RAF Newmarket

RAF Newmarket was an Royal Air Force station located near Newmarket, Suffolk, England, near the border with Cambridgeshire.In the 1950's - 60's a new camp appeared under the name RAF Newmarket on the Dullingham Road.This was a Communications Unit under Signals Command and called Eastern Communications Centre,No7909 Reserve Flight,and staffed mainly by National Service and WAAF personnel with Regular Personnel in Senior Ranks.The administration of this camp appears to be from Duxford and the Comms link appears to be linked to RAF Watton.

History

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

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.