I have been noticing a lot of airfields marked on OS maps on my memory maps software and after a little bit of research on the web and using google earth discovered that most of them date to WW2, Decided to investigate one and this is my first report:
First a brief history from wiki:
RAF Shepherds Grove is a former Royal Air Force base in Suffolk England 9 miles NE of Bury St Edmunds.
The base was built for the United States Army Air Force Eighth Air Force during World War II. However the facility was not used by the USAAF and was opened by 3 Group, RAF on 3 April 1944. The name came from a small copse nearby and the airfield is close to Walsham le Willows in Suffolk.
It was occupied by 196 squadron in January 1945 as a base for Operation Varsity, supporting the Rhine crossing.
During the cold war years it was occupied by various arms of the USAF and was also used as a storage facility for nuclear weapons in the 1950s and 1960s.
On 22 July 1956, No. 82 Squadron RAF was activated at Shepherds Grove as a Thor missile unit. Thor launching sites were built on the main airfield and became operational in 1959.
The base was closed in 1966.
Part of the main airfield site is now an industrial estate. In 2007 the remaining runway was taken up and buildings demolished, the clearance was completed in 2008 when all remnants of the airfield were removed and crushed. The remaining site is now for sale for development as industrial land. It is proposed to site a waste incinerator on the site.
Despite their now being an industrial site there, some of the old building remain and are occupied. Was good to see them still standing and in use
The old entrance to the base, now used by a huge DHL warehouse
All thats left of the perimeter road to the north end of the runway
This was used for parachute training according to a guy i was speaking to there
This building was empty and the only one that was accessable, it had been used as offices recently, apparently it was the old guardhouse/jailhouse in WW2 according to the same guy i spoke to, not sure if that true or not
First a brief history from wiki:
RAF Shepherds Grove is a former Royal Air Force base in Suffolk England 9 miles NE of Bury St Edmunds.
The base was built for the United States Army Air Force Eighth Air Force during World War II. However the facility was not used by the USAAF and was opened by 3 Group, RAF on 3 April 1944. The name came from a small copse nearby and the airfield is close to Walsham le Willows in Suffolk.
It was occupied by 196 squadron in January 1945 as a base for Operation Varsity, supporting the Rhine crossing.
During the cold war years it was occupied by various arms of the USAF and was also used as a storage facility for nuclear weapons in the 1950s and 1960s.
On 22 July 1956, No. 82 Squadron RAF was activated at Shepherds Grove as a Thor missile unit. Thor launching sites were built on the main airfield and became operational in 1959.
The base was closed in 1966.
Part of the main airfield site is now an industrial estate. In 2007 the remaining runway was taken up and buildings demolished, the clearance was completed in 2008 when all remnants of the airfield were removed and crushed. The remaining site is now for sale for development as industrial land. It is proposed to site a waste incinerator on the site.
Despite their now being an industrial site there, some of the old building remain and are occupied. Was good to see them still standing and in use
The old entrance to the base, now used by a huge DHL warehouse
All thats left of the perimeter road to the north end of the runway
This was used for parachute training according to a guy i was speaking to there
This building was empty and the only one that was accessable, it had been used as offices recently, apparently it was the old guardhouse/jailhouse in WW2 according to the same guy i spoke to, not sure if that true or not
