RAF Newmarket

RAF Newmarket was a Royal Air Force station located near Newmarket, Suffolk, England, near the border with Cambridgeshire. In the 1950s - 60s a new camp appeared under the name RAF Newmarket on the Dullingham Road.This was a Communications Unit under Signals Command and contained Eastern Communications Centre (Commcen Eastern) and North Eastern Communications Centre (Commcen North East) and staffed mainly by National Service and h Regular Personnel.The administration of this camp was from RAF Waterbeach. This was a relay station handling signals traffic between all RAF bases in the Eastern and North Eastern areas

History

File:Meteor DG202G at RAF Mueum London in November 2011.jpg

DG202/G, the prototype Gloster Meteor tested at RAF Newmarket, on display at the Royal Air Force Museum London in 2011.

The RAF station was actually a grass-strip on Newmarket's Rowley Mile Racecourse. The grass strip is still used by light aircraft today.

Operational units and aircraft

• No. 2 Squadron RAF detachment (1943) - North American Mustang I.
• No. 75 Squadron RAF (1942-1943) - Short Stirling I & III.
• No. 99 Squadron RAF (1939-1941) - Vickers Wellington I, IA & IC.
• No. 107 Squadron RAF detachment (1939-1941) - Bristol Blenheim I & IV.
• No. 138 Squadron RAF (1941) - Westland Lysander IIIA & Armstrong Whitworth Whitley V.
• No. 161 Squadron RAF (1942) - Westland Lysander IIIA, Lockheed Hudson I & Armstrong Whitworth Whitley V.
• No. 453 Squadron RAAF (1943 for one week) - Supermarine Spitfire VB.

Other Units

• No. 54 Maintenance Unit RAF

Early Jet Aircraft

In July and August 1942, ground running and taxiing tests were carried out at RAF Newmarket with a prototype of the new Gloster Meteor jet fighter.

2000 aircraft crash

In June 2000, a Piper Seneca plane crashed on take off, killing the pilot and injuring jockeys Ray Cochrane and Frankie Dettori. The plane was headed for Goodwood in Sussex. Cochrane received the Queen's Commendation for Bravery in 2002 for saving Dettori's life.

See also

• List of former Royal Air Force stations

References

Bibliography

• Jefford, C.G, MBE,BA,RAF (Retd). RAF Squadrons, a Comprehensive Record of the Movement and Equipment of all RAF Squadrons and their Antecedents since 1912. Shrewsbury, Shropshire, UK: Airlife Publishing, 2001. ISBN 1-84037-141-2.