Raf Mendlesham

Royal Air Force Station Mendlesham or more simply RAF Mendlesham is a former Royal Air Force station located east of Stowmarket, Suffolk, EnglandHistoryRAF Fighter Command useMendlesham airfield built during 1943 opened in late December '43. Three RAF fighter squadrons manned by Czechoslovakian pilots moved in - No. 310 flying Spitfire LFIX's and No. 312 flying Spitfire LFIXb's on the 19th of February 1944; No. 313 flew in on the 20th of February with Spitfire IX's. No. 310 finally moved out on 28 /3 /44; Nos. 312 & 313 finally left on the 4th of April, 1944. RAF Maintenance Command useAfter the war, the field was used as the sub-site of No. 94 Maintenance Unit RAF being used as an ammunition storage depot. It was reduced to inactive status in June 1954 and sold. Current useWith the end of military control the former technical site of Mendlesham to the southwest of the airfield was developed into an industrial estate. Large, expansive buildings were constructed over the area, no wartime buildings remain. The balance of the airfield was returned to agricultural use; the runways, hardstands and perimeter track being largely removed for aggregate and today are fields, although parts of the perimeter track and the 02 /20 runway remain as single-track farm access roads. No evidence of the wartime control tower remains. The NE end of the 20 runway has a small portion remaining at full width. A few wartime buildings are in use by farmers. Only the faintest hint of a perimeter track remains visible. A small but impressive memorial bronze plaque, subscribed to by the men of the 34th Group before their departure and erected in 1949 on the old airfield next to the A140 road, was stolen in April 2010 and presumably melted down for scrap. In January 2014 an appeal was started to raise £35, 000 to replace it in the more secure location of St Mary's Church in Mendlesham.

Royal Air Force Station Mendlesham or more simply RAF Mendlesham is a former Royal Air Force station located east of Stowmarket, Suffolk, EnglandHistoryRAF Fighter Command useMendlesham airfield built during 1943 opened in late December '43. Three RAF fighter squadrons manned by Czechoslovakian pilots moved in - No. 310 flying Spitfire LFIX's and No. 312 flying Spitfire LFIXb's on the 19th of February 1944; No. 313 flew in on the 20th of February with Spitfire IX's. No. 310 finally moved out on 28 /3 /44; Nos. 312 & 313 finally left on the 4th of April, 1944. RAF Maintenance Command useAfter the war, the field was used as the sub-site of No. 94 Maintenance Unit RAF being used as an ammunition storage depot. It was reduced to inactive status in June 1954 and sold. Current useWith the end of military control the former technical site of Mendlesham to the southwest of the airfield was developed into an industrial estate. Large, expansive buildings were constructed over the area, no wartime buildings remain. The balance of the airfield was returned to agricultural use; the runways, hardstands and perimeter track being largely removed for aggregate and today are fields, although parts of the perimeter track and the 02 /20 runway remain as single-track farm access roads. No evidence of the wartime control tower remains. The NE end of the 20 runway has a small portion remaining at full width. A few wartime buildings are in use by farmers. Only the faintest hint of a perimeter track remains visible. A small but impressive memorial bronze plaque, subscribed to by the men of the 34th Group before their departure and erected in 1949 on the old airfield next to the A140 road, was stolen in April 2010 and presumably melted down for scrap. In January 2014 an appeal was started to raise £35, 000 to replace it in the more secure location of St Mary's Church in Mendlesham.