RAF Coltishall

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52°45′17.9″N 1°21′26.3″E / 52.754972, 1.357306

Royal Air Force Station Coltishall
Active 29 May 1940 – 30 November 2006
Country United Kingdom
Branch Royal Air Force
Type Flying station
Role Fighter attack and defence, Night Fighter
Size closed
Part of British Armed Forces,
No. 1 Group RAF
Based near Norwich, Norfolk, England
Nickname "Colt"
Motto Aggressive in Defence
Royal Air Force Ensign
March Royal Air Force March Past
Anniversaries 65th anniversary in 2005
Equipment Supermarine Spitfire,
Hawker Hurricane,
de Havilland Mosquito,
English Electric Lightning,
SEPECAT Jaguar
Engagements Battle of Britain, 1991 Gulf War, Balkans
Insignia
Station crest heraldry A stone tower surmounted by a mailed fist grasping three bind bolts (arrows)
RAF Coltishall
IATA: CLF – ICAO: EGYC
Summary
Airport type Military (closed)
Owner Ministry of Defence
Operator Royal Air Force
Location Norfolk, England
Elevation AMSL 66 ft / 20 m
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
04/22 7,500 2,286 grooved Asphalt

The former Royal Air Force Station Coltishall, more commonly known as RAF Coltishall (IATA: CLF, ICAO: EGYC), was a Royal Air Force station, a military airbase, 10 miles North-North-East of Norwich, in the English county of Norfolk, East Anglia, from 1938 to 2006.

It was a fighter base in the Second World War and afterwards a base for night fighters then ground attack aircraft until closure.

After longstanding speculation, the future of the station was sealed once the Ministry of Defence announced that the Typhoon, a rolling replacement aircraft, displacing the ageing Jaguars, would not be based there. The last of the Jaguar squadrons left on 1 April 2006 and the station finally closed, one month early and £10 million under budget, on 30 November 2006.

The station motto was Aggressive in Defence. The station crest is a stone tower surmounted by a mailed fist grasping three bind bolts (arrows), which symbolised a position of strength in defence of the homeland, indicative of the aggressive spirit which Coltishall fighter aircraft were prepared to shoot down the enemy.

Image of the various Crests painted on the central aircraft hangar. These depict the final full capacity status of RAF Coltishall. From left to right: No. 6 Squadron RAF, RAF Coltishall station crest, No. 16 Squadron RAF, No. 41 Squadron RAF, No1 Group Headquarters RAF, No. 54 Squadron RAF.
Image of the various Crests painted on the central aircraft hangar. These depict the final full capacity status of RAF Coltishall. From left to right: No. 6 Squadron RAF, RAF Coltishall station crest, No. 16 Squadron RAF, No. 41 Squadron RAF, No1 Group Headquarters RAF, No. 54 Squadron RAF.

Contents

[edit] History

Work on RAF Coltishall was started in February 1939. The airfield, then known as Scottow Aerodrome, was initially built as a bomber base, on land near Scottow Hall. Following the established tradition, the station would have been named after the nearest railway station, which would have made it RAF Buxton, but to avoid possible confusion with Buxton, Derbyshire, it was named after the local village of Coltishall instead. The airfield was completed and entered service in May 1940 as a fighter base. The first aircraft movement at Coltishall was a Blenheim IV L7835 flown by Sergeant RG Bales and Sergeant Barnes.

During the Second World War, Coltishall operated the Hawker Hurricane, and a notable Coltishall fighter pilot was Douglas Bader. It later became home to night fighters. At the same time the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm operated aircraft from RAF Coltishall over the North Sea. At the end of the war Coltishall was briefly given over to Polish squadrons until they returned home.

In the 1950s, RAF Coltishall was a designated a V Bomber dispersal base, whereby the bombers of the V-force aircraft, the Vulcan, Victor and Valiant, could use in the event of their home base being damaged by enemy action.

Post-war, the station was home to a variety of units and aircraft including Mosquitos, Javelins, Lightnings and - from 1963 - the Historic Aircraft Flight (now known as the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight). The last Lightnings left Coltishall in 1974 and were replaced by the Anglo-French SEPECAT Jaguar. The first Jaguar squadron, No. 54 Squadron RAF, arrived at Coltishall on 8 August 1974. These Jaguars came from the frontline stations in RAF Germany, when they were being re-equipped with the new Panavia Tornado.

Jaguar GR3A of 41 Sqn
Jaguar GR3A of 41 Sqn
A stack of three Coltishall Jaguars from Nos 6, 41 & 54 Sqns
A stack of three Coltishall Jaguars from Nos 6, 41 & 54 Sqns

In terms of fixed wing aircraft, the station was exclusively a Jaguar station from then on, and some of the station's pink painted Jaguars participated in the 1991 Gulf War Operation GRANBY and Operation Warden, without sustaining a single loss of man or machine, and in subsequent operations over Balkans (Operation Deny Flight)) and then later Iraq once more. Coltishall was also home to the yellow Search And Rescue (SAR) helicopters of 202 Sqn (Sea King) and latterly 22 Sqn (Wessex), but under subsequent reorganisation, the SAR operations were moved to RAF Wattisham, in Suffolk where they remain.

Coltishall eventually became the last surviving operational RAF airbase from World War 2, and a visible remnant in the form of a Second World War revetment still stands on the North-West taxiway.

With the anticipated arrival of the Eurofighter Typhoon in the RAF, the gradual retirement of the Jaguar force began. Coltishall was not chosen as a future Typhoon base for a number of reasons, and so, with no future RAF role for Coltishall, the station was earmarked for closure.

The Ministry of Defence, in the Delivering Security in a Changing World review, announced that the station would close by December 2006. The first two Jaguar squadrons to disband, No. 16 Squadron RAF and No. 54 Squadron RAF, did so on 11 March 2005. The final Jaquar squadrons departed on 1 April 2006, when No. 6 Squadron RAF transferred to RAF Coningsby, but was subsequently disbanded on 31 May 2007 (to await delivery of the Eurofighter Typhoon at RAF Leuchars in Scotland), and No. 41 Squadron RAF transferred to RAF Coningsby in OCU role. The final front line RAF movement from the station was by Jaguar XZ112, piloted by Jim Luke, on 3 April 2006.

Of the final gate guardians, the replica Hawker Hurricane was transferred to High Wycombe, and the Jaguar was formally named the Spirit of Coltishall, and was subsequently transferred to the grounds of Norfolk County Council [1], where she is dedicated to the memory of all those who served at Coltishall.

Some limited flying from light aircraft including those of the Coltishall Flying Club did continue after the end of RAF flying operations, until October 2006. While 1 April 2006 saw the disbandment parade for the station, it did not actually disband and finally close until 30 November 2006. Associated facilities such as the Douglas Bader Primary School have also closed. The final day of the station saw the gates being opened to the public - anybody with photographic ID was welcomed onto the station to have a look around and view the final closing ceremony, which saw a flypast by four RAF Jaguars, and a solitary Hawker Hurricane from Duxford.

On 30 November 2006, RAF Coltishall was officially handed over to Defence Estates (the MoD agency responsible for all UK Military sites) who are to handle the disposal of the site, and will be formally known as MoD Coltishall until its ultimate disposal. During January 2007, the Home Office expressed an interest, and in early February earmarked the site for potential use as an immigration detention facility, but this was subsequently ruled out. In December 2007, fresh reports in the media suggest the site will be used as a prison, but this has angered local residents who have not been informed of the disposal progress.

In July 2007 a petition was set up on the 10 Downing St website by Jeremy Godwin to campaign for Coltishall to be reopened as a Civil Airfield.

More than one year on from the official closure, the official fate of the former RAF airbase has yet to be decided.

[edit] Coltishall Station Commanders

[edit] Coltishall aircraft

Some 40-plus different types of aircraft have operated out of Coltishall at some point in its history, among these:

[edit] Resident Squadron aircraft

11 Sqn Lightnings on the pan at RAF Leuchars
11 Sqn Lightnings on the pan at RAF Leuchars

[edit] non-resident aircraft

[edit] operated by Detachments from other squadrons:

[edit] SAR Air/sea Rescue squadron detachments:

[edit] operated by the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm:

[edit] BBMF

As home to the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, a sole Avro Lancaster bomber operated out of Coltishall post war.

[edit] Coltishall Squadrons

A 41 Sqn Jaguar T4A 2-seat trainer on detachment
A 41 Sqn Jaguar T4A 2-seat trainer on detachment
56 Sqn "scoreboard"
56 Sqn "scoreboard"


  • No. 809 Squadron FAA; Sea Hornet F20,NF21
  • No. 841 Squadron FAA; Albacore I, Swordfish I,II
  • No. 849 Squadron FAA; Gannett AEW3,COD4,T5


  • No. 1439 Flight RAF; Lysander II,III, Henley III
  • HAF/BBMF RAF; Hurricane IIc, Spitfire IIa,Va,PRXIX, Lancaster B1
  • Air Fighter Development Squadron; Javelin (various), Hunter (various), Lightining (various)
  • 346th Fighter Group; Spitfire Vb, Bell Airacobra
  • Mandrel Screen Unit; Defiant II
  • Fighter Interception Unit; Mosquito (various)
  • Night Fighter Development Unit; Mosquito (various), Firefly I

[edit] See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

[edit] External links


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