Royal Air Force Station Honington

RAF Honington stands on a flat Suffolk plateau six miles south of Thetford, near the villages of Honington and Ixworth. The airfield was built in 1935 by John Laing & Son and opened in May 1937. During the Second World War it became a bomber station for RAF Bomber Command, home to No. 77 and No. 102 Squadrons. On 4 September 1939 IX Squadron flew the first RAF bombing raid of the war from Honington against the Kriegsmarine in the Baltic. In May 1941 a crashed Wellington struck the main bomb dump; Group Captain J. A. Gray and Squadron Leader J. A. McCarthy rescued two crew members and were awarded the George Medal. From June 1942 the airfield was transferred to the United States Army Air Forces and upgraded to a Class A bomber base. It served as Station 375 with support units such as the 467th Service Squadron and the 18th Weather Squadron. A separate facility called Troston was built to repair badly damaged B-17 Flying Fortress bombers. In February 1944 the 364th Fighter Group arrived with three squadrons of P-38 Lightnings, later converting to P-51 Mustangs. The group flew escort and ground-attack missions across France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany, receiving a Distinguished Unit Citation for a December 1944 mission. After the war RAF Honington returned to British control and supported the Berlin Airlift. In 1949 it came under Bomber Command and in 1956 a 9,000 ft concrete runway was completed. The station hosted Canberra, Valiant and Victor squadrons, and from 1969 became a Buccaneer base with Nos 12, 15 and 16 Squadrons. In 1982 IX(B) Squadron reformed as the world’s first operational Tornado squadron. Since 1994 Honington has been the RAF Regiment depot, training and housing the corps that protects airfields and personnel.