RAF Chedburgh

RAF Chedburgh
RAF Chedburgh
Chedburgh in England
	RAF Chedburgh Shown within Suffolk
Coordinates	52°10′49″N000°37′15″E / 52.18028°N 0.62083°E
Type	Satellite station 1942-43; 31 Base Substation 1943-
Code	CU
Site information
Owner	Air Ministry
Operator	Royal Air Force
Controlled by	RAF Bomber Command ; * No. 3 Group RAF ; * No. 7 (T) Group RAF
Site history
Built	1941/42
Built by	John Laing & Son Ltd
In use	September 1942 - October 1952
Battles/wars	European theatre of World War II
Airfield information
Elevation	125 metres (410 ft) AMSL
Runways
00/00	Concrete
00/00	Concrete
00/00	Concrete

Last updated October 28, 2024

Royal Air Force Chedburgh or more simply RAF Chedburgh is a former Royal Air Force satellite station located near Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, UK. The Bury Road Business Park is now located on the site, a principal enterprise being Yara UK Limited's liquid fertilizer production plant.^[2]

History

Murray Peden, a Royal Canadian Air Force pilot, recounts in his memoirs^[3] flying on his first attack on Germany, from RAF Chedburgh in September 1943. The target was Hanover. He was a new member of No. 214 Squadron RAF, which was equipped with four-engine Stirlings. He describes the long line of aircraft taxiing "ponderously" along a: "...perimeter track [which] ran within a hundred yards of Chedburgh's pub, before which the locals . . . had assembled for their nightly show." In 2018, the pub building still stood, near the northwest corner of the old airfield.^[4]

The following units were here at some point:^[2]

No. 23 Heavy Glider Maintenance Section of No. 2 Heavy Glider Maintenance Unit (? - March 1944)^[5]
No. 214 Squadron RAF (1942–43)
No. 218 Squadron RAF (1944–45)
No. 301 Polish Bomber Squadron
No. 304 Polish Bomber Squadron
No. 620 Squadron RAF (1943)
No. 1653 Heavy Conversion Unit RAF (November 1943 - November 1944)^[6]

Related Research Articles

Royal Air Force Cottesmore or more simply RAF Cottesmore is a former Royal Air Force station in Rutland, England, situated between Cottesmore and Market Overton. On 15 December 2009, Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth announced that the station would close in 2013 as part of defence spending cuts, along with the retirement of the Harrier GR9 and the disbandment of Joint Force Harrier. The formal closing ceremony took place on 31 March 2011, and the airfield became a satellite of RAF Wittering until March 2012.

Royal Air Force Abingdon, or more simply RAF Abingdon, is a former Royal Air Force station near Abingdon, Oxfordshire. It is now known as Dalton Barracks and is used by the Royal Logistic Corps.

Royal Air Force Blackbushe or more simply RAF Blackbushe is a former Royal Air Force station in Hampshire, England, during the Second World War. It is now Blackbushe Airport.

Royal Air Force Bircham Newton or more simply RAF Bircham Newton is a former Royal Air Force station located 2.1 miles (3.4 km) south east of Docking, Norfolk and 13.4 miles (21.6 km) north east of King's Lynn, Norfolk, England.

Royal Air Force Barford St John or more simply RAF Barford St John is a Royal Air Force station just north of the village of Barford St. John, Oxfordshire, England. It is now a non-flying facility, operated by the United States Air Force as a communications centre with many large communications aerials, and is a satellite of RAF Croughton.

Royal Air Force East Kirkby or more simply RAF East Kirkby is a former Royal Air Force station near the village of East Kirkby, south of Horncastle in Lincolnshire, just off the A155. The airfield is now home to the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre air museum.

Royal Air Force Heathfield, or more commonly RAF Heathfield, sometimes known as RAF Ayr/Heathfield due to its proximity to Glasgow Prestwick Airport, which was also used by military flights, is a former Royal Air Force station. It opened in April 1941 as an airbase for day and night fighter squadrons. In September 1944 it transferred to Fleet Air Arm control and commissioned as HMS Wagtail. The Royal Navy paid off the airbase in March 1946 and it was reduced to care and maintenance. The United States Air Force used it for storage between 1951 and 1957, with the designation USAAF Station 570.

Royal Air Force Attlebridge, or 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 Bircotes or more simply RAF Bircotes is a former Royal Air Force satellite airfield located within South Yorkshire, England. Although it was named after the village of Bircotes which is in Nottinghamshire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RAF Balderton</span> Former Royal Air Force station in Nottingham, England

Royal Air Force Balderton or more simply RAF Balderton was a former Royal Air Force station located 2.0 miles (3.2 km) south of Newark-on-Trent, sandwiched between the now extinct Great Northern Railway (GNR) Bottesford-Newark line and the A1 road in Nottinghamshire, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RAF Bottesford</span> Former RAF base in Leicestershire, England

Royal Air Force Bottesford or more simply RAF Bottesford is a former Royal Air Force station located on the Leicestershire-Lincolnshire county border, 6.8 miles (10.9 km) north west of Grantham, Lincolnshire and 7.6 miles (12.2 km) south of Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire and about 107 miles (172 km) north-northwest of London, England.

Royal Air Force Blyton or more simply RAF Blyton is a former Royal Air Force satellite station located in Lincolnshire, 4.8 miles (7.7 km) north east of Gainsborough, and 9.6 miles (15.4 km) south of Scunthorpe, England.

Royal Air Force Docking or more simply RAF Docking is a former Royal Air Force satellite station a few miles from Bircham Newton in Norfolk, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RAF Driffield</span> Royal Air Force base in Yorkshire, England

Royal Air Force Driffield or RAF Driffield is a former Royal Air Force station in the East Riding of Yorkshire, in England. It lies about 2 miles (3 km) south-west of Driffield and 11 miles (18 km) north-west of Beverley. It is now operated by the Defence Infrastructure Organisation, as the Driffield Training Area.

Royal Air Force Dunholme Lodge or more simply RAF Dunholme Lodge was a Royal Air Force station located between the parishes of Welton and Dunholme in Lincolnshire, England.

Royal Air Force Downham Market, or more simply RAF Downham Market, was a Royal Air Force station in the west of the county of Norfolk, England which operated during the second half of the Second World War.

Royal Air Force Cheddington or more simply RAF Cheddington is a former Royal Air Force station located 1 mile (1.6 km) south-west of Cheddington, Buckinghamshire, England. The airfield was closed in 1952.

Royal Air Force Culmhead or more simply RAF Culmhead is a former Royal Air Force station, situated at Churchstanton on the Blackdown Hills in Somerset, England.

RAF Caistor is a former Royal Air Force Relief Landing Ground located 6.2 miles (10.0 km) south east of Brigg, Lincolnshire and 9.1 miles (14.6 km) north west of Binbrook, Lincolnshire, England, the site is now used for farming.

Royal Air Force (RAF) Wratting Common is a former Royal Air Force substation near Newmarket, Suffolk, England.

References

Citations

1 2 3 Falconer 2012, p. 63.
1 2 "Chedburgh". Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust . Retrieved 17 August 2018.
↑ Peden, Murray, "A Thousand Shall Fall," Dundurn (April 1, 2003), p 244
↑ Google Earth latitude/longitude of pub: 52°11'15.06"N 0°36'53.39"E ; by 2018, the pub had closed and its future was in doubt. See for example: Michael Steward, "Campaign to Save Village Pub Gains Support," East Anglian Daily Times 23 May 2018 https://www.eadt.co.uk/news/campaign-to-save-village-pub-in-chedburgh-near-bury-st-edmunds-gains-support-1-5530587
↑ Sturtivant, Hamlin & Halley 1997, p. 191.
↑ Sturtivant, Hamlin & Halley 1997, p. 100.

Bibliography

Falconer, J (2012). RAF Airfields of World War 2. UK: Ian Allan Publishing. ISBN 978-1-85780-349-5.
Sturtivant, R; Hamlin, J; Halley, J (1997). Royal Air Force flying training and support units. UK: Air-Britain (Historians). ISBN 0-85130-252-1.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[FOOTNOTEFalconer201263-1] 1 2 3 Falconer 2012, p. 63.

[ABCT-2] 1 2 "Chedburgh". Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust . Retrieved 17 August 2018.

[3] Peden, Murray, "A Thousand Shall Fall," Dundurn (April 1, 2003), p 244

[4] Google Earth latitude/longitude of pub: 52°11'15.06"N 0°36'53.39"E ; by 2018, the pub had closed and its future was in doubt. See for example: Michael Steward, "Campaign to Save Village Pub Gains Support," East Anglian Daily Times 23 May 2018 https://www.eadt.co.uk/news/campaign-to-save-village-pub-in-chedburgh-near-bury-st-edmunds-gains-support-1-5530587

[FOOTNOTESturtivantHamlinHalley1997191-5] Sturtivant, Hamlin & Halley 1997, p. 191.

[FOOTNOTESturtivantHamlinHalley1997100-6] Sturtivant, Hamlin & Halley 1997, p. 100.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]