We arrived at the former RAF Base to find that a lot of it seemed to have a old pig farm on the runway . Thought I saw a pill box or battle head quarters lookout concrete shape in the distance so decided to have a look about in the old pig buildings and work my way up to it . The pig farm seemed to of been left to rot as the law changed so pigs couldn't be intensely farmed in tiny spaces ,or kept in like a holding cage as the piglets suckled the mothers teets. This was to prevent the sow ( mom pig ) from squashing the baby piglets but was deemed cruel as the mother pig was held in 1 point most of the time ..I think now all farmers raise there pigs outside in big open fields where the mother pig and piglets can roam about freely in much bigger open spaces which is good ..
THE FEELING I EXPERIENCED walking about and exploring the pig side of the place made me feel quite sick and very much opened up my eyes to how it must of been for the animals .A horrible feeling of dread was in that place and I was glad to get back out eventually to find that I had found the BATTLE HEAD QUARTERS OF RAF METHWOLD ... I hope you enjoy the explore and thanks for watching ..
wikipedia info
.RAF Methwold opened as a dispersal airfield for RAF Feltwell in the winter of 1938. Vickers Wellington bombers from Feltwell continued to use the site as a satellite base until the grass airfield was transferred to No. 2 Group in the exchange of bases with No. 3 Group, in the summer of 1942. Several asphalt hardstandings were put down for aircraft during 1940-1941.
In August 1943, the airfield was closed to flying while it was upgraded to A standard. Three concrete runways were built, the main aligned on 06-24 (2,000 yards), 11-29 (1,600 yards) and 17-35 (1,500 yards). 36 hardstandings were built, 35 of the loop type and a single pan. The original asphalt pans were not retained.
Following this work, RAF Methwold was a higher standard base than its parent at Feltwell. The airfield was returned to No. 3 Group and became a sub-station of RAF Mildenhall.
43 aircraft either failed to return or crashed during the operations from RAF Methwold; 25 Venturas, 6 Stirlings, and 12 Lancasters.
Units[edit]
Based units[1]
No. 57 Squadron RAF
No. 214 Squadron RAF
No. 21 Squadron RAF
No. 464 Squadron RAAF
No. 487 Squadron RNZAF
No. 149 Squadron RAF
No. 218 Squadron RAF
No. 207 Squadron RAF
No. 320 (Netherlands) Squadron RAF
No. 3 Flying Training School RAF
No. 3 Service Flying Training School RAF
No. 21 Heavy Glider Maintenance Section
Current use[edit]
After closure as an operational airfield in April 1946, the airfield remained under care and maintenance until it was finally sold in the 1960s. Today the majority of the site has been returned to agriculture, with two hangars remaining in use as agricultural grain stores and two others used for packaging Quorn and Cauldron products (Marlow Foods) for sale in supermarkets. To the southern edge of the site a well-preserved battle headquarters and some gunpits along with a number of air raid shelters may be found.
28 окт 2023
