RAF Bentwaters

RAF Bentwaters is a former Royal Air Force station about 80 miles NE of London, 10 miles ENE of Ipswich, near Woodbridge, Suffolk in England. The name was taken from two cottages (‘Bentwaters Cottages’) that had stood on the site of the main runway during its construction in 1943.

It was used by the RAF during World War II, and by the United States Air Force during the Cold War, being the primary home for the 81st Fighter Wing under various designations from 1951 to 1993. For many years the 81st Fighter Wing also operated RAF Woodbridge, with Bentwaters and Woodbridge being known as the "Twin Bases".

Bentwaters is also known as the location for the alleged December 1980 UFO incident in Rendlesham Forest.

FO back to 1942 when construction began on RAF Butley as a RAF Bomber Command base. On 28 January 1943 the base was renamed Bentwaters RAF Station. It was opened for operational use in April 1944. In December it was transferred to RAF Fighter Command 11th Group. During World War II, RAF squadrons at Butley were: 64, 118, 126, 129, 165, and 234.

In addition to its RAF use, United States Army Air Force fighters flew escort missions for RAF Bomber Command from Bentwaters beginning on 4 May 1945. The USAAF designation for Bentwaters was AAF Station 151.

During the postwar years, the RAF retained Bentwaters for flying various aircraft, including first-generation jet aircraft before finally closing the facility on 26 August 1949 when it was placed into 'care and maintenance' status.

USAF use

Control of Bentwaters was transferred to the United States Air Force on 16 March 1951 by the Ministry of Defence, and the United States Air Forces in Europe designated it a primary installation of HQ USAFE on 7 September 1951. Bentwaters was to play a key role in the defense of Western Europe during the Cold War when large large numbers of USAF aircraft were assigned as part of the air arm of NATO.

On 16 March 1951, the USAF 7506th Air Support Group was assigned to Bentwaters. The 7506th's mission was to bring the facility up to NATO standards. During most of 1951 and 1952 USAF construction upgraded the operational facilities, as well as the construction of support facilities. Early USAF units at Bentwaters were as follows:

* 9th Air Rescue Squadron (July 1951 - November 1952) (Boeing SB-29 'Super Dumbo'). This unit flew air rescue missions with aging B-29 aircraft adapted to perform air/sea rescue. It received its nickname from 'Dumbo', the name given by B-29 pilots to the rescue planes who picked them up when they crashed at sea. The unit departed in November 1952 for RAF Burtonwood.

* 7554th Target Tow Flight (March - December 1952) (Stinson L-5E, Douglas TB-26C). This unit flew aerial targets for gunnery practice by NATO aircraft.

81st Tactical Fighter Wing

The 81st Fighter-Interceptor Wing became the new host unit at Bentwaters in September 1951. The 81st, in various designations, remained at RAF Bentwaters for over 40 years during the Cold War era. The 81st FIW was an F-86A "Sabre" equipped unit, being activated at Moses Lake AFB, Washington in May, 1950. In August 1951, the 81st flew initially into RAF Shepherds Grove, then in September transferred its headquarters to RAF Bentwaters.

The 81st FIW's operational squadrons were:

* 91st Fighter-Interceptor (Blue)
* 92d Fighter-Interceptor (Yellow)
* 116th Fighter-Interceptor (Red)

Markings of the 81st FIW's F-86s consisted of a blue vertical stabilizer with three yellow lighting flashes, with the squadron color painted with a lightning flash along the fuselage.

The 116th FIS was an activated Washington Air National Guard squadron that remained at Shephards Grove while assigned to the 81st. In November 1952 when the squadron was returned to state control, it was redesignated the 78th Fighter-Interceptor squadron.

The 78th FIS moved to RAF Sculthorpe in May 1956. The 78th briefly returned to Shepherds Grove in May 1957 before being reassigned to RAF Woodbridge in December 1958 when the USAF turned Shepherds Grove to the Ministry of Defense.

The mission of the 81st FIW was to provide air defence of the United Kingdom. It performed this mission jointly with the RAF, working with No. 11 Group RAF Fighter Command. The wing was the first unit of F-86's assigned to NATO and the first foreign air unit to participate in the peacetime air defense of Great Britain.

In October 1954 the mission of the 81st changed from fighter-interceptor to fighter-bomber operations, carrying both conventional and nuclear weapons. The wing was charged with tactical operations in support of USAFE and NATO, with air defense as a secondary mission. To reflect this change, the unit was redesignated the 81st Fighter-Bomber Wing and traded in its F-86s for the F-84F "Thunderstreak".

On 8 July 1958 Bentwaters was operated as "twin base" with RAF Woodbridge and as a single unit under the newly-designated 81st Tactical Fighter Wing. Along with the 91st and 92d squadrons, the 78th Tactical Fighter Squadron was transferred from RAF Shepherds Grove when the USAF returned Shepherds Grove to the Ministry of Defense. The 78th TFS operated from Woodbrige, while the 91st and 92d squadrons operated from Bentwaters.

Beginning in the fall of 1958, the 81st TFW was requipped with the McDonnell F-101A/C "Voodoo". The F-101 was configured as a fighter bomber, intended to carry a single nuclear weapon for use against battlefield targets such as airfields. The Voodos were equipped with Low Angle Drogued Delivery (LADD) and Low Altitude Bombing System (LABS) equipment for its primary mission of delivering nuclear weapons at extremely low altitudes. Pilots were trained for one-way missions into Soviet territory to increase effective range at some cost in negating pilot recovery.

In November 1965, the 81st received McDonnell F-4 "Phantom II"s to replace the Voodoos. Initially receiving the F-4C this was later upgraded to the more capable F-4D during late 1972 and 1973. About 1970, two-letter Tail Codes were used initailly for squadron identification. The tail codes for the 81st TFW F-4s were:

* 78th Tactical Fighter - WR (Red tail stripe)
* 91st Tactical Fighter - WS (Blue tail stripe)
* 92d Tactical Fighter - WT (Yellow tail stripe)

In 1972, squadron tail codes were abolished, and a standard "WR" was used for all aircraft assigned to the 81st TFW.

The 81st began conversion to the Republic A-10 in June 1979. The A-10 being a single-seat, twin-engine jet aircraft designed to provide close air support (CAS) of ground forces by attacking tanks, armored vehicles, and other ground targets. With the A-10, the wing's mission changed to close air support and battlefield air interdiction in support of NATO ground forces.

It was decided to expand the 81st with six A-10 squadrons distributed over both Woodbridge and Bentwaters as follows:

* 78th Tactical Fighter (Woodbridge)
(Received A-10s 3 June 1979)
* 91st Tactical Fighter (Woodbridge)
(Received A-10s 24 August 1979)
* 92d Tactical Fighter (Bentwaters)
(Received A-10s 25 June 1979)
* 509th Tactical Fighter (Activated 1 October 1979) (Woodbridge) (Grey tail stripe)
(Received A-10s 1 October 1979)
* 510th Tactical Fighter (Activated 1 October 1978) (Bentwaters) (Purple tail stripe)
(Received A-10s 1 October 1979)
* 511th Tactical Fighter (Activated 1 January 1980) (Bentwaters) (Black tail stripe)
(Received A-10s 1 January 1980)

This arrangement continued until June 1988 when the 10th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing at RAF Alconbury became a Tactical Fighter Wing, and the 509th and 511th were transferred there on 1 June and 1 September, respectively.

With the transfer of the A-10s to Alconbury, the 527th Aggressor Squadron was transferred to Bentwaters. The mission of the 527th was to provide dissimiar air combat training for NATO pilots, using Soviet tactics. The squadron flew the F-5 Freedom Fighter at Alconbury, however after 12 years of intense flying, by 1988 the fleet of aggressor F-5Es was getting rather worn out as a result of sustained exposure to the rigors of air combat maneuvering. It was decided to re-equip the squadron with F-16C Fighting Falcons when the squadron was assigned to Bentwaters.

The 527th AS flew its last F-5E sortie from Alconbury on 22 June 1988. On 14 July 1988 the squadron was transferred, transitioning to F-16Cs by mid-January 1989 at Bentwaters. However, in 1990 with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the decision was made to terminate the entire USAF aggressor program. The 527th AS was inactivated on 30 September 1990.

An A-10 forward operating location was established at Sembach Air Base West Germany on 1 September 1978 when Det. 1, 81st Tactical Fighter Wing was activated. Revetments and a dozen hardened aircraft shelters were built and A-10A Single-seat forward air control versions began operations at Sembach during May 1979. Additional detachments were subsequently established at Leipheim, Alhorn and Norvenich Air Bases in West Germany. A-10's and support resources routinely rotated to these Forward Operating Locations from RAF Bentwaters for training and Tactical Evaluations. In the event of war in the 1980s, the Bentatwer A-10's were to fight from Germany, and Bentwaters would host F-16's from Nellis AFB.

Post Cold War

With the end of the Cold War, the USAF presence at Bentwaters was gradually phased down. It was announced that the base would be closed and the 81st TFW would be deactivated. The Bentwaters-based squadrons were phased-down as follows:

* 510th Tactical Fighter Squadron was transferred to the 52d Fighter Wing at Spangdahlem Air Base Germany on 4 January 1993. On 1 February 1994 it was inactivated at Spangdahlem, but it was reactivated on 23 March 1994 as a Block 40 F-16C/D squadron at Aviano Air Base Italy.

* 92d Tactical Fighter Squadron was inactivated on 31 March 1993. Its aircraft were sent back to the United States to various Air National Guard squadrons.

The last A-10 aircraft departed Bentwaters on 23 March 1993, and the 81st Tactical Fighter Wing was deactivated on 1 July 1993. With the deactivation, the USAF returned control of Bentwaters to the Ministry of Defence.

Currently, Bentwaters airfield is inactive as a military facility.

The 81st was reactivated as the 81st Training Wing at Keesler AFB Mississippi on 1 July 1993 and is one of Air Education and Training Command's largest technical training wings. The emphasis is on high-technology training in a number of fields, primarily in the electronics specialties. Avionics maintenance, radio and radar systems maintenance, communications-electronics, computer systems programming and maintenance, air traffic control, and weather training are but a few of the main specialties taught at Keesler.

Current uses

With the handover of Bentwaters back to the UK Ministry of Defence in 1993, the facility was closed. It is now known as "Bentwaters Parks".

Museum

In 2003, work commenced on the [http://www.bcwm.org.uk/ Bentwaters Cold War Museum] (BCWM). The museum had a successful public opening on Sunday 27th May 2007. The museum is based in the former USAF hardened command post, believed to be the only such building open to the public in the UK. The main “war operations room” and “Battle cabin” have been restored to their original condition; the BT telephone exchange room, decontamination showers, and airlock have been similarly restored. Other rooms within the building have been turned into exhibition rooms, covering the history of RAF Bentwaters from WWII until the base closed in 1993. Included in this are histories of the units that operated form the airfield, particularly the 81 TFW. Another room is dedicated to the history of the other airfield which was part of the “twin base” complex, RAF Woodbridge, again covering the period from WWII until the present day. Other exhibition rooms featuring information on the “Special Operations/Rescue Squadrons” that were based at RAF Woodbridge, and also the “Aggressor” Squadron based at Bentwaters.

The museum is run by volunteers from [http://www.bentwaters-as.org.uk Bentwaters Aviation Society] , further information on the society and museum project can be found on their web site.

Television and media

In 2001 many of the missions in paintballing game show X-Fire took place in and around the facilities in Bentwaters.

Later series of Channel 4's consumer motoring programme Driven were based in one of the hangers.

Additionally, in 2005, Bentwaters was used for the Space Cadets TV programme, where it played the part of a fake Russian space training and launch base.

In 2006 V4 Technical Ltd [http://www.v4technical.co.uk] set up their headquarters on the site, developing web based software applications.

It is the site used for the BBC television program "Dog Borstal", and more recently for "Top Gear" stunts.

ee also

* List of RAF stations
* United States Air Forces in Europe
* United States Air Force in the United Kingdom
* RAF Woodbridge
* Rendlesham Forest Incident

References

* Ravenstein, Charles A., "Air Force Combat Wings Lineage and Honors Histories 1947-1977", Office of Air Force History, 1984

* Endicott, Judy G., "USAF Active Flying, Space, and Missile Squadrons as of 1 October 1995". Office of Air Force History

* Menard, David W., "Before Centuries. USAFE Fighters 1948-1959"

* Martin, Patrick, "Tail Code: The Complete History Of USAF Tactical Aircraft Tail Code Markings", 1994

* Rogers, Brian, "United States Air Force Unit Designations Since 1978", 2005
* [http://home.att.net/~jbaugher/usafserials.html USAAS-USAAC-USAAF-USAF Aircraft Serial Numbers--1908 to present]
* [http://www.bentwaters-as.org.uk/html/bentwaters_history.html Bentwaters Aviation Society History of RAF Bentwaters]

External links

* [http://www.bunkertours.com/ Bentwaters Air Base Cold War Pictures]
* [http://www.airsceneuk.org.uk/oldstuff/2004/aggressors/aggress.htm 527th TFAS At Bentwaters Website]
* [http://www.bentwaters-as.org.uk/index.html Bentwaters Aviation Society]
* [http://Bentwaters.org Bentwaters-Woodbridge page] - "Thousands of pictures, names, memories, links, past and present from RAF Bentwaters and RAF Woodbridge"
* [http://homepage.ntlworld.com/alan-turnbull/secret2.htm#space-cadets Space Cadets at Bentwaters - precise filming locations using online maps and aerial photos]
* [http://bookatrack.com/-pg?558 Photographs of Bentwaters in use as a trackday venue]
* [http://www.homestead.com/81sps/main.html the UnOfficial 81st SPS RAF Bentwaters/Woodbridge Site] - the UnOfficial gathering place for the men & women who served in the USAF 81st Security (Air) Police Squadron at RAF Bentwaters and RAF Woodbridge.