Royal Air Force Bury St Edmunds or more simply RAF Bury St Edmunds is a former Royal Air Force station located 3 miles (4.8 km) east of Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England. It is not to be confused with the RAF grass strip on the western side of Bury St Edmunds known as RAF Westley, an area now part of the town itself.
This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (February 2013) |
RAF Bury St Edmunds USAAF Station 468 | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Near Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk in England | |||||||||||
Coordinates | 52°14′39″N 000°45′44″E | ||||||||||
Type | Royal Air Force station | ||||||||||
Code | BU | ||||||||||
Site information | |||||||||||
Owner | Air Ministry | ||||||||||
Controlled by | Royal Air Force United States Army Air Forces | ||||||||||
Site history | |||||||||||
Built | 1941 | ||||||||||
In use | 1942–1948 | ||||||||||
Events | European Theatre of World War II Air Offensive, Europe July 1942 – May 1945 | ||||||||||
Airfield information | |||||||||||
Elevation | 63 metres (207 ft) AMSL | ||||||||||
|
The airfield was originally and is now again known as Rougham as it is located north of that village between the A14 and the main railway line between Bury St Edmunds and Ipswich.
History
It was built during 1941 and 1942 with three intersecting concrete runways. The main runway of 2,000 yards was aligned approximately E–W. It saw extensive use during the Second World War.
The following units were here at some point:[1]
Current use
With the end of military control, Bury St Edmunds airfield's concreted areas were broken up with most of the site being returned to agriculture.
The old technical site has been developed into the Rougham Industrial Estate. The T2 hangars are still in use for storage. The control tower, used for many years as a private dwelling, has been restored and is operated as an aviation museum dedicated to the 94th bomb group. The museum is open to the public every Sunday from Easter until October, admission free.[2]
The museum site is also home to the Bury St Edmunds Amateur Radio Society BSEARS radio club.
The airfield, once again known as Rougham has been returned to agriculture.
The airfield was closed in June 2023.[3]
See also
References
External links
Wikiwand in your browser!
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.