RAF Mendlesham Royal Air Force Station Mendlesham or more simply RAF Mendlesham is a former Royal Air Force station located east of Stowmarket , Suffolk , England History . RAF Fighter Command use . Mendlesham airfield was built in 1943 and the first flying unit based there was a Royal Air Force Fighter squadron which moved in during February 1944 and out in April . This was No . 310 Squadron equipped with Spitfire IXs and manned by Czechoslovakian pilots . USAAF use . In March 1944 , Mendlesham was allocated to the United States Army Air Forces ( USAAF ) Eighth Air Force . It was assigned USAAF designation Station 156 . From 30 March 1944 though 11 July 1945 , Mendlesham served as headquarters for the 93d Combat Bombardment Wing , 3d Bombardment Division , Eighth Air Force . 34th Bombardment Group ( Heavy ) . The first USAAF tenant was the United States Army Air Forces Eighth Air Force 34th Bombardment Group ( Heavy ) , arriving from Blythe AAF California . The 34th was assigned to the 93d Combat Bombardment Wing , and the group tail code was a " Square - S " . Its operational squadrons were : The group flew both B - 17 Flying Fortress es and B - 24 Liberator s as part of the Eighth Air Force ' s strategic bombing campaign . The 34th flew 170 operations from the station , the first sixty - two while flying B - 24 Liberators and the remainder with B - 17G Fortresses . The change - over was made during the summer of 1944 when , in common with other groups assigned to the 93rd Combat Wing , the 3rd Division standardized on the Fortress . The group helped to prepare for the invasion of Normandy by bombing airfields in France and Germany , and supported the landing in June by attacking coastal defenses and communications . Continued to take part in the campaign in France by supporting ground forces at Saint - Lô , 24 – 25 July , and by striking V - weapon sites , gun emplacements , and supply lines throughout the summer of 1944 . The group converted to B - 17 ' s in September 1944 and engaged primarily in bombardment of strategic objectives from October 1944 to February 1945 . Targets included marshalling yards in Ludwigshafen , Hamm , Osnabrück , and Darmstadt ; oil centers in Bielefeld , Merseburg , Hamburg , and Misburg ; factories in Berlin , Dalteln , and Hanover ; and airfields in Münster , Neumünster , and Frankfurt . During this period the group also supported ground forces during the Battle of the Bulge , December 1944 - January 1945 . In March 1945 , with few industrial targets remaining and with Allied armies advancing across Germany , the 34th turned almost solely to interdicting enemy communications and supporting Allied ground forces . After V - E Day it carried food to flooded areas of the Netherlands and transported prisoners of war from German camps to Allied centers . The 34th Bomb Group returned to Sioux Falls AAF , South Dakota on 28 August 1945 and was inactivated . RAF Maintenance Command use . After the war , the field was used as the sub - site of No . 94 Maintenance Unit RAF being used as an ammunition storage depot . It was reduced to inactive status in June 1954 and sold . Current use . With the end of military control the former technical site of Mendlesham to the southwest of the airfield was developed into an industrial estate . Large , expansive buildings were constructed over the area , no wartime buildings remain . The balance of the airfield was returned to agricultural use ; the runways , hardstands and perimeter track being largely removed for aggrieved and today are fields , although parts of the perimeter track and the 02 / 20 runway remain as singe - track farm access roads . No evidence of the wartime control tower remains . The NE end of the 20 runway has a small portion remaining at full with . A few wartime buildings are in use by farmers . Only the faintest hint of a perimeter track remains visible . A small , but impressive memorial , subscribed to by the men of the 34th Group before their departure , is still maintained on the old airfield next to the A140 road . Some aerospace - related use still remains though : one portion of runway 08 / 25 , although now covered with grass , is now in use by local microlight pilots and by Suffolk Coastal Floaters hang - gliding club along with a blister - type hangar at the EOR .