RAF Feltwell

RAF Feltwell
Part of United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE)
Near Feltwell, Norfolk in England
RAF Feltwell Shown within Norfolk
Coordinates	52°28′46″N 000°31′09″E / 52.47944°N 0.51917°E / 52.47944; 0.51917Coordinates: 52°28′46″N 000°31′09″E / 52.47944°N 0.51917°E / 52.47944; 0.51917
Type	Royal Air Force station
Site information
Owner	Ministry of Defence
Operator	Royal Air Force (1937-1966) United States Air Force (19??-Present)
Site history
Built	1936 (1936)/7
In use	1937-1966 & 19??-Present
Airfield information
Elevation:	16 metres (52 ft) AMSL
Runways
Direction	Length and surface
00/00	Grass
00/00	Grass
00/00	Grass

Royal Air Force Feltwell or more simply RAF Feltwell is a Royal Air Force station in Norfolk, East Anglia that is used by the United States Air Forces Europe. The station is located about 10 miles west of Thetford, and is in the borough of King's Lynn at approximate Ordnance Survey grid reference TL 715 900.

A former Second World War bomber station, the airfield is used as a housing estate for United States Air Force personnel stationed nearby at RAF Mildenhall and RAF Lakenheath, while also containing the Mathies Airman Leadership School for USAF personnel in the UK, as well as being the home of the Army and Air Force Exchange Service's sole furniture store in the country. It also houses the only Middle School for Lakenheath and Mildenhall, which covers most of the station.

History

Aerial photograph from the west, World War II

The airfield was built during the period of expansion of the RAF in the late 1930s and is similar in layout to many of the other RAF airfields of the period (for example RAF Marham, RAF Watton and RAF West Raynham). The airfield was home to a number of heavy bomber squadrons of the RAF during the Second World War. Post war RAF Thor Missiles were stationed here at the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Between 1989 and 2003 it also hosted the US Air Force's 5th Space Surveillance Squadron (5 SPSS) which was subordinate to the 21st Operations Group (21 OG) and the 21st Space Wing (21 SW), both at Peterson AFB, Colorado. These organisations in turn are subordinate to the 14th Air Force (14 AF) at Vandenberg AFB, California which reports to HQ Air Force Space Command (AFSPC), also at Peterson AFB, CO.

The 5 SPSS (initially designated "Detachment 1, 73rd Space Surveillance Group", or "Det 1 SSURGP") was part of the USAF's Passive Space Surveillance Network which tracked the physical location of emitting satellites in orbit. This data along with that from other systems was used to adjust the orbits of various satellites and manned vessels (for instance the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station) to reduce the risk of on-orbit collisions.

However other USAF systems and capabilities ultimately superseded DSTS and it was removed in 2002 and the unit was de-activated shortly thereafter. The 21st Space Wing now has a detachment at RAF Fylingdales, UK, to coordinate cooperative missile warning and space surveillance with RAF counterparts.

Operational units and aircraft

RAF

• No. 37 Squadron RAF (1937–1940) - Handley Page Harrow, Vickers Wellington I
• No. 57 Squadron RAF (1940–1942) - Vickers Wellington I
• No. 75 Squadron RAF (1940–1942) - Vickers Wellington I
• No. 77 Squadron RAF (1958–1963) - Thor IRBM
• No. 192 Squadron RAF (1943) - Handley Page Halifax II & V
• No. 214 Squadron RAF (1937–1939) - Handley Page Harrow, Vickers Wellington I
• No. 464 Squadron RAAF (1942) - Lockheed Ventura I & II
• No. 487 Squadron RNZAF (1942–1943) - Lockheed Ventura I & II
• No. 651 Squadron RAF (1955–1957) - Auster AOP6

USAAF

See also

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

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to RAF Feltwell.

• Aerial Photo From Multimap.Com
• Stationed units Rafweb.org accessed 8 August 2008

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v t e United States Air Force in the United Kingdom Bases Active USAFE RAF Alconbury RAF Barford St John RAF Blenheim Crescent RAF Croughton RAF Fairford RAF Feltwell RAF Welford RAF Lakenheath RAF Molesworth RAF Mildenhall Other RAF Menwith Hill (AFISR) RAF Digby Inactive USAFE RAF Bentwaters RAF Shepherds Grove RAF Wethersfield RAF Upwood SAC / USAFE RAF Bassingbourn RAF Brize Norton RAF Bruntingthorpe RAF Chelveston RAF Greenham Common RAF Upper Heyford RAF Daws Hill RAF Little Rissington RAF Manston RAF Scampton RAF Sculthorpe RAF Waddington RAF Woodbridge RAF Wyton Other RAF Burtonwood (AFMC) RAF Chicksands (USAFSS) Organizations Active United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) 48th Fighter Wing 100th Air Refueling Wing 501st Combat Support Wing Headquarters Air Command Europe Third Air Force Former Sixteenth Air Force Part of the United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE)