RAF Downham Market

England — County: Norfolk

52.6106, 0.4050 — view on OpenStreetMap ↗

About

RAF Downham Market — sometimes called Bexwell, after the neighbouring village — opened in July 1942 as a bomber station in the Norfolk fens, controlled from nearby RAF Marham. It began life in No. 3 Group flying the Short Stirling, the first of the RAF’s four-engined heavies, with No. 218 and No. 623 Squadrons. From March 1944 the station passed to No. 8 (Pathfinder Force) Group, and its character changed: No. 635 Squadron flew Lancasters as target-markers, while Nos. 571 and 608 Squadrons operated the de Havilland Mosquito in the Light Night Striking Force, ranging fast and high over Germany.

Two Victoria Crosses are bound up with the station. Arthur Aaron, of Downham Market’s No. 218 Squadron, won his for bringing home a crippled Stirling on a 1943 raid; and Squadron Leader Ian Bazalgette of No. 635 Squadron was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross for pressing on with his marking run over Trossy-St-Maximin in August 1944 after his Lancaster had been set ablaze. On the night of 2–3 May 1945, Mosquitoes of No. 608 Squadron flying from here took part in the last RAF bombing raid of the European war. Some 170 aircraft were lost on operations from the field over its short career.

The station closed in October 1946. After a spell of postwar housing the land returned to farming, and the site is now the Bexwell business and industrial estate.

Sources: This page was compiled from publicly available historical sources, including Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust — Downham Market (Bexwell) and Wikipedia: RAF Downham Market. The text is original and has been written from factual source material; no source text has been copied unless specifically quoted and attributed.

Photographs

Royal Air Force 1939-1945- Bomber Command A Stirling I of No. 218 (Gold Coast) Squadron being bombed-up at Downham Market, Norfolk, in the summer of 1942, soon after the airfield, which was a satellite of Marham, opened. The bomb train has arrived at the Stirling's dispersal and a pair of 1,000lb GP bombs are about to be pushed into position beneath the aircraft.
ⓘ licence & creditMinistry of Information Photo Division Photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force_1939-1945-_Bomber_Command_D8972.jpgView source & full licence →
ⓘ licence & creditEvelyn Simak / CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Last_remains_of_a_runway_-_geograph.org.uk_-_4076022.jpgView source & full licence →
ⓘ licence & creditRichard Humphrey / CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Former_RAF_buildings_near_Downham_Market_-_geograph.org.uk_-_5306220.jpgView source & full licence →
A sergeant armourer checks the fuze of a 1,000-lb GP bomb before it is winched by hand into the bomb bay of a Short Stirling of No. 218 Squadron RAF at Downham Market, Norfolk.
ⓘ licence & creditMinistry of Information Photo Division Photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bombing_up_218_Squadron_Stirling_WWII_IWM_D_8977.jpgView source & full licence →
Armourers loading 1,000-lb GP bombs into a Short Stirling of No. 218 Squadron RAF at RAF Downham Market, Norfolk, prior to an operation.
ⓘ licence & creditMinistry of Information Photo Division Photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:218_Squadron_Stirling_IWM_D_8973.jpgView source & full licence →

Home to

People connected to this base

2 persons cross-referenced to this airfield — through a posting here, a squadron based here, or aircrew who flew from it.

NameRankConnectionDates
Aaron, Arthur Louis Acting Flight Sergeant Posted here — 218 1 Apr 1943 – 14 Aug 1943
Bazalgette, Ian Willoughby Squadron Leader Squadron served here —