The History of RAF Coltishall

Planned as a bomber station, the construction of Royal Air Force Coltishall began in February 1939, but it was pressed into use as a fighter station in May 1940 while still incomplete. The Station has remained continuously in use as a fighter station to this day. This long association with air defence is commemorated in the Station badge and its motto Aggressive in Defence.

On 29 May 1940, RAF Coltishall welcomed its first Squadron. Under the command of Squadron Leader Rupert Leigh, No 66 Squadron with their Spitfire Mk1's moved the short distance from another Norfolk airfield at RAF Watton. They were joined three days later by No 242 Squadron, a Hurricane squadron manned mainly by Canadian pilots who had joined the Royal Air Force prior to the start of the war. Coinciding with their arrival at RAF Coltishall was the appointment of a new Squadron commander, a 30 year old fighter pilot with artificial legs - Squadron Leader Douglas Bader.

RAF Coltishall was declared fully operational to N^o 12 Group (Fighter Command) at 00:01hrs on 23rd June 1940 by the Station Commander, Wing Commander W K Beisiegal

The first recorded kill of the Battle of Britain is credited to No 66 Squadron. Following a 04:40hrs take off, Sergeant F N Robertson, flying his Spitfire Mk 1 (aircraft N3035) accompanied by two other Spitfires climbed to 15000 feet and intercepted a lone Dornier 17 bomber in the skies over Winterton. The gunner of the enemy aircraft successfully hit one of the Spitfires forcing him to return to base, the remaining pair continued the assault until Sergeant Robertson mortally wounded the Dornier which crashed into the sea. As the battle progressed, the Station was used as a base for resting Squadrons from No 11 Group in South East England, but the Station’s own Squadrons played an aggressive part, belonging to the celebrated ‘Duxford Wing’ and destroying a total of 80 enemy aircraft. Famous ‘aces’ such as Stanford Tuck, ‘Sailor’ Malan, 'Cats Eyes' Cunningham and Johnnie Johnson all flew from the base during WWII.

On the 8th August 1945 RAF Coltishall was handed over to the Polish Air Force and became RAF Coltishall (Polish) under the command of Group Captain T H Polski. This change was to see the transfer of personnel from No 133 Polish Wing HQ, No's 306, 309 and 315 Squadrons in addition to No's 6306, 6309, and 6315 (Polish) Servicing Echelons. The station was handed back to RAF Fighter Command in February 1946.

In 1951 RAF Coltishall said farewell to a trusted stalwart of Fighter Command. The Mosquito first saw action at Coltishall during WWII, and ever since that time had served with various squadrons in many forms. The Mosquito NF36's of No 141 Squadron left Coltishall in September 1951 and were dispersed to various other units. The aircrew remained away from Coltishall until they re-equipped and trained on the new Meteor NF11.

Early in 1957 a contract was let to extend the runway and to strengthen both the runway and taxiways, during this period the aircraft were moved to RAF Horsham St Faith near Norwich. Whilst on this detachment both Coltishall squadrons began to re-equip with the Javelin FAW 4 aircraft, and in doing so became the first Javelin Wing in Fighter Command.

1958 saw extensive alterations to the station and in preparation for the arrival of the Air Fighter Development Squadron (AFDS) of the Central Fighter Establishment (CFE) and the very first Lightnings into RAF service . The first of the pre-production Lightnings to be delivered was XG334/A which arrived at Coltishall on 23 December 1959 followed by XG335/B and XG336/C a few days after Christmas.

Towards the end of 1959 Coltishall's resident Hunter unit, No 74 Sqn, were informed that they were to be the first front line operational squadron in the RAF to be equipped with the Mach 2 capable English Electric Lightning.

On the 29th June 1960 No 74 Squadron became the first operational Lightning equipped RAF squadron.

From 13 April 1964 to 30 September 1974, Coltishall was the home of No 226 Operational Conversion Unit. Its role, to train pilots to fly the Mach 2 Lightning Interceptor. Prior to the disbandment of the OCU in 1974, 810 pilots had been trained to fly this mighty aircraft.

In April 1963 Coltishall became the home to the Historic Aircraft Flight, which would later become the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight. As the last of the Lightnings left the base in 1974 to be replaced by the Anglo-French Jaguar. It became obvious that more space was needed at Coltishall and therefore in 1976 the decision was made to relocate the battle of Britain memorial Flight to Coningsby in Lincolnshire. In an emotional send off, 7000 local people gathered to bid farewell to these historic aircraft.

In February 1965 Denis Healey publicly revealed that an agreement in principle had been forged between the UK and French governments to jointly develop a new aircraft. A Memorandum of Understanding was signed in May of the same year. The aircraft was to be called the Jaguar and the Royal Air Force was to get 150.

The first Jaguar squadron at RAF Coltishall was No 54 (Fighter) Squadron, arriving on the 8th August 1974 from Coningsby under the command of Wing Commander Terry Carlton.

Wing Commander John Quarterman led No 6 Squadron south from RAF Lossiemouth in November 1974, from where it had re-equipped with the Jaguar.

No 41 Squadron arrived at Coltishall in April 1977, this Squadron like No 54 Squadron was converted from the Phantom FGR2, and had also been based at Coningsby.

Until 1990 the Jaguar was never used in anger, however the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait changed this situation. Once the backbone of the RAF Ground Attack Force, the Jaguar had largely been replace by the Tornado GR1. Despite their age, the Jaguar could offer vital low level ground attack capability as 'Tank Busters' should the Iraqi army advance into Saudi Arabia.

As the situation progressed RAF Coltishall assembled a composite squadron, together with 300 personnel to support them. The desert camouflage paint arrive at the station shortly before midnight the day before the Jaguars departure. It was all hands to the pumps, including the employment of Air Training Corps cadets on summer camp. Their acheivement was superb, 10 Aircraft were re-painted in full desert camouflage in less than 5 hours.

RAF Coltishall has hosted aircraft other than fighters during it's long history. This tradition goes back to the war years when No 278 Squadron flew Anson, Lysander, Defiant and Walrus aircraft from Coltishall. In more recent history Wessex and Sea King helicopters were based here in the Search and Rescue role, this role ended in July 1994 as part of the reorganization of the Royal Air Force’s Search and Rescue assets.

Source - http://192.5.30.122/rafcoltishall//index.html