RAF Wattisham
Channel: all the knowledge of the universe PRINCIPIA
Date: 2022-01-17

RAF Wattisham, by Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1008467 / CC BY SA 3.0

#Airfields_of_the_VIII_Fighter_Command_in_Suffolk
#Royal_Air_Force_stations_in_Suffolk
#Airports_in_England
#Military_units_and_formations_established_in_1939
#Royal_Air_Force_stations_of_World_War_II_in_the_United_Kingdom
Royal Air Force Station Wattisham or more simply RAF Wattisham （ICAO: EGUW） is a former Royal Air Force station located in East Anglia just outside the village of Wattisham, south of Stowmarket in Suffolk, England.
During the Cold War it was a major front-line air force base, operating Quick Reaction Alert （South）, before closing in 1993 and is now operated by the British Army as Wattisham Airfield.
RAF Wattisham opened on 5 April 1939 as a medium bomber station, the squadrons there being equipped with Bristol Blenheim bombers.
Part of No.
2 Group, No.
107 Squadron and No.
110 Squadron were stationed there on the outbreak of war as No.
83 Wing.
On 4 September 1939, just 29 hours after the declaration of war, bombers from Wattisham took off on the first attack of the war, against enemy shipping in Wilhelmshaven harbour.
In September 1942, the base was handed over to the United States Army Air Forces.
27 May 1944 Aerial photograph of RAF Wattisham the control tower and airfield code are in front of the four C-Type hangars on the right.
Aerial photograph of the USAAF 4th Strategic Air Depot at RAF Wattisham looking north, 3 April 1946 Wattisham was assigned USAAF designation Station 377 and Station 470,
and work began on building concrete runways with the intention of adapting the airfield for heavy bomber use.
However, plans were apparently changed when it was evident that there would be sufficient heavy bomber airfields available for the USAAF, and it was decided that Wattisham would remain an air depot and also house a fighter unit.
Work ceased on the runways leaving only the E-W with a concrete surface and short stretches of the other two.
The main SW-NE runwa...