Royal Air Force Station Coltishall

RAF Coltishall lies ten kilometres north-north-east of Norwich in Norfolk’s flat farmland. Built in 1939 as Scottow Aerodrome, it opened in May 1940 as a fighter base. The first aircraft to land was a Bristol Blenheim flown by Sergeants Bales and Barnes. During the Second World War the airfield flew Hawker Hurricanes, including those of No. 242 Squadron led by Douglas Bader. Later it became home to night fighters and briefly hosted Polish squadrons before the war ended. The station played important roles in the Cold War. In the 1950s it served as a dispersal airfield for V-bombers such as the Avro Vulcan. From 1960 it operated English Electric Lightnings, training pilots with No. 226 OCU. In 1974 the Lightnings were replaced by SEPECAT Jaguars of Nos 6, 41 and 54 Squadrons. These jets deployed overseas during conflicts in Kuwait, Iraq and the Balkans. Search-and-rescue Sea Kings and Wessex helicopters also operated from the site. Today the airfield is quiet. A Second World War revetment and a Cold War blast wall remain as scheduled monuments beside the taxiways. The replica Hawker Hurricane once stood as gate guardian, while a Jaguar named Spirit of Coltishall now stands on the edge of Norwich. The station’s badge—a stone tower topped by a mailed fist holding three blunt arrows—still recalls its motto Aggressive in Defence.