RAF Lakenheath

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General Dynamics F-111F Serial 70-2363 of the 493d Fighter Squadron equipped with Pave Tack. In 1986, this aircraft took part in Operation "El Dorado Canyon". It was retired to AMARC on 6 June 1996.

492d Fighter Squadron F-15E Eagle from Lakenheath lifts off from the airfield's runway

McDonnell Douglas F-15D-41-MC Eagle Serial 86-0182 of the 48th FW over England with a North American P-51D-10-NA Mustang Serial 44-14450 in 357th FG markings. The P-51 is in private hands, based in Belgium.

McDonnell Douglas F-15C-42-MC Eagle Serial 86-0175 taxis for takeoff

RAF Lakenheath (IATA: LKZ, ICAO: EGUL) is a United States Air Forces in Europe base located near Lakenheath, Suffolk in Great Britain.

It is home to the 48th Fighter Wing, flying the F-15E Strike Eagle and F-15C Eagle. Aircraft based at Lakenheath wear "LN" codes on their tails. 5,000 U.S. military personnel and 2,000 U.S. and British civilian personnel are assigned to the base.

RAF Lakenheath and its sister base RAF Mildenhall are known as the largest United States Air Force bases in the United Kingdom.

[edit] History

Lakenheath began its service to the Royal Air Force during the Second World War as a decoy airfield. False lights, runways and aircraft diverted attacks from the nearby RAF Mildenhall. The RAF began construction of the airfield in 1940 and the base became operational in 1941.

In mid-1944 the base was closed for reconstruction and was redesignated as a "very heavy bomber station." The main part of this reconstruction was the laying of 9 million square feet (836,000 m²) of hardstanding as well as new runways and perimeters. Lakenheath remained inactive until 1948 when the tension caused by the Berlin blockade caused the USAF to deploy B-29 Superfortresses followed by transport aircraft.

By 1950 Lakenheath was one of three main operating bases for the U.S. Strategic Air Command, the others were RAF Marham and RAF Sculthorpe. The increasing tension of the Cold War lead to a re-evalutation of these deployments and by 1953 SAC bombers began to move further west, behind RAF fighter forces, to RAF Brize Norton, RAF Greenham Common, RAF Upper Heyford and RAF Fairford. Meanwhile in 1956 Lakenheath hosted the first UK deployment of the Lockheed U-2.

A near nuclear accident occurred on July 27, 1956, when a B-47 crashed into a storage igloo containing three Mark 6 nuclear bombs, exploding and spreading burning fuel over the bombs. A bomb disposal expert stated it was a miracle exposed detonators on one bomb did not fire, which would have released nuclear material into the environment ^[1].

Following President Charles de Gaulle's insistence in 1959 that all nuclear forces should be withdrawn from his country, the USAF began a redeployment of its forces. The 48th TFW left its base at Chaumont AB, France in January 1960, its F-100s arriving at Lakenheath on January 15.

The 48th TFW was stood down in 1972 to begin its transition to the F-4D Phantom, the last F-100 departed the base in April 1972. The F-4's service with the 48th TFW was short as the wing's first F-111F arrived in March 1977. In the same year construction of the airfield's Hardened Aircraft Shelters (acronym: HAS, but commonly referred to as a TAB-VEE) began as part of a wider NATO effort. F-111Fs flying from the base took part in Operation El Dorado Canyon and Operation Desert Storm.

In the 1980s a peace camp was located outside Lakenheath.

Lakenheath began to receive its first F-15Es in 1992 followed by the F-15C, the 48th Fighter Wing's second air-superiority aircraft. The wing, as one of the USAF's premier units, operates the most advanced of the USAF's F-15s. The 48th FW received the first of 10 new F-15Es in 2003, the aircraft are part of the final batch of F-15s expected to be ordered by the USAF.

Part of the 48th FW mission is the deployment of about 110 tactical B61 nuclear bombs using F-15E aircraft. The B61 nuclear bombs are stored in vaults inside the base's Hardened Aircraft Shelters using the WS3 Weapon Storage and Security System^[2].

Lakenheath has been used as a location for two James Bond films; Octopussy, as the fictional Feldstadt Airforce Base in West Germany, and Tomorrow Never Dies, as the unnamed "US Air Base" in the South China Sea. Aircraft in both films, F-111s and F-15Es respectively, clearly display the "LN" tail markings giving away the true identity of the location. The credits for the films acknowledge the cooperation of the U.S. Air Forces in Europe and the 48th Fighter Wing, RAF Lakenheath. James Bond actors Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnan were both filmed at the base.

[edit] References

1. ^ Cable to Commander-in-Chief Strategic Air Command Curtis LeMay. U.S. Department of Defense (July 27, 1956). Retrieved on 2006-07-05.
2. ^ U.S. Nuclear Weapons in Europe. Hans M. Kristensen / Natural Resources Defense Council. Retrieved on May 23, 2006.

• USAAS-USAAC-USAAF-USAF Aircraft Serial Numbers--1908 to Present [1]

[edit] See also

• List of RAF stations
• United States Air Forces in Europe
• United States Air Force in the United Kingdom

[edit] External links

• Official Site
• World Aero Data airport information for EGUL

	United States Air Force in the United Kingdom v • d • e
ACTIVE BASES:	RAF Alconbury (USAFE) • RAF Croughton (USAFE) • RAF Fairford (USAFE) • RAF Feltwell (USAFE) • RAF Lakenheath (SAC/USAFE) • RAF Menwith Hill (USAFE) • RAF Mildenhall (SAC/USAFE/AMC) • RAF Molesworth (SAC/USAFE) • RAF Upwood (USAFE) • RAF Welford (USAFE)
INACTIVE BASES:	RAF Bentwaters (USAFE) • RAF Burtonwood (AFMC) • RAF Chelveston (SAC/USAFE) • RAF Chicksands (USAFSS) • RAF Greenham Common (SAC/USAFE) • RAF Manston (USAFE) • RAF Sculthorpe (SAC) • RAF Shepherds Grove (USAFE) • RAF Upper Heyford (SAC/USAFE) • RAF Wethersfield (USAFE) • RAF Woodbridge (USAFE)
ACTIVE ORGANIZATIONS:	United States Air Forces in Europe • HQ Air Command Europe • 48th Fighter Wing (USAFE) • 100th Air Refueling Wing (USAFE) • 501st Combat Support Wing (USAFE)
PAST ORGANIZATIONS:	Third Air Force • Sixteenth Air Force