welbeck Estate Group went on to acquire the nearby technical and married quarters estate at RAF West Raynham. The only military buildings that remain are the control tower, the fire station (next to the control tower), and a small half-moon concrete shelter, now used by a farmer for machinery and equipment storage. RAF Sculthorpe Heritage Centre opened in a room at Green Park Rural Centre, Wicken Green, in August 2019. It features many Sculthorpe-related items, and has parts of a

Douglas RB-66 Destroyer The Douglas B-66 Destroyer is a light bomber that was designed and produced by the American aviation manufacturer Douglas Aircraft Company. The B-66 was developed for the United States Air Force (USAF) and is heavily based upon the United Stat ...

including its

Allison J71 The Allison J71 was a single spool turbojet engine, designed and built in the United States. It began development in 1948 as a much modified J35, originally designated J35-A-23. Operational history The Allison J71 turbojet powered the Douglas B ...

jet engine which is the only known surviving example in the country. As of w/c 21 February, they are starting demolition of the Control Tower. The Fire Station is to be retained, for USAF use. Queen Elizabeth II made a private visit to the centre and met with the Curator and volunteers in February 2022.

Notes

References

* Ravenstein, Charles A., ''Air Force Combat Wings Lineage and Honors Histories 1947-1977'', Office of Air Force History, 1984 * Endicott, Judy G., ''USAF Active Flying, Space, and Missile Squadrons as of 1 October 1995''. Office of Air Force History * Menard, David W., ''Before Centuries. USAFE Fighters 1948-1959'' * Martin, Patrick, ''Tail Code: The Complete History of USAF Tactical Aircraft Tail Code Markings'', 1994
USAAS-USAAC-USAAF-USAF Aircraft Serial Numbers – 1908 to present

External links

RAF Sculthorpe Heritage Centre

Sculthorpe
at the

American Air Museum Imperial War Museum Duxford is a branch of the Imperial War Museum near Duxford in Cambridgeshire, England. Britain's largest aviation museum, Duxford houses the museum's large exhibits, including nearly 200 aircraft, military vehicles, artil ...

– 1940s plans and aerial photos
47th Bombardment Wing

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sculthorpe Installations of the Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom) Military training facilities