RAF Lakenheath
| RAF Lakenheath | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Characteristics | |
| ICAO code | EGUL |
| IATA code | LKZ |
| Coordinates | |
| Height above MSL | 10 m (33 ft ) |
| Transport links | |
| Distance from the city center | 46 km northeast of Cambridge |
| Street |
 5 km to the 
|
| Basic data | |
| opening | 1941 |
| operator | United States Air Force |
| Start-and runway | |
| 06/24 | 2743 m of concrete / asphalt |
The Royal Air Force Station Lakenheath , RAF Lakenheath for short , is a military airfield used by the United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) in the United Kingdom , between Cambridge and Thetford in the county of Suffolk , East Anglia . In addition to the RAF Mildenhall base in the south-west, the base is one of two remaining USAFE bases in England, which are still based on squadrons. Lakenheath and Mildenhall are USAFE's largest sites in Great Britain, with around 4,500 soldiers and 2,000 civilians working in Lakenheath alone.
From 2020 RAF Lakenheath is to become the first European Lockheed Martin F-35 base of the USAF and receive two squadrons of 24 "Joint Strike Fighters" each. The expansion of the base began in mid-2019, while RAF Mildenhall is scheduled to close from 2023.
history
The military airfield was built in 1940, in the initial phase of the Second World War , initially as a pseudo target for the German air force : attackers who were aiming at the neighboring RAF Mildenhall airfield were to be confused with lights and dummy aircraft made of plywood. This was followed by a full-fledged military airfield with three A-shaped runways, which later played a role in the bombing of German cities , as one of three Mildenhall satellite sites (alongside Newmarket and Tuddenham) in Lakenheath . In 1944 the airfield was closed and expanded to accommodate a formation with Boeing B-29 Superfortress . Due to the end of the war, however, these bombers were initially not stationed.
But as early as the spring of 1947, when the Cold War began, the first B-29s were moved from the USA . In 1948, Strategic Air Command (SAC) B-29s were permanently stationed. At the end of 1948 the base was subordinated to the USAFE, but until the end of the 1950s it was still used by the SAC's bomber and tank units, who relocated from the USA for this purpose.
In 1959, the nuclear-armed US fighter planes stationed in France had to leave the country at the behest of President de Gaulle and Lakenheath became the base for the three squadrons of F-100 Super Saber fighter-bombers of the 48th Tactical Fighter Wing , previously stationed in Chaumont . The three squadrons, then as now the 492nd , 493rd and 494th , flew the F-100 until 1974.
After a five-year interlude with the F-4D Phantom II (from late 1971 to 1977), the squadron converted to the F-111F , with which four squadrons were equipped (the fourth was the 495th ). The F-111 flew sorties against Libya ( Operation El Dorado Canyon ) and Iraq in the Second Gulf War .
The last F-111 left the base at the end of 1992 after the first new F-15E Strike Eagles had already arrived in England in the course of the year . However, only two squadrons were equipped with this version. The F-15C series received a third season after the previous main base in Europe, Bitburg Air Base , had been closed.
The airfield came into the German public eye on March 2, 2011, when several soldiers from the base were killed in a shootout at Frankfurt Airport .
Todays use
The base currently (2015) hosts the following flying associations:
- 48th Fighter Wing ( Squadron ), called the Liberty Wing, with three squadrons F-15C / D / E Eagle / Strike Eagle , the 492nd , 493rd and 494th Fighter Squadron , the 493rd flies the F-15C / D, both of them the rest of the F-15E
- 56th Rescue Squadron with HH-60G Pave Hawk Combat Search and Rescue helicopters
Others
There are 60 Hardened Aircraft Shelters on the base. During the Cold War, in addition to the four F-111F squadrons of the 48th Tactical Fighter Wing, there was another squadron in England that flew the F-111. The 20th Tactical Fighter Wing , equipped with three squadrons of F-111E, was based in RAF Upper Heyford in Oxfordshire from 1971 to 1993 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ USAF starts construction of permanent F-35 base in Europe, Janes, July 16, 2019
- ↑ Mildenhall US air base personnel to move to Cotswolds by 2023
- ^ Report on faz.net from March 3, 2011 , accessed on March 3, 2011
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