page_title: RAF East Wretham
section_title: Royal Air Force use
hierarchical_section_title: RAF East Wretham / History / Royal Air Force use
caption_attribution_description: English: IWM caption&#160;: Lancaster B Mark II, DS652 'KO-B', of No. 115 Squadron RAF, undergoing a test of its Bristol Hercules VI sleeve-valved radial engines in a dispersal at East Wretham, Norfolk. DS652 failed to return from a raid on Bochum, Germany on 12/13 June 1943.
context_page_description: Royal Air Force East Wretham or more simply RAF East Wretham is a former Royal Air Force station located 6 miles northeast of Thetford, Norfolk, England.
context_section_description: East Wretham airfield was hurriedly brought into service during the early years of World War II as a satellite airfield with No. 311 (Czech) Squadron dispersed there from RAF Honington on 29 July 1940. A more permanent allocation followed in September. The squadron operated their bombers from the airfield until April 1942 when it transferred to Coastal Command.  Later, RAF Bomber Command No. 115 Squadron RAF, operating Vickers Wellington Mk IIIs and later Avro Lancasters, occupied the airfield from November 1942.
  Sydney Percival Smith, a Royal Canadian Air Force pilot flying Wellingtons in 115 Squadron, says East Wretham in late 1942 was ".. a fully operational station complete with ammunition dumps, hangar repair shops, barracks, messes, and briefing rooms." He describes flying on missions directed at targets in Germany (including Bremen, Stuttgart, Frankfurt and Munich) and Italy (Turin), as well as mine laying in French ports (LeHavre, Brest, St. Nazaire, and Lorient) and the Bay of Biscay.
  A plan to turn East Wretham into a "Class A" airfield was not carried through, the bomber unit moved to Little Snoring and the station turned over to the USAAF for fighter operations.
  Units
  No. 115 Squadron RAF
  No. 311 Squadron RAF
  No. 1429 (Czech Operational Training) Flight RAF
  No. 1678 Heavy Conversion Flight RAF - see List of conversion units of the Royal Air Force
  No. 2715 Squadron RAF Regiment
  No. 2724 Squadron RAF Regiment
caption: Engine testing on a Lancaster B Mark II of 115 Squadron at RAF East Wretham, 1943
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