| RAF Martlesham Heath USAAF Station 369   .png) | |||||||||
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| Woodbridge,Suffolk in England | |||||||||
 Martlesham Heath Airfield - 9 July 1946 | |||||||||
| Site information | |||||||||
| Type | Royal Air Force station | ||||||||
| Code | MH[1] | ||||||||
| Owner | Air Ministry | ||||||||
| Operator | Royal Flying Corps Royal Air Force United States Army Air Forces | ||||||||
| Controlled by | RAF Fighter Command *No. 11 Group RAF 1939-43 Eighth Air Force | ||||||||
| Location | |||||||||
  RAF Martlesham Heath Shown within Suffolk Show map of Suffolk RAF Martlesham Heath RAF Martlesham Heath (the United Kingdom) Show map of the United Kingdom | |||||||||
| Coordinates | 52°03′29″N1°15′58″E / 52.058°N 1.266°E /52.058; 1.266 | ||||||||
| Site history | |||||||||
| Built | 1917 (1917) | ||||||||
| In use | January 1917 - 1963 (1963) | ||||||||
| Battles/wars | First World War European theatre of World War II Cold War | ||||||||
| Airfield information | |||||||||
| Elevation | 27 metres (89 ft)[1]AMSL | ||||||||
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Royal Air Force Martlesham Heath or more simplyRAF Martlesham Heath is a formerRoyal Air Forcestation located 1.5 miles (2.4 km) southwest ofWoodbridge,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 aRoyal Flying Corps airfield during theFirst World War. In 1917 it became home to the Aeroplane Experimental Unit, RFC which moved fromUpavon with the site named as the Aeroplane Experimental Station, next became the Aeroplane Experimental Establishment (Home) in 1920 and thentheAeroplane 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 theSecond World War.[2]
No. 22 Squadron RAF andNo. 15 Squadron RAF were present during the 1920s. No. 64 arrived in the 1930s.
The A&AEE moved toRAF Boscombe Down on 9 September 1939 at the outbreak of the Second World War and Martlesham then became the most northerly station ofNo. 11 Group RAF,Fighter Command. Squadrons ofBristol Blenheim bombers,Hawker Hurricanes,Supermarine Spitfires andHawker Typhoons operated from this airfield, and among the many pilots based there were such famous men asRobert Stanford Tuck, andSquadron LeaderDouglas Bader, there as Commanding Officer of242 Squadron.Ian Smith, the post-warRhodesian prime minister, was at Martlesham for a time.
During theBattle of Britain, Anti-Aircraft (AA) defence for the area was the responsibility of theHarwich Gun Defence Area (GDA), manned by99th (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. TheLuftwaffe began its offensive against RAF Fighter Command airfields in August.
On 15 August the experimentalFighter-bomber unitErprobungsgruppe 210 attacked RAF Martlesham Heath and a neighbouring signal station. The Hurricanes ofNo. 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 andStrafing, while the HAA gun detachment got off five rounds ofShrapnel 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.[3][4][5]
On 27 October 1940 another daylight raid was made on Martlesham by about 40Messerschmitt 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.[3]
In 1943, Martlesham Heath became one of a group of grass-surfaced airfields earmarked for use by fighters of theUnited States Army Air Forces (USAAF)Eighth Air Force. The airfield was assigned USAAF designation Station 369.
The airfield was opened in May 1943 and was first used by theUnited States Army Air ForcesEighth Air Force356th Fighter Group, arriving fromRAF Goxhill on 5 October 1943. The group was under the command of the67th Fighter Wing of theVIII Fighter Command. Aircraft of the 356th were identified by a magenta/blue diamond pattern around their cowling.
The group consisted of the following squadrons:
The 356th FG served in combat from October 1943, participating in operations that prepared for the invasion of the Continent, and supporting the landings in Normandy and the subsequent Allied drive across France and Germany.
The group flewRepublic P-47 Thunderbolts until they were replaced byNorth American P-51 Mustangs in November 1944. From October 1943 until January 1944, they operated as escort forBoeing B-17 Flying Fortress/Consolidated B-24 Liberator bombers that attacked such objectives as industrial areas, missile sites, airfields, and communications.
Fighters from the 356th engaged primarily in bombing and strafing missions after 3 January 1944, with its targets including U-boat installations, barges, shipyards, aerodromes, hangars, marshalling yards, locomotives, trucks, oil facilities,flak towers, and radar stations. Bombed and strafed in theArnhem area on 17, 18, and 23 September 1944 to neutralize enemy gun emplacements, and received aDistinguished Unit Citation for this contribution to theairborne attack on the Netherlands.
The group flew its last combat mission, escorting B-17's dropping propaganda leaflets, on 7 May 1945. It returned toCamp KilmerNew Jersey and was inactivated on 10 November 1945.[7][8]
With the departure of the USAAF, the airfield reverted to the RAF. In the immediate postwar years, Fighter Command squadrons were in residence at Martlesham but the proximity toIpswich and the physical limitations on lengthening the runways restricted jet operation. In an effort to improve the station the main runway was extended in 1955.
Early in 1946, the Bomb Ballistics and Blind Landing Unit moved in which, in 1950, was rechristened theArmament and Instrument Experimental Unit (A&IEU) remaining at Martlesham until disbanding in 1957.
An RAF Police flight had also occupied the station from 1951–1953. The following year, the A&IEU was disbanded and the station was retained in reserve status during which time anAir Sea Rescue helicopter unit was in residence.
In 1958, another Reserve Flight arrived and a Station HQ formed; No. 11 Group Communications flight moved in to be followed by HO No. 11 Group. These units were deactivated by the end of 1960. TheBattle of Britain Memorial Flight moved to the airfield in 1958[9] and left in 1961. After this the airfield reverted to care and maintenance status before theAir Ministry closed the facility on 25 April 1963.
The USAF Radio Relay Station & R/T Exchange
In 1961 the US 3rd Air Force set up a radio signal station near the south-west corner of the airfield, just within Kesgrave parish, officially also called "Martlesham Heath". It relayed radio communication between the USAF and other US bases in the USA, Iceland, and the UK on the one hand, and Germany and Italy on the other. It linked via SHF voice and morse radio to Hillingdon, West London, and via large UHF tropo-scatter dishes to the ballistic early warning base at Fylingdales (Yorkshire), Flobecq (Belgium) and the Hook of Holland. Eventually, with additional capacity in mind, it acquired six steel masts. Its personnel were supplied from the nearby Bentwaters airbase. From 1966 its main building housed one of the two "AUTOVON" (US radio telephone automatic exchanges) in the UK. In June 1980, because of AFCC realignment in the UK, the squadron designation changed from Detachment 7,2130 Communications Squadron under RAF Croughton to Detachment 1,2164 Communications Squadron under RAF Bentwaters. Between 1988 and 1990 it progressively shut down, though the buildings and 3 masts remain. It is presently the home of the Suffolk Aviation Heritage Group Museum.
(Sources: 2130 & 2164 Comms Sq. Record Books at US Air Force Maxwell base; US Technical Defense Information Center website online Honeywell tropo-scatter studies; UK Home Office radio frequency records at UK National Archive; East Suffolk Aviation Society websites, including USAF veterans' contributions; East Anglian Daily Times).
With the end of military control,Martlesham Heath has now become an industrial and dormitory satellite ofIpswich and the four prewar hangars and technical site buildings are now used for light industry and storage. Nearby, on the old RAF parade ground, stands a memorial erected to the memory of those members of the 356th Fighter Group who lost their lives in World War II. Part of the site of the airfield now contains the main headquarters building of theSuffolk Constabulary. Thecontrol tower from the airfield is maintained as a museum.[14] In July 2017, a commemorative stone was unveiled on the village green outside the Douglas Bader public house. During the event, a Hurricane and Spitfire flew over the crowd to music byVera Lynn.
This article incorporatespublic domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency
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