a few pics from Framlingham/Parham airfield - 390th FG Fortress airfield

now I know I'm not Martin, but I too was driving through Suffolk last week - my first time in this beautiful part of the country, despite having family in Framlingham! The airfield - or what remains- is some 5 miles outside the town and is actually located in the village of Parham, some 10-15 miles from the former fighter bases of Halesworth and Leiston (which incidentally is no-where near Yoxford). From July 1943 Framlingham was home to the 390th BG who arrived in the UK in time to participate on that summer's Schweinfurt and Regensburg raids.



The old control tower, located just off 'Runway Road' on 'Fortress Way' has been rescued from dereliction and now houses a fine museum...open on Sundays through the summer





The control tower is located alongside the the 'base' of the 'A' on this map of the airfield



'Then and Now' view for comparison - the upper floor and the 'glass-house' are open to visitors and have great views over the former Class 'A' field - you can almost see/hear a squadron of Forts taxiing out on another 'maximum effort'..very evocative.. . Museum volunteers are on hand to explain the lay-out of the base









During March 1944 the RAF's 'Enemy Aircraft Flight' visited Framlingham enabling crews to inspect the Fw 190 and Bf 109 types that they would encounter in deadly combat over the Reich...

 

Ooooh...my sort of posting !

In the late 1970s I spent many happy hours exploring Framlingham/Parham and returned in the '90s to visit the excellent tower museum. The whole place is absolutely steeped in 8th AF history......

 

Difficult to get good pics of Fowlmere....there's hardly anything recognizable left......

 

Fantastic photos.

I believe Mildenhall is in Suffolk? Are you familiar with the airbase there? If I understand correctly, it is still in use and is a US air base?

I am curious because my grandfather was stationed there with the RAF when he was killed on a bombing raid in 1942.

 

thank you for your kind comments guys!

Clementine, I know Mildenhall - the annual airshow regularly drew 100s of thousands of spectators..but the last one was in the late 1980s IIRC. Today it is still a huge active base, host to USAF European tanker operations.

as Martin says, this part of the UK (East Anglia) is awash with 8th AF history. The land is very flat, lots of corn fields, perfect for long runways. Not much left of the runways or airfield buildings..as Martin explained in his Chedburgh post - but luckily nowadays there are a number of memorials and little museums.. While we were in Suffolk we also called in at the Halesworth museum (56th FG) for their annual Open day but didn't get time to go to Thorpe Abbots and the 100th BG museum although its only 15 miles from my brother-in-law's front door !

 

Thorpe Abbotts is an absolute 'must' - the Museum there is excellent.

Which gives me an excuse to post again one of my favourite 'old airfield' pics....



This was the old Thorpe Abbotts main runway in August 1988. It was a very hot day and I almost didn't bother to take the photo.

!

Just a few weeks later, this view was swept away forever - dug up for hardcore. All the legendary 'Bloody Hundredth' missions were flown from this runway and the photo ( which I had enlarged ) is now a treasured memento......

 

The runway just looks like the one in Faldingworth. Have you tired driving on it. It was fun taxiing on.