Martlesham Heath

Coordinates: 52°03′40″N 1°16′21″E / 52.061177°N 1.272471°E / 52.061177; 1.272471

Martlesham Heath village is situated 6 miles east of Ipswich, in Suffolk, England. This was an ancient area of heathland and latterly the site of Martlesham Heath Airfield. A "new village" was established there in the mid-1970s and this has developed into a modern community, based on a traditional village pattern.

History

There is evidence of settlement in this area since the Bronze Age, with a number of round barrows surviving to the present. The main community of Martlesham grew up to the north-east, initially on the highest ground, where Martlesham Church is still located, then, later, centring on the point where the main London-to-Yarmouth road crosses the River Finn, a tributary to the Deben.

White's 1844 directory of Suffolk describes Martlesham as "a neat village near the confluence of a rivulet with the Deben" but mentions that the parish includes "a large, sandy, and unenclosed heath, extending about 2 miles S.W., and affording pasturage for numerous herds of sheep and cattle."

RAF Martlesham Heath

Royal Air Force Station Martlesham Heath or more simply RAF Martlesham Heath is a former Royal Air Force station located 1.5 miles (2.4 km) south west of Woodbridge, Suffolk, England. It was active between 1917 and 1963, and played an important role in the development of Airborne Interception radar.

History

RFC/RAF prewar use

Martlesham Heath was first used as a Royal Flying Corps airfield during World War I. In 1917 it became home to the Aeroplane Experimental Unit, RFC which moved from Upavon with the site named as the Aeroplane Experimental Station which became the Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment (A&AEE) in 1924. The A&AEE carried the evaluation and testing of many of the aircraft types and much of the armament and other equipment that would later be used during World War II.

No. 22 Squadron RAF and No. 15 Squadron RAF were present during the 1920s. No. 64 arrived in the 1930s.

RAF Fighter Command use

The A&AEE moved to RAF Boscombe Down on 9 September 1939 at the outbreak of World War II and Martlesham then became the most northerly station of No. 11 Group RAF, Fighter Command. Squadrons of Bristol Blenheim bombers, Hawker Hurricanes, Supermarine Spitfires and Hawker Typhoons operated from this airfield, and among the many pilots based there were such famous men as Robert Stanford Tuck, and Squadron Leader Douglas Bader, there as Commanding Officer of 242 Squadron. Ian Smith, the post-war Rhodesian prime minister, was at Martlesham for a time.

Martlesham

Coordinates: 52°04′24″N 1°16′55″E / 52.07327°N 1.28181°E / 52.07327; 1.28181

Martlesham is a village in Suffolk, England about two miles (3 km) South-West of Woodbridge and 6 miles (9.7 km) East of Ipswich. It is often referred to as "old Martlesham" by locals in order to distinguish this old village from the much more recent Martlesham Heath development (1 km) to the south although both form a single administrative parish. Also at Martlesham Heath is BT's Research and Development Centre, now called Adastral Park.

Martlesham was recorded in Domesday Book as Merlesham. The history and meaning of the name are studied in a paper by Briggs. It probably means `settlement (hām) near the mooring-place (mǣrels)'.

History

It is believed that there was a Roman settlement at Martlesham and in the parish there have been some 26 finds dating from the Roman occupation. These include pottery, brooches, coins and tesserae. Of particular note was the 19th century find of a small bronze statue of a horse on a plinth, bearing a Latin inscription indicating that this was an offering dedicated by a woman named Simplicia to the god Mars.

Heath

A heath or heathland is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and is characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with — especially in the British Isles — a cooler and more damp climate.

Heaths are widespread worldwide, but are fast disappearing and considered a rare habitat in Europe. They form extensive and highly diverse communities across Australia in humid and sub-humid areas. Fire regimes with recurring burning are required for the maintenance of the heathlands. Even more diverse though less widespread heath communities occur in Southern Africa. Extensive heath communities can also be found in the California chaparral, New Caledonia, central Chile and along the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. In addition to these extensive heath areas, the vegetation type is also found in scattered locations across all continents, except Antarctica.

Characteristics

Heathland is favoured where climatic conditions are typically warm and dry, particularly in summer, and soils acidic, of low fertility, and often sandy and very free-draining; mires do occur where drainage is poor, but are usually only small in extent. Heaths are dominated by low shrubs, 20 centimetres (7.9 in) to 2 metres (7 feet) tall.

356th Fighter Group

The 356th Fighter Group is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with the Army Service Forces, being stationed at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey. It was inactivated on 10 November 1945.

During World War II the group was an Eighth Air Force fighter unit stationed in England. Assigned to RAF Martlesham Heath in 1943. Despite excellent leadership had highest ratio of losses to enemy aircraft claims of all Eighth Air Force fighter groups. It earned a Distinguished Unit Citation for actions on 17, 18, and 23 September 1944 for support of Operation Market-Garden airborne forces in the Netherlands.

History

Organized and trained in the Northeast United States by First Air Force. During training was part of the air defense of the northeast, being attached to the New York and Boston Fighter Wings.

Deployed to England aboard the RMS Queen Elizabeth and served in combat as part of VIII Fighter Command from October 1943 to May 1945, participating in operations that prepared for the invasion of the Continent, and supporting the landings in Normandy and the subsequent Allied drive across France and Germany. The group flew P-47 Thunderbolts until they were replaced by P-51 Mustangs in November 1944. Aircraft of the 356th were identified by a magenta/blue diamond pattern around their cowling.