RAF Coltishall, Norfolk
The base was built in 1939 for the second world war specifically for fighters, the Hawker Hurricane, then it stationed night fighters with Supermarine Spitfires. After the war various units and aircraft were housed there, including V Bombers, de Havilland Mosquitos, Gloster Javelins and Lightning F1's, which were subsequently replaced with the Sepecat Jaguar. During the Cold War, Coltishall played host to several United States Air Force Coronet deployments. In the 1990's, the Jaguars were deployed to enforce a no fly zone over the Balkans and Iraq. It was also home to the Search and Rescue helicopters, conducting air-sea rescues. Coltishall eventually became the last surviving operational RAF airfield involved in the Battle of Britain other than RAF Northolt, and a visible remnant in the form of a Second World War revetment still stands on the North-West taxiway and, together with one of the two sets of 1950s blast walls, is now a scheduled monument. With the arrival of the Eurofighter Typhoon in the RAF, the gradual retirement of the Jaguar force began. Coltishall was not chosen as a future Typhoon airfield, and so, with no future RAF role for Coltishall, the station was earmarked for closure. After closing in 2006 the site was sold to Norfolk County Council for £4 million. It now houses various business and is known as Scottow Business Park. Many of the buildings are in use or being refurbished for use, most recently the Officers Mess being used to house asylum seekers, and there is a huge solar farm in the middle of the airfield complete with sheep!
I had a good wander round the airfield perimeter, stopping at each building or point of interest. The runways are in perfect condition and could easily be put to use if needed. All the buildings were locked or fenced off, so I couldn't gain access to any of them, but I managed to take some good pictures of the exterior of the buildings. There were loads of blast walls on the airfield, apparently to protect aircraft that were stored there. The most interesting thing I found was the Jaguar engine test facility. Not touched since it was last used it seems! Here are some of my favourite pictures that feature the airfield and some of the buildings around the site.
