RAF Marham

Infobox Military Unit
unit_name = Royal Air Force Station Marham


caption = Station crest
dates = August 1915 (as Royal Naval Air Station) – present
country = United Kingdom
branch = Royal Air Force
command_structure = British Armed Forces,
No. 1 Group RAF
type = Flying station
role = Fighter / Ground Attack
size =
current_commander = Gp Capt P C (Phil) "Osby" Osborn OBE ADC RAF
garrison = Marham, Norfolk, England
garrison_label = Based near
ceremonial_chief =
ceremonial_chief_label =
colonel_of_the_regiment =
colonel_of_the_regiment_label =
nickname = "Marham"
motto = "Deter"
colors =
colors_label = Royal Air Force Ensign
march = Royal Air Force March Past
mascot =
equipment = Panavia Tornado
battles = Battle of Britain,
1991 Gulf War (Op GRANBY, Op DESERT STORM),
Balkans,
2003 Op TELIC
notable_commanders = G E Stirrup
identification_symbol = A Blue Bull
identification_symbol_label = Station crest heraldry
anniversaries =

Infobox Airport
name = RAF Marham
nativename =
nativename-a =
nativename-r =


image-width =
caption =
IATA = KNF
ICAO = EGYM
type = Military
owner =
operator = Royal Air Force
city-served =
location = Marham
elevation-f = 75
elevation-m = 23
coordinates = Coord|52|38|54|N|000|33|02|E|W|type:airport
website =
metric-elev =
metric-rwy =
r1-number = 01/19
r1-length-f = 6,086
r1-length-m = 1,855
r1-surface = Concrete
r2-number = 06/24
r2-length-f = 9,140
r2-length-m = 2,786
r2-surface = Asphalt
stat-year =
stat1-header =
stat1-data =
stat2-header =
stat2-data =
footnotes =

Royal Air Force Station Marham, commonly known as RAF Marham, Airport codes|KNF|EGYM is a Royal Air Force station, a military airbase, near the village of Marham in in the English county of Norfolk, East Anglia.

It is home to the No. 138 Expeditionary Air Wing (138 EAW), and as such, is one of the RAFs "Main Operating Bases". 138 EAW houses two Tornado GR4A and two Tornado GR4 squadrons.

The station crest is a Blue Bull - this was awarded with the arrival of nuclear cabability in 1957, and the station motto is simply "Deter"; the glaring bull symbolises a deterrent which aptly refers to the acquirement of a nuclear deterrent capability - hence the motto "DETER". The mission statement is "to provide and support Offensive Airpower".

Pre-RAF History

Originally called Royal Naval Air Station Narborough, Narborough aerodrome was originally opened in August 1915 as a night flying landing ground for RNAS Great Yarmouth, a few miles from the boundary of the present day RAF Marham. In 1916 the aerodrome was handed over to the Royal Flying Corps. The aerodrome was closed in 1919 when the last units moved out, today, little remains of the original airfield structures.

RAF History

In 1935 work started on a new airfield, this became active in 1 April 1937, with a resident heavy bomber unit from within 3 Group, RAF Bomber Command. The first squadron, No 38, arrived in May 1937 with Fairey Hendon bombers. In June No. 115 Squadron RAF re-formed at Marham with Handley Page Harrows while 38 Sqn received Wellington I bombers in December 1938, followed in 1939 by 115 Squadron.

During March 1944, Marham closed for the construction of new concrete runways, perimiter track, and dispersal areas, marking the end of wartime operations at Marham.

Post World War II the airfield was home to RAF units operating the Boeing Washington aircraft, the Vickers Valiant and Handley Page Victor. The station is also one of the few large enough for the operation of the Boeing B-52 and a number of these aircraft visited on exercise in the 1970s and 1980s.

During 1977 24 Hardened Aircraft Shelters were constructed to house future strike aircraft, which would eventually see the arrival of the Panavia Tornado in 1982. These shelters were equipped with the U.S. Weapon Storage Security System (WS3), each able to store 4 WE.177 nuclear bombs. [citation|url=http://thebulletin.metapress.com/content/82558p4j65585158/fulltext.pdf|title=U.S. nuclear weapons in Europe, 1954–2004|author=Robert S. Norris and Hans M. Kristensen|date=November/December 2004|publisher=Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists|accessdate=2009-06-11]

No. 138 Expeditionary Air Wing (EAW) formed at Marham on 1 April 2006 encompassing most of the non-formed unit personnel on station. The EAW does not include the flying units at the station.

The current Station Commander is dual-hatted; as the commander of the Wing and Station.

Wings

The following Wings are currently lodged at RAF Marham:
* Operations Wing
* Base Support Wing (BSW)
* Depth Support Wing
* Forward Support Wing (FSW)
* Tactical Imagery Intelligence Wing
* 3(RAF) Force Protection Wing

quadrons

*No. 2 Squadron RAF - operating Tornado GR4A
*No. IX Squadron RAF - operating Tornado GR4
*No. 13 Squadron RAF - operating Tornado GR4A
*No. 31 Squadron RAF - operating Tornado GR4

The GR4A is the reconnaissance variant of the Panavia Tornado.

* 93 (Expeditionary Armament) Squadron (Formerly Tactical Armament Squadron (TAS))
** Mission Statement: "To deliver and develop specialist, expeditionary armament capability to support UK defence policy".

* 2620 (County of Norfolk) Squadron Royal Auxiliary Air Force Regiment (2620 RAuxAF Regt)

Other units

* The Tornado (IDS) Engineering Development and Investigation Team (Tor (IDS) EDIT)

upported units

RAF Marham is "parent" to a number of external units:
* RAF Holbeach Bombing Range
* RAF Neatishead

Former squadrons

*No. 12 Squadron RAF 1993-1994 operating Panavia Tornado
*No. 15 Squadron RAF 1950-1951 operating Avro Lincoln
*No. 27 Squadron RAF 1983-1993 operating Panavia Tornado
*No. 35 Squadron RAF 1951-1956 operating Boeing Washington,English Electric Canberra
*No. 38 Squadron RAF 1937-1940 operating Fairey Hendon, Vickers Wellington
*No. 39 Squadron RAF 1993-2006 operating English Electric Canberra. Disbanded on 28 July 2006, ending 55 years of RAF Canberra operations.
*No. 44 Squadron RAF 1946-1951 operating Avro Lincoln, Boeing Washington
*No. 49 Squadron RAF 1961-1965 operating Vickers Valiant
*No. 51 Squadron RAF 1917-1919 operating RAF FE.2b
*No. 55 Squadron RAF 1966-1993 operating Handley Page Victor
*No. 57 Squadron RAF 1951-1951 operating Avro Lincoln, Boeing Washington
*No. 90 Squadron RAF 1950-1956 operating Avro Lincoln, Boeing Washington, English Electric Canberra
*No. 100 Squadron RAF 1976-1982 operating English Electric Canberra
*No. 105 Squadron RAF 1942-1944 operating De Havilland Mosquito
*No. 109 Squadron RAF 1943-1944 operating De Havilland Mosquito
*No. 115 Squadron RAF 1937-1941 operating Fairey Hendon, Handley Page Harrow, Vickers Wellington
*No. 115 Squadron RAF 1950-1957 operating Avro Lincoln, Boeing Washington, English Electric Canberra
*No. 139 Squadron RAF 1942-1943 operating De Havilland Mosquito
*No. 148 Squadron RAF 1956-1965 operating Vickers Valiant
*No. 149 Squadron RAF 1950-1950 operating Avro Lincoln
*No. 207 Squadron RAF 1951-1956 operating Boeing Washington, English Electric Canberra
*No. 207 Squadron RAF 1956-1965 operating Vickers Valiant
*No. 214 Squadron RAF 1956-1965 operating Vickers Valiant
*No. 214 Squadron RAF 1966-1977 operating Handley Page Victor
*No. 218 Squadron RAF 1940-1942 operating Vickers Wellington, Short Stirling
*No. 242 Squadron RAF 1959-1964 operating Bristol Bloodhound
*No. 617 Squadron RAF 1983-1994 operating Panavia Tornado GR1

*No 232 OCU operating Handley Page Victor K2

External links

* [http://www.raf.mod.uk/rafmarham/ RAF Marham official site]
* [http://www.servicepals.com/index.cfm/pcms/site.gallery.view_tag/tag/Marham Gallery of Marham images] from [http://www.servicepals.com/ ServicePals.com]
*WAD|EGYM

References

ee also

*Royal Air Force station
*List of RAF stations
*List of Royal Air Force aircraft squadrons