RAF Honington

Royal Air Force Honington or more simply RAF Honington (IATA: BEQ, ICAO: EGXH) is a Royal Air Force station located 6 mi (9.7 km) south of Thetford near Ixworth in Suffolk, England. It was used as a bomber station during the Second World War and through the Cold War, hosting Handley Page Victors and Hawker Siddeley (Blackburn) Buccaneers. RAF Honington has been the RAF Regiment depot since 1994.

Construction of Honington airfield, which was undertaken by John Laing & Son, began in 1935, and the station was opened on 3 May 1937. Squadrons of RAF Bomber Command using the airfield prior to the Second World War were:

IX Squadron flew the first RAF bombing raid of the Second World War on 4 September 1939 flying a sortie against the Kriegsmarine in the Baltic resulting in the loss of two Wellingtons.

In July 1940, No. 311 (Czech) Squadron RAF formed at Honington with Wellingtons, later moving to RAF East Wretham in November 1940.

Then, in May 1941, a Wellington returning from a night trip attempted to land at Honington with its wheels retracted. It skidded to one side and crashed into the main bomb dump where it burst into flames. Group Captain J. A. Gray and Squadron Leader J. A. McCarthy, the station medical officer, were the first on the scene of the crash. Both entered the burning aircraft in an attempt to rescue the crew who were trapped and, between them, they saved two crew-members. For their gallantry, both officers were awarded the George Medal.

In June 1942, the airfield was transferred to the USAAF and was upgraded to a Class A Bomber base. Honington was assigned USAAF designation Station 375.

USAAF Station Units assigned to RAF Honington were:

Regular Army Station Units included: