RAF West Raynham

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RAF West Raynham was a Royal Air Force station located to the west of the village of West Raynham in Norfolk, England. It opened in the 1930s and closed in the 1990s. In the mid- to late-1950s RAF West Raynham was Central Fighter Establishment of the Royal Air Force. It still had at least two operational Meteor jet fighters, a squadron of twin tail-boomed Venoms and Vampire trainer jets. The very 'latest' arrival in 1957 was a flight of Gloster Javelins, which also appeared at Farnborough the same year. Its main pilot training squadrons in 1957 were Hawker Hunters - comprising two wings - Red and Yellow. The airfield and technical site remain the property of the Ministry of Defence but the site is currently disused and falling into disrepair. In December 2005 it was announced that the whole site was to be sold at Auction. The site was purchased by a developer in 2006 who resold it in October 2007, as they had been unable to install the necessary infrastructure. The site is currently being developed by Tamarix Investments, which expects to start offering homes in November 2007.

Notable units based at RAF West Raynham included:

No. 85 Squadron of 100 Group with the de Havilland Mosquito during World War II.
The tripartite Hawker Kestrel training and evaluation unit (the Kestrel was the forerunner to the successful Hawker Siddeley Harrier "Jump Jet").

The last units to operate at RAF West Raynham were an RAF Regiment Rapier Short Range Air Defence Missile Unit and 85 Squadron with long range Bloodhound surface to air missiles.

References

External links

RAF West Raynham photos taken in 2006
Military Base Closures in Rural Areas: Best Practice & Cautionary tales
Bomber command

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Last updated on Wednesday February 13, 2008 at 04:31:38 PST (GMT -0800)
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