LAKENHEATH
The sandy soil that skirts the eastern side of the Fens through much of Norfolk and Suffolk is know as the Breckland. Mostly too poor for agricultural use, it was a wild place of heather and bracken populated only by rabbits. One virtue of the soil was its good draining properties, which had some bearing on the selection of several sites in the Breckland for aeroplane landing grounds. Lakenheath Warren was apparently under consideration but in the event was made into a bombing and ground-attack range for aircraft flying from elsewhere in the area. It appears to have been little used and soon given back to the rabbits when peace came in 1918.
In 1940, the Air Ministry selected Lakenheath as an alternative satellite for Mildenhall and the following year construction began east of the low hill beyond which Lakenheath village lay. Hard runways were put down by W & C French Ltd, their original lengths being extended before the airfield was completed. The main, OS-23, was 2,000 yards, and the subsidiaries, 12-30 at 1,300 yards and 17-35 at 1,400 yards. At a later date, another 100 yards was added to runway 17-35. Hardstandings for 36 aircraft were built and two T2s and a B1 provided later for undercover facilities. One T2 was on the technical site and the other hangars to the east across the A1065 Mildenhall-Brandon road were reached by taxiways.
Lakenheath first came into use for flying units on detachment late in 1941. As planned, the station soon functioned as a Mildenhall satellite with Stirlings of No. 149 Squadron being dispersed from the parent airfield as soon as conditions allowed. The squadron had exchanged its Wellingtons for Stirlings late in 1941 and after becoming fully operational with its new aircraft, the squadron moved into Lakenheath the following April and remained in residence for two years. Taking part in more than 350 operations, of which more than half involved mine-laying, the unit had one of the lowest percentage loss rates of all the Stirling squadrons. One of No. 149's Stirling pilots, Flight Sergeant Rawdon Middleton, was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for his valour on the night of November 28/29, 1942 when he sustained serious face wounds from shell-fire during a raid on Turin. Despite great pain and loss of blood, he determinedly brought the damaged aircraft back to the coast of southern England. With fuel nearly exhausted his crew were ordered to bale out, Middleton being killed when the Stirling, BF372 OJ-H, crashed in the Channel.
In early 1943 three T2 hangars were erected on the north side of the airfield for glider storage, some 40 Horsas being dispersed at Lakenheath during that year. Messrs W. Lawrence & Son Ltd and Rattee & Kett Ltd were involved in this and other construction work, which gave the station accommodation for a total 1,705 male and 245 female personnel.
As part of No. 3 Group's expansion, in June 1943 No. 199 Squadron was established as a second Stirling squadron at Lakenheath. Commencing operations on July 31, it was engaged principally in mine-laying during the winter of 1943-44. At the end of April, after 68 operations, the squadron was transferred to No. 100 Group for bomber support operations moving out to North Creake in May. No. 149 Squadron ended its long association with Lakenheath the same month, taking its Stirlings to Methwold. Between them the two squadrons had lost 116 Stirlings while flying from Lakenheath.
The reason for the exodus was Lakenheath's selection for upgrading to a Very Heavy Bomber airfield, one of three RAF aerodromes being prepared to receive B-29 Superfortresses which were tentatively planned to replace some Eighth Air Force B-24 units in the spring of 1945. The work carried out by George Wimpey & Co. Ltd entailed removal of the existing runways and laying new ones comprising 12 inches of high-grade concrete. The main at 07-25 was 3,000 yards long, the subsidiaries, 01-19 and 14-32, both 2,000 yards, all three being 100 yards wide. Part of the A1065 road between Brandon and Mildenhall was closed and a new section built further to the east on the Warren. During the peak period of construction over 1,000 men were working on the site yet, instead of the 12 months planned, it actually took 18 months for the ground work alone and 21/z years before Lakenheath's transformation was considered complete. The cost was near £2 million. By this time, with hostilities over, the station was put on a care and maintenance status until the Berlin blockade crisis in 1948 required the threat of USAF nuclear bombers. In July, B-29 Superfortresses of the 2nd Bomb Group were detached to Lakenheath for a 90-day temporary duty.
A succession of bombardment groups/ wings, 33 in all, rotated through Lakenheath, the B-29s giving way to the improved B-50 Superfortresses and then, in June 1954, B-47 Stratojets, the type which had previously been an itinerant visitor from another UK base. In January 1951, a detachment of the giant B-36D intercontinental bombers arrived for a few days and various tanker and transport aircraft also made periodic appearances at the base. Several of the temporary detachments included in-flight refuelling tanker aircraft. Strategic Air Command's 7th Air Division control of Lakenheath was terminated at the end of 1959 following the ejection of NATO air forces from France whereupon the 48th Tactical Fighter Wing brought its three squadrons of F-100D Super Sabres over from Chaumont in France in January 1960. The Wing converted to F-4C Phantoms in January 1972 and F-111Fs in March 1977, later adding a fourth squadron. With the collapse of the Russian threat and the reduction of the USAF, the F-llls were withdrawn in 1992 and the 48th Wing reequipped with F-15E Strike Eagles having both defensive and offensive capability. In fact, the 48th is the USAF only major strike unit with a NATO commitment remaining at a UK base at the end of 2002.
