This report is a re-visit of a past report. The first one being a copy and paste from Wikipedia because I was at the time, a lazy tit. This report has been written by me, with zero plagiarism. I have used multiple sources and tried to include as much information as possible. Hopefully you all enjoy, albeit a long read, I believe that I have covered all major incidents and notable events at the base during its time.
RAF Sculthorpe was originally to be named RAF Tattersett due to its location, in the village Tattersett. King’s Lynn post office refused to serve the site due to it being on the edge of their delivery area, therefore the base was designated RAF Sculthorpe so that Fakenham’s post office would serve the base. Originally, when built the base operated from grass runways. The base was built as a satellite field to RAF Raynham, which itself was a satellite field to RAF Great Massingham. Both sites still stand, but Massingham exists as a private airfield, and Raynham as a business park. Both Raynham and Sculthorpe have active heritage centres, whereas Massingham just exists as a private airfield. Raynham was decommissioned around the same time. Raynham being a Bloodhound anti-air base, and the base was where Flight lieutenant Alan Pollock was arrested after buzzing parliament, various airfields and flying through tower bridge in London. To this day, Mr Pollock is the only pilot to have flown a jet aircraft through tower bridge. I will write up a report on Mr Pollock’s actions another time and may publish it depending on the reception of this report.
RAF Sculthorpe was rebuilt as a very heavy bomber base (VHB) in 1942, with work coming to an end in 1943. The base was host to various foreign fighter squadrons and was refurbished for the USAF in 1949 in response to the Berlin crisis, and in 1952 became home to its first USAF squadron – the 49th Air Division. In 1957 the base was home to 10,000 airmen. An end of use date is quoted as 2nd October 1992. The base was retained by MoD Estates, but in 1997 the domestic and technical sites were sold to the Welbeck estate group. The housing was refurbished for living in, and was named Blenheim park. The technical site is now an industrial site, although it is eerily quiet considering the base’s past. The remaining accommodation blocks, nursery, and food hall are rife with vandalism and copious amounts of graffiti.
As of current, August 2022, the runway is an active training ground for the USAF’s 352nd SOG although the control tower was demolished in February 2022. A sad loss, but the building was structurally unsafe, and people were trespassing on active training grounds to gain access. The MoD could not justify keeping the building, and so it was listed for demolition. On a positive note, lots of memorabilia was recovered by the Heritage centre’s Ian Brown. Typically, visiting aircraft are CV-22 Ospreys and MC130 Hercules. Notable visits to the site include AH-64 Apache gunships, The A400M and at one point, a C17 Globemaster. Occasionally, there have been live firing exercises.
In 1958, there was an incident that led to the base being put on lockdown. Master Sargent Leander Cunningham, an atomic weapon technician, suffered a mental breakdown and locked himself in a room with components of an atomic bomb. Armed with a Colt .45 and threatening to shoot the bomb, the base was instantly put into lockdown. If an atomic weapon was to have been detonated, it would have rendered a large portion of Norfolk uninhabitable. Little did Cunningham know, the components he was barricaded in with would not detonate any weapons. Eight hours of negotiations with his wife, Chaplin, medical team and senior officers, eventually persuaded Cunningham into standing down and he was subsequently placed in medical care. The USAF and UK government were quick to silence what had happened. Local newspapers had a field day with the possibility of nuclear weapons rendering a chunk of the UK radioactive, and the event even caused a stir in the house of commons, with MPs debating the safety of nuclear weapons.
In 1990, an F111 Aardvark flying out of RAF Lakenheath suffered a first stage fan disk failure, leading to an engine fire. Both pilot and weapons operator – Captain David F. Ratcliffe and Lt. Brian W. Kirkwood ejected the aircraft safely and were both transported to RAF Lakenheath’s medical unit. The aircraft itself crashed feet from Binham priory, 8 miles from RAF Sculthorpe. Thanks to the curator of Sculthorpe’s heritage centre, Ian Brown, footage of the crash can be found online. A police constable at the time told the reporters that everyone was safe and accounted for, and that one of the pilot’s had suffered a “sprained back”.
During the floods of 1953, the base played a large part in the rescue and recovery of the local area. Two notable efforts from soldiers are commemorated via a plaque and footpath named after one of the soldiers located in Hunstanton. Mr Reis Lemming and Mr Freeman A Kilpatrick were both awarded the George medal for their efforts in rescuing 45 people between them. Both men’s medals are on display with the RAF Sculthorpe Heritage centre.
In 1939, in the build up to WW2, the government calculated that they only had enough fuel to last a week, so began the GPSS project – the Government Pipelines and Storage System. This project was an ambitious one at best, leading to hundreds of underground storage tanks being built across the country to store enough fuel to maintain a strong fleet of fighter aircraft and bombers. One was built in Great Massingham, with a pipeline being built in the 1950s from the Massingham fuel storage site to RAF Sculthorpe to accommodate a fleet of Convair B36 heavy bomber aircraft, which took 24 hours to refuel, and had 10 engines. By the time that the pipeline had been completed, the B36s had left, but the remaining aircraft made use of the pipeline, proving itself as an asset to the base. One end of the pipeline is still visible at the RAF Sculthorpe end, being visible from the B1154, where it joins the A148. The pipeline at the Massingham site has been deconstructed, with nothing left to see other than a concrete pathway leading to where the pumps once stood.
Another notable mention about the base is the Jiu Jitsu flights during the cold war. These were top secret reconnaissance missions over the Soviet Union, to gain information about placement of Soviet anti-air and radar installations. These flights consisted of American RB-45 aircraft, crewed by British airmen and painted with the RAF insignias. This was down to the British wanting to prove their worth to the Americans, and to further their “special relationship”.
This mission was kept secret from the airmen who were piloting the aircraft, to give them plausible deniability. If they were captured or questioned, their excuse was that the RAF was “evaluating the mid-air refuelling capabilities of the RB-45”. These missions were halted at the 11th hour by Winston Churchill upon recommendation from the Home Secretary, who thought that the British were doing the American’s dirty work for them, yet two years later these missions took place again. This was due to the need for information on the arms that the Russians were keeping. The first mission took place on the 17th of April 1952. It is noted that after the cancellation, the aircraft returned to the United States in their RAF markings still. The second series of flights took place on the 28th of April 1954, with the aircraft venturing deeper into the Soviet Union. By this time, the Soviet air defences had been significantly advanced, with one plane experiencing heavy flak fire, and then being targeted by MiG-15 aircraft, which had been instructed to ram the RB-45. This RB-45 missed its refuelling rendezvous, making the flight home impossible. Subsequently, it landed at Furstenfeldbruck air force base in West Germany. The personnel at the base were bewildered. Out of nowhere, an American RB-45 with RAF markings had landed unannounced from the wrong side of the “Iron Curtain” in the early hours of the morning. The aircraft successfully refuelled and continued its journey back to RAF Sculthorpe. The operations were deemed a massive success for both the UK and the US. One of the flight log books is currently on loan to the RAF Sculthorpe Heritage centre.
As I have mentioned before, Ian Brown at the RAF Sculthorpe Heritage centre has done an amazing job over the years and houses various artefacts from different periods of the base’s life. Starting in 2019 in his garage, and later being offered space in the base’s old all ranks club, Mr Brown has done some amazing work, and even earning recognition by HM Queen Elizabeth II.
I've attached a couple photos. Link to the rest of the photos below, way too many to publish on this report. Thank you for taking the time to read my long ass report!
RAF Sculthorpe was originally to be named RAF Tattersett due to its location, in the village Tattersett. King’s Lynn post office refused to serve the site due to it being on the edge of their delivery area, therefore the base was designated RAF Sculthorpe so that Fakenham’s post office would serve the base. Originally, when built the base operated from grass runways. The base was built as a satellite field to RAF Raynham, which itself was a satellite field to RAF Great Massingham. Both sites still stand, but Massingham exists as a private airfield, and Raynham as a business park. Both Raynham and Sculthorpe have active heritage centres, whereas Massingham just exists as a private airfield. Raynham was decommissioned around the same time. Raynham being a Bloodhound anti-air base, and the base was where Flight lieutenant Alan Pollock was arrested after buzzing parliament, various airfields and flying through tower bridge in London. To this day, Mr Pollock is the only pilot to have flown a jet aircraft through tower bridge. I will write up a report on Mr Pollock’s actions another time and may publish it depending on the reception of this report.
RAF Sculthorpe was rebuilt as a very heavy bomber base (VHB) in 1942, with work coming to an end in 1943. The base was host to various foreign fighter squadrons and was refurbished for the USAF in 1949 in response to the Berlin crisis, and in 1952 became home to its first USAF squadron – the 49th Air Division. In 1957 the base was home to 10,000 airmen. An end of use date is quoted as 2nd October 1992. The base was retained by MoD Estates, but in 1997 the domestic and technical sites were sold to the Welbeck estate group. The housing was refurbished for living in, and was named Blenheim park. The technical site is now an industrial site, although it is eerily quiet considering the base’s past. The remaining accommodation blocks, nursery, and food hall are rife with vandalism and copious amounts of graffiti.
As of current, August 2022, the runway is an active training ground for the USAF’s 352nd SOG although the control tower was demolished in February 2022. A sad loss, but the building was structurally unsafe, and people were trespassing on active training grounds to gain access. The MoD could not justify keeping the building, and so it was listed for demolition. On a positive note, lots of memorabilia was recovered by the Heritage centre’s Ian Brown. Typically, visiting aircraft are CV-22 Ospreys and MC130 Hercules. Notable visits to the site include AH-64 Apache gunships, The A400M and at one point, a C17 Globemaster. Occasionally, there have been live firing exercises.
In 1958, there was an incident that led to the base being put on lockdown. Master Sargent Leander Cunningham, an atomic weapon technician, suffered a mental breakdown and locked himself in a room with components of an atomic bomb. Armed with a Colt .45 and threatening to shoot the bomb, the base was instantly put into lockdown. If an atomic weapon was to have been detonated, it would have rendered a large portion of Norfolk uninhabitable. Little did Cunningham know, the components he was barricaded in with would not detonate any weapons. Eight hours of negotiations with his wife, Chaplin, medical team and senior officers, eventually persuaded Cunningham into standing down and he was subsequently placed in medical care. The USAF and UK government were quick to silence what had happened. Local newspapers had a field day with the possibility of nuclear weapons rendering a chunk of the UK radioactive, and the event even caused a stir in the house of commons, with MPs debating the safety of nuclear weapons.
In 1990, an F111 Aardvark flying out of RAF Lakenheath suffered a first stage fan disk failure, leading to an engine fire. Both pilot and weapons operator – Captain David F. Ratcliffe and Lt. Brian W. Kirkwood ejected the aircraft safely and were both transported to RAF Lakenheath’s medical unit. The aircraft itself crashed feet from Binham priory, 8 miles from RAF Sculthorpe. Thanks to the curator of Sculthorpe’s heritage centre, Ian Brown, footage of the crash can be found online. A police constable at the time told the reporters that everyone was safe and accounted for, and that one of the pilot’s had suffered a “sprained back”.
During the floods of 1953, the base played a large part in the rescue and recovery of the local area. Two notable efforts from soldiers are commemorated via a plaque and footpath named after one of the soldiers located in Hunstanton. Mr Reis Lemming and Mr Freeman A Kilpatrick were both awarded the George medal for their efforts in rescuing 45 people between them. Both men’s medals are on display with the RAF Sculthorpe Heritage centre.
In 1939, in the build up to WW2, the government calculated that they only had enough fuel to last a week, so began the GPSS project – the Government Pipelines and Storage System. This project was an ambitious one at best, leading to hundreds of underground storage tanks being built across the country to store enough fuel to maintain a strong fleet of fighter aircraft and bombers. One was built in Great Massingham, with a pipeline being built in the 1950s from the Massingham fuel storage site to RAF Sculthorpe to accommodate a fleet of Convair B36 heavy bomber aircraft, which took 24 hours to refuel, and had 10 engines. By the time that the pipeline had been completed, the B36s had left, but the remaining aircraft made use of the pipeline, proving itself as an asset to the base. One end of the pipeline is still visible at the RAF Sculthorpe end, being visible from the B1154, where it joins the A148. The pipeline at the Massingham site has been deconstructed, with nothing left to see other than a concrete pathway leading to where the pumps once stood.
Another notable mention about the base is the Jiu Jitsu flights during the cold war. These were top secret reconnaissance missions over the Soviet Union, to gain information about placement of Soviet anti-air and radar installations. These flights consisted of American RB-45 aircraft, crewed by British airmen and painted with the RAF insignias. This was down to the British wanting to prove their worth to the Americans, and to further their “special relationship”.
This mission was kept secret from the airmen who were piloting the aircraft, to give them plausible deniability. If they were captured or questioned, their excuse was that the RAF was “evaluating the mid-air refuelling capabilities of the RB-45”. These missions were halted at the 11th hour by Winston Churchill upon recommendation from the Home Secretary, who thought that the British were doing the American’s dirty work for them, yet two years later these missions took place again. This was due to the need for information on the arms that the Russians were keeping. The first mission took place on the 17th of April 1952. It is noted that after the cancellation, the aircraft returned to the United States in their RAF markings still. The second series of flights took place on the 28th of April 1954, with the aircraft venturing deeper into the Soviet Union. By this time, the Soviet air defences had been significantly advanced, with one plane experiencing heavy flak fire, and then being targeted by MiG-15 aircraft, which had been instructed to ram the RB-45. This RB-45 missed its refuelling rendezvous, making the flight home impossible. Subsequently, it landed at Furstenfeldbruck air force base in West Germany. The personnel at the base were bewildered. Out of nowhere, an American RB-45 with RAF markings had landed unannounced from the wrong side of the “Iron Curtain” in the early hours of the morning. The aircraft successfully refuelled and continued its journey back to RAF Sculthorpe. The operations were deemed a massive success for both the UK and the US. One of the flight log books is currently on loan to the RAF Sculthorpe Heritage centre.
As I have mentioned before, Ian Brown at the RAF Sculthorpe Heritage centre has done an amazing job over the years and houses various artefacts from different periods of the base’s life. Starting in 2019 in his garage, and later being offered space in the base’s old all ranks club, Mr Brown has done some amazing work, and even earning recognition by HM Queen Elizabeth II.
I've attached a couple photos. Link to the rest of the photos below, way too many to publish on this report. Thank you for taking the time to read my long ass report!
