Parham Airfield Museum is a museum in Framlingham in Suffolk, England. The airfield was named after the village of Parham in Suffolk famously linked to the Aldeburgh poet George Crabbe.
The museum comprises the 390th Bombardment Group Memorial Air Museum and the Museum of the British Resistance Organisation operating under one Management Committee. Its continued existence relies on volunteer support and donations to help with maintenance necessary to ensure continued preservation of the building and its contents. It is a wonderful day out for all ages. All of the volunteers are lively and full of information.
The 390th Bombardment Group Memorial Air Museum is housed in the original World War II control tower of Framlingham Station 153. Exhibits focus on the history of the U.S 8th Air Force, the Royal Air Force and the German Luftwaffe in the Second World War. Displays include recovered Second World War aircraft engines, parts of Allied and German aircraft, uniforms, photographs, documents, combat records, paintings and memorabilia. The museum opened in 1981. [1]
Opened in 1997, the Museum of the British Resistance Organisation is located in a Quonset hut adjacent to the control tower, and is dedicated to the Auxiliary Units, or as they were officially known ‘Auxunits’.
In case the Germans succeeded in invading Britain, the men and women of the Auxiliary Units were trained to operate as the British underground resistance. They were to remain undetected in carefully constructed bunkers (Operating Bases - OBs) as the invading German Army made its way through Britain.
The museum includes a replica underground Operational Base, as well as photographs, special weapons such as time pencil fuses and other explosives, dead letter boxes, agent instruction papers, and information about the special radio communications network installed by the Royal Corps of Signals.
After World War II in Europe, the Parham Airfield runways were broken up and the buildings were allowed to deteriorate and, when not pulled apart, were used for farm storage. Among them was the control tower, shot up and abandoned after the Americans held a riotous farewell party there in August 1945. Framlingham Station 153, as the 390th bomb group knew the airfield, now stood neglected, windowless and derelict.
In 1976, a small band of determined enthusiasts decided to restore the decaying building as a museum in tribute to the endeavours of the 390th Bomb Group, 8th US Army Air Force and other Allied airmen operating from bases throughout East Anglia during the Second World War.
A five-year restoration programme began, using volunteer labour and funded from their own resources and the Tower was finally dedicated as the 390th Bombardment Group Memorial Air Museum of the USAAF on 13 May 1981 and, since then, has remained in active contact with, and received support from US veterans, their relatives, supporters and Friends.
The Museum of the British Resistance Organisation was created in 1997, with the opening ceremony being carried out by Lieutenant Colonel J.W. Stuart Edmundsun, TD, RE, one of the founders of the nondescript ‘Most Secret’ GHQ.
Auxiliary Units, as they were officially known. The ‘Auxunits’ were one of Britain’s nine secret services of World War II, alongside better known clandestine organisations such as the Security Service (MI5), the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), and the Special Operations Executive.
The Auxiliary Units or GHQ Auxiliary Units were specially-trained, highly-secret quasi military units created by the British government during the Second World War with the aim of using irregular warfare in response to a possible invasion of the United Kingdom by Nazi Germany, "Operation Sea Lion". With the advantage of having witnessed the rapid fall of several Continental European nations, the United Kingdom was the only country during the war that was able to create a multilayered guerrilla force in anticipation of an invasion.
Royal Air Force Bovingdon or more simply RAF Bovingdon is a former Royal Air Force station located near the village of Bovingdon, Hertfordshire, England, about 2.5 miles (4.0 km) south-west of Hemel Hempstead and 2.5 miles (4.0 km) south-east of Berkhamsted.
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Royal Air Force Bungay or more simply RAF Bungay is a former Royal Air Force station located 3 miles (4.8 km) south-west of Bungay in the English county of Suffolk.
Royal Air Force Halesworth or more simply RAF Halesworth is a former Royal Air Force station located 2 miles (3 km) north east of the town of Halesworth, Suffolk, England and 7 miles (11 km) west of Southwold.
Royal Air Force Attlebridge or more simply RAF Attlebridge is a former Royal Air Force station located near Attlebridge and 8 miles (13 km) northwest of Norwich, Norfolk, England.
Royal Air Force Thorpe Abbotts or more simply RAF Thorpe Abbotts is a former Royal Air Force station located 4 miles (6.4 km) east of Diss, Norfolk, England.
Royal Air Force Framlingham or more simply RAF Framlingham is a former Royal Air Force station located 3 miles (4.8 km) southeast of Framlingham, Suffolk, England.
The 95th Air Base Wing is an inactive United States Air Force unit that was last assigned to the Air Force Flight Test Center of Air Force Materiel Command at Edwards Air Force Base, California, where it was inactivated on 13 July 2012.
The 397th Bombardment Wing is an inactive United States Air Force unit, last assigned to the 45th Air Division of Strategic Air Command at Dow Air Force Base, Maine, where it was inactivated on 25 April 1968.
The 390th Strategic Missile Wing was a United States Air Force Strategic Air Command organization, stationed at Davis–Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona. Its mission was to maintain and control intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Thwaite St Mary is a rural village in the English county of Norfolk, it sits just a few miles north of the Suffolk border. Thwaite – sometimes pronounced ‘twayt’ by locals – has approximately thirty-five dwellings and a population of around seventy-nine. The population is included in the civil parish of Hedenham.
The 334th Bombardment Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the 95th Bombardment Wing at Biggs Air Force Base, Texas, where it was inactivated on 25 June 1966.
