RAF Stradishall

52.1323, 0.5163 — view on OpenStreetMap ↗

About

RAF Stradishall opened in February 1938 in the gently rolling country of west Suffolk, between Haverhill and Bury St Edmunds, and was one of the established stations No. 3 Group took to war in 1939. Through the conflict it was a busy bomber base, flying Vickers Wellingtons and then Short Stirlings, and over the years it hosted a long roll of squadrons — among them Nos. 9, 75 (New Zealand), 101, 138, 148, 149, 214 and 215 — together with the heavy conversion unit work that turned crews onto the four-engined bombers. As one of the larger fields it acted as a parent station, controlling a cluster of satellite airfields including Chedburgh and Wratting Common.

Stradishall outlived the war by a generation. It served Fighter Command into the 1960s and then Flying Training Command before final closure around 1970. The site was later given over to His Majesty’s Prison Highpoint, while part of the old airfield is now a solar farm, with the open ground grazed and walked.

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

Photographs

Vickers Wellington Bombers of the RAF at RAF Stradishall on the 10th of July 1939. Ready to fly to Brussells and Paris as a show of strength from the RAF.
ⓘ licence & creditRAF serviceman, in the course of duties in 1939. / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:New_Zealand_Wellington_Bombers_in_England1939.JPGView source & full licence →
Aircraft of the Royal Air Force 1939-1945- Vickers Wellington. Wellington Mark II, W5442 ‘BU-V’ “Sri Guroh”, of No. 214 Squadron RAF, at Stradishall, Suffolk. Behind W5442 is a Wellington Mark IC, ‘BU-Q’ “Kuala Lumpur”. Both aircraft were presented to the RAF by the Federated Malay States.
ⓘ licence & creditCrouch F W (Flying Officer), Royal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aircraft_of_the_Royal_Air_Force_1939-1945-_Vickers_Wellington._CH3944.jpgView source & full licence →
Maintenance staff overhaul damaged Vickers Wellington Mark IC, T2470 'BU-K', of No. 214 Squadron RAF, in a C-type hangar at RAF Stradishall, Suffolk.
ⓘ licence & creditDaventry B J (Mr), Royal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:214_Squadron_Wellington_repair_at_RAF_Stradishall_WWII_IWM_CH_1416.jpgView source & full licence →
Stirling Mark I, BF382 'BU-Q', of No. 214 Squadron RAF on the ground at RAF Stradishall, Suffolk, at the end of its operational service.
ⓘ licence & creditBritish Government / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:214_Squadron_Stirling_RAF_Stradishall_IWM_ATP_11154D.jpgView source & full licence →
RAF Stradishall in 1945.
ⓘ licence & creditAttribution for images from Google Earth require attribution to Google and the other providers identified in imagery per [1]. / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:RAF_Stradishall_1945.pngView source & full licence →

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