RAF Wratting Common

RAF Wratting Common
RAF West Wickham
RAF Wratting Common; RAF West Wickham
Withersfield, Suffolk in England
	RAF Wratting Common Shown within Cambridgeshire
Coordinates	52°07′30″N000°24′05″E / 52.12500°N 0.40139°E
Type	Royal Air Force substation
Code	WW
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	1942/43
In use	May 1943 - April 1946
Battles/wars	European theatre of World War II
Airfield information
Elevation	119 metres (390 ft) AMSL
Runways
00/00	{{{r1-length}}} Concrete
00/00	{{{r2-length}}} Concrete
00/00	{{{r3-length}}} Concrete

Last updated June 24, 2024

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

Units

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

No. 24 Heavy Glider Maintenance Section
No. 90 Squadron RAF between May and October 1943 with the Short Stirling III and the Avro Lancasters I and III^[1]
No. 195 Squadron RAF between November 1944 and August 1945 with the Lancasters I and III^[1]
No. 116 Storage Sub Site of No. 273 Maintenance Unit RAF between July 1946 and September 1947^[3]
No. 2 Section of No. 1552 Radio Aids Training Flight between March and July 1946^[4]
No. 1651 Heavy Conversion Unit RAF between November 1943 and November 1944^[5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RAF Syerston</span> Royal Air Force training station in Nottinghamshire, England

Royal Air Force Syerston, commonly known simply as RAF Syerston, is a Royal Air Force station in the parish of Flintham, near Newark, Nottinghamshire, England. Opened in 1940, it was used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) as a bomber base during the Second World War, operating Vickers Wellingtons, Avro Manchesters, and the Avro Lancaster heavy bombers. Post-war, it became home to Jet Provosts of the 2 Flying Training School. It is now home to the Royal Air Force Central Gliding School.

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 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 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 Croft or more simply RAF Croft is a former Royal Air Force station located 4.6 miles (7.4 km) south of Darlington, County Durham, England and 8 miles (13 km) north-east of Richmond, North Yorkshire. The site is also known locally as Croft Aerodrome or Neasham. Constructed at the same time as many other airfields, it was originally named RAF Dalton-on-Tees after the nearby village Dalton-on-Tees. However, it was quickly renamed RAF Croft after initial confusion with the also newly opened RAF Dalton near Thirsk, just 25 miles away.

<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 East Moor or RAF East Moor is a former Royal Air Force satellite station located 7.4 miles (11.9 km) north of York, North Yorkshire and 5.5 miles (8.9 km) south-east of Easingwold, North Yorkshire, England.

Royal Air Force Zeals, or more simply RAF Zeals, is a former Royal Air Force station in Wiltshire, sited to the north of the village of Zeals, next to the village of Stourton and the Stourhead estate.

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 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 Llandow, or more simply RAF Llandow, is a former Royal Air Force station situated near the village of Llandow, Vale of Glamorgan, South Wales, 15 miles (24 km) west of Cardiff.

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 Woolfox Lodge, or more simply RAF Woolfox Lodge, is a former Royal Air Force station next to the A1 road in Rutland, UK. The airfield is split between the parishes of Empingham and Greetham. It was open from 1940 until 1966.

Royal Air Force Witchford, or more simply RAF Witchford, is a former Royal Air Force Royal Air Force sub-station about 2 miles (3 km) southwest of Ely, Cambridgeshire, England and 13 miles (21 km) north of Cambridge, Cambridgeshire.

Royal Air Force Worksop, or more simply RAF Worksop, is a former Royal Air Force satellite station located at Scofton, 2.8 miles (4.5 km) north east of Worksop, Nottinghamshire and 4.7 miles (7.6 km) west of Retford, Nottinghamshire, England.

Royal Air Force Shepherds Grove or more simply RAF Shepherds Grove is a former Royal Air Force station located in Suffolk, active from 1943–44 to 1966. Shepherds Grove was host to units of the United States Army Air Forces, Eighth Air Force. During the Cold war it was also one of the 20 Thor IRBM missile bases in the UK, as part of Project Emily.

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.

Royal Air Force Winthorpe, or more simply RAF Winthorpe, is a former Royal Air Force station located 1.5 miles (2.4 km) north-east of Newark in Nottinghamshire, England. It is now the site of Newark Air Museum and Newark Showground.

Earls Colne Airfield is a general aviation aerodrome located south-east of the village of Earls Colne, Essex, England.

References

Citations

1 2 3 4 Falconer 2012, p. 219.
↑ "Wratting Common (West Wickham)". Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust . Retrieved 17 August 2018.
↑ Sturtivant & Hamlin 2007, p. 184.
↑ Sturtivant & Hamlin 2007, p. 127.
↑ Sturtivant & Hamlin 2007, p. 97.

Bibliography

Falconer, J. (2012). RAF Airfields of World War 2. UK: Ian Allan Publishing. ISBN 978-1-85780-349-5.
Sturtivant, R.; Hamlin, J. (2007). Royal Air Force flying training and support units since 1912. UK: Air-Britain (Historians). ISBN 978-0851-3036-59.

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.

[FOOTNOTEFalconer2012219-1] 1 2 3 4 Falconer 2012, p. 219.

[ABCT-2] "Wratting Common (West Wickham)". Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust . Retrieved 17 August 2018.

[FOOTNOTESturtivantHamlin2007184-3] Sturtivant & Hamlin 2007, p. 184.

[FOOTNOTESturtivantHamlin2007127-4] Sturtivant & Hamlin 2007, p. 127.

[FOOTNOTESturtivantHamlin200797-5] Sturtivant & Hamlin 2007, p. 97.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]