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RAF Martlesham Heath
Royal Air Force Martlesham Heath or more simply RAF Martlesham Heath is a former Royal Air Force station located 1.5 miles (2.4 km) southwest of Woodbridge, Suffolk, England. It was active between 1917 and 1963, and played an important role in the development of airborne radar.
Martlesham Heath was first used as a Royal Flying Corps airfield during the First World War. In 1917 it became home to the Aeroplane Experimental Unit, RFC which moved from Upavon with the site named as the Aeroplane Experimental Station, next became the Aeroplane Experimental Establishment (Home) in 1920 and then the Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment (A&AEE) in 1924. The A&AEE carried the evaluation and testing of many of the aircraft types and much of the armament and other equipment that would later be used during the Second World War.
No. 22 Squadron RAF and No. 15 Squadron RAF were present during the 1920s. No. 64 arrived in the 1930s.
The A&AEE moved to RAF Boscombe Down on 9 September 1939 at the outbreak of the Second World War and Martlesham then became the most northerly station of No. 11 Group RAF, Fighter Command. Squadrons of Bristol Blenheim bombers, Hawker Hurricanes, Supermarine Spitfires and Hawker Typhoons operated from this airfield, and among the many pilots based there were such famous men as Robert Stanford Tuck, and Squadron Leader Douglas Bader, there as Commanding Officer of 242 Squadron. Ian Smith, the post-war Rhodesian prime minister, was at Martlesham for a time.
During the Battle of Britain, Anti-Aircraft (AA) defence for the area was the responsibility of the Harwich Gun Defence Area (GDA), manned by 99th (London Welsh) Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery. The GDA's main focus was on the Port of Harwich, and in July 1940 there were almost daily attacks on shipping off the East Coast, but 302 Heavy AA Battery also had a detachment stationed at Martlesham. The Luftwaffe began its offensive against RAF Fighter Command airfields in August.
On 15 August the experimental Fighter-bomber unit Erprobungsgruppe 210 attacked RAF Martlesham Heath and a neighbouring signal station. The Hurricanes of No. 17 Squadron stationed at Martlesham were some 20 miles (32 km) out to sea looking for the raid among the many traces being plotted by the radar stations. The raiders (nearly 40 mixed ground attack aircraft with fighter escort) slipped through and spent five minutes over the target, bombing and Strafing, while the HAA gun detachment got off five rounds of Shrapnel shell, which was all they had to use against low-level attack. The raiders then got away without loss, despite being engaged by the Harwich AA guns while withdrawing. The equivalent of seven Fighter Command squadrons had been ordered to intercept, but only a few reached Martlesham as the attackers were leaving. The damage to the airfield was extensive and took a full day to repair.
On 27 October 1940 another daylight raid was made on Martlesham by about 40 Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter-bombers, which were engaged by the HAA guns on their way in and out. 99th HAA Regiment claimed that the raiders were disrupted by the fire, and the bomb damage was slight.
In 1943, Martlesham Heath became one of a group of grass-surfaced airfields earmarked for use by fighters of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) Eighth Air Force. The airfield was assigned USAAF designation Station 369.
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RAF Martlesham Heath
Royal Air Force Martlesham Heath or more simply RAF Martlesham Heath is a former Royal Air Force station located 1.5 miles (2.4 km) southwest of Woodbridge, Suffolk, England. It was active between 1917 and 1963, and played an important role in the development of airborne radar.
Martlesham Heath was first used as a Royal Flying Corps airfield during the First World War. In 1917 it became home to the Aeroplane Experimental Unit, RFC which moved from Upavon with the site named as the Aeroplane Experimental Station, next became the Aeroplane Experimental Establishment (Home) in 1920 and then the Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment (A&AEE) in 1924. The A&AEE carried the evaluation and testing of many of the aircraft types and much of the armament and other equipment that would later be used during the Second World War.
No. 22 Squadron RAF and No. 15 Squadron RAF were present during the 1920s. No. 64 arrived in the 1930s.
The A&AEE moved to RAF Boscombe Down on 9 September 1939 at the outbreak of the Second World War and Martlesham then became the most northerly station of No. 11 Group RAF, Fighter Command. Squadrons of Bristol Blenheim bombers, Hawker Hurricanes, Supermarine Spitfires and Hawker Typhoons operated from this airfield, and among the many pilots based there were such famous men as Robert Stanford Tuck, and Squadron Leader Douglas Bader, there as Commanding Officer of 242 Squadron. Ian Smith, the post-war Rhodesian prime minister, was at Martlesham for a time.
During the Battle of Britain, Anti-Aircraft (AA) defence for the area was the responsibility of the Harwich Gun Defence Area (GDA), manned by 99th (London Welsh) Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery. The GDA's main focus was on the Port of Harwich, and in July 1940 there were almost daily attacks on shipping off the East Coast, but 302 Heavy AA Battery also had a detachment stationed at Martlesham. The Luftwaffe began its offensive against RAF Fighter Command airfields in August.
On 15 August the experimental Fighter-bomber unit Erprobungsgruppe 210 attacked RAF Martlesham Heath and a neighbouring signal station. The Hurricanes of No. 17 Squadron stationed at Martlesham were some 20 miles (32 km) out to sea looking for the raid among the many traces being plotted by the radar stations. The raiders (nearly 40 mixed ground attack aircraft with fighter escort) slipped through and spent five minutes over the target, bombing and Strafing, while the HAA gun detachment got off five rounds of Shrapnel shell, which was all they had to use against low-level attack. The raiders then got away without loss, despite being engaged by the Harwich AA guns while withdrawing. The equivalent of seven Fighter Command squadrons had been ordered to intercept, but only a few reached Martlesham as the attackers were leaving. The damage to the airfield was extensive and took a full day to repair.
On 27 October 1940 another daylight raid was made on Martlesham by about 40 Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter-bombers, which were engaged by the HAA guns on their way in and out. 99th HAA Regiment claimed that the raiders were disrupted by the fire, and the bomb damage was slight.
In 1943, Martlesham Heath became one of a group of grass-surfaced airfields earmarked for use by fighters of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) Eighth Air Force. The airfield was assigned USAAF designation Station 369.