RAF Marham

RAF Marham stands on a flat stretch of Norfolk farmland south-west of King’s Lynn. The station opened in 1916 as a small night landing ground beside the old Royal Naval Air Station Narborough. It now covers a wide grassy airfield ringed by hangars and technical sites. Two parallel runways still show the wartime triangular pattern built for heavy bombers. The base has flown every generation of RAF strike aircraft since the First World War. No. 51 Squadron arrived in 1916 to defend Norfolk from Zeppelin raids. In 1982 the first Panavia Tornado GR1s arrived, followed by the modern Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning in 2018. The airfield also hosted American B-29s and B-52s during the Cold War. Visitors see the long runways, hardened aircraft shelters and the line of hangars. The station museum holds photographs and artefacts from each era. From the perimeter track there are wide views across the flat landscape towards the Wash.