Royal Air Force Lakenheath or RAF Lakenheath is a Royal Air Force station near the village of Lakenheath in Suffolk, England, north-east of Mildenhall and west of Thetford. The installation's perimeter borders Brandon.
Despite being an RAF station, Lakenheath currently only hosts United States Air Force (USAF) units and military personnel. The host wing is the 48th Fighter Wing (48 FW), also known as the Liberty Wing, assigned to United States Air Forces in Europe - Air Forces Africa (USAFE-AFAFRICA). The wing operates the F-15E Strike Eagle and the F-35A Lightning II.
History
First World War The first use of Lakenheath Warren as a Royal Flying Corps airfield was during the First World War, when the area was made into a bombing and ground-attack range for aircraft flying from RFC Feltwell and RFC Thetford.
Second World War In 1940, the Air Ministry selected Lakenheath as an alternative for nearby RAF Mildenhall and used it as a decoy airfield. Surfaced runways were constructed in 1941, with the main runway being , and the two subsidiary runways at .
In late 1941, Lakenheath was used by RAF flying units on detachment. The station soon functioned as a Mildenhall satellite base with Short Stirling bombers of No. 149 Squadron dispersed from the parent airfield as conditions allowed. The squadron exchanged its Vickers Wellingtons for Stirlings late in November 1941. After becoming fully operational with its new aircraft, the squadron moved into Lakenheath on 6 April 1942 and remained until mid 1944 when the squadron moved the short distance to RAF Methwold, just inside Norfolk.
One Stirling pilot, Flight Sergeant Rawdon Middleton, was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for valour on the night of 28–29 November 1942, when despite serious face wounds and loss of blood from shell-fire during a raid on the Fiat works at Turin in Italy, he brought the damaged aircraft back towards southern England. With fuel nearly exhausted his crew were ordered to bail out.
On 21 June 1943, newly re-formed No. 199 Squadron re-located to RAF Lakenheath as a second Stirling squadron. It conducted mine laying operations at sea before moving to RAF North Creake in Norfolk on 1 May 1944. No. 149 Squadron ended its association with RAF Lakenheath the same month, taking its Stirlings to RAF Methwold. The reason for the departure of the two bomber squadrons was Lakenheath's selection for upgrading to a Very Heavy Bomber airfield, which left the airfield closed to aircraft until April 1947.
Strategic Air Command
Cold War tensions with the Soviet Union in Europe began as early as 1946. In November, President Harry S. Truman ordered Strategic Air Command (SAC) B-29 Superfortress bombers to Europe. Truman decided to realign United States Air Force Europe (USAFE) into a permanent combat-capable force. In July 1948, B-29s of the SAC 2nd Bombardment Group were deployed to Lakenheath. The first USAFE host unit at Lakenheath was the 7504th Base Completion Squadron, being activated in 1949.
Amongst other units present were 3913 Air Base Sqdn (1953-55, Lt Col Archie Thomas), 3910 Installation Sqdn (1955-59, Maj John F Thomas), and 3910 Air Base Group (1955-59, Col L M Thomas). On 30 April 1956, two Lockheed U-2s were airlifted to Lakenheath to form CIA Detachment A. The first flight of the U-2 was on 21 May. The Central Intelligence Agency unit did not remain long, moving to Wiesbaden Air Base, West Germany in June 1956.
On 10 October 1956, a United States Navy Douglas R6D-1 Liftmaster disappeared over the Atlantic Ocean after departure from RAF Lakenheath for a flight to Lajes Field in the Azores. The aircraft was on a Military Air Transport Service flight carrying 50 members of the 307th Bombardment Wing, on their way home to the United States after a temporary duty assignment and a US Navy crew of nine. All 59 personnel on board were lost.Grossnick, Roy A., United States Naval Aviation 1910–1995, Washington, D.C.: Naval Historical Center, undated , p. 214, claims the date was 11 October 1956.
48th Tactical Fighter Wing
Following French president Charles de Gaulle's insistence in 1959 that all non-French nuclear-capable forces should be withdrawn from his country, the USAF began a redeployment of its North American F-100-equipped units from France. The 48th Fighter Wing left its base at Chaumont-Semoutiers Air Base, France on 15 January 1960, its aircraft arriving at Lakenheath that afternoon.
The tactical components of the 48th TFW upon arrival at Lakenheath were:
492d Tactical Fighter Squadron (blue colours, later assigned tailcode 'LR') 493d Tactical Fighter Squadron (yellow colours, later assigned tailcode 'LS') 494th Tactical Fighter Squadron (red colours, later assigned tailcode 'LT')
Beginning in late 1971, the 48th TFW started its conversion to the McDonnell Douglas F-4D Phantom II, receiving aircraft that had previously served in Vietnam, with all squadrons now marked with the new 'LN' tailcode. The delivery of F-4s was intermittent, and working up to a full strength of 73 aircraft took 2½ years. Consequently the wing only resumed its full NATO and USAFE commitments on 1st July 1975.The History, Heritage and Heraldry of the 48th Fighter Wing, p. 6 However the F-4's service with the 48th Tactical Fighter Wing was short, as operation "Ready Switch" resulted in 48th Tactical Fighter Wing receiving General Dynamics F-111s in June 1977.
African-American Servicemembers during the Cold War After the US desegregated the military in 1948, a small community of mixed-race children, whose mothers were British and whose fathers were black American servicemembers based at Lakenheath, formed in Norwich.
Vanessa Baird, whose father was a black GI based in Lakenheath airfield and whose mother was a Liverpudlian, was born in April 1958. Her father did not know about the birth. Her mother's family was very disapproving after they found out. So Vanessa and her mother went to Norwich. There, according to Baird, some of the women married black GIs and went to the US with them.
Elaine Brown had a similar experience to Vanessa. Her mother met black GI Harold Grigsby when he was based at Lakenheath in the early 1950s. Her father was sent back to the US before Elaine was born in 1953. Elaine's mother told her her father's name and that he was from Washington DC. In 1996 with her husband Elaine finally found her father and met her American family.
F-111 operations, 1977-1992 RAF Lakenheath received its first General Dynamics F-111F Aardvarks in March 1977 as part of Operation "Ready Switch", a three-way aircraft exchange between USAF units. The transition from the McDonnell Douglas F-4D Phantom II was completed rapidly and without major difficulty, earning the 48th Tactical Fighter Wing an Air Force Outstanding Unit Award.
To support the new aircraft and its specialised training requirements, the 495th Tactical Fighter Squadron was activated on 1 April 1977 as a replacement training unit for the wing's other squadrons. This made the 48th Tactical Fighter Wing unique within the United States Air Forces in Europe as the only combat wing operating four fighter squadrons and its own training unit.
During the Cold War, the wing maintained a high state of readiness as part of NATO's deterrent forces, regularly conducting exercises and deployments across Europe and the Middle East. By 1979, the wing had flown the highest number of hours recorded by a F-111 unit in a single fiscal year.
In April 1986, F-111Fs from RAF Lakenheath participated in Operation El Dorado Canyon, carrying out long-range strike missions against targets in Libya in response to state-sponsored terrorism. The aircraft flew extended-duration missions from the United Kingdom to Libya and back, demonstrating the aircraft's long-range strike capability.
Following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990, the 48th Tactical Fighter Wing deployed F-111Fs and personnel to Saudi Arabia as part of Operation Desert Shield and subsequently Operation Desert Storm. During the conflict, Lakenheath-based aircraft flew thousands of combat sorties and delivered precision-guided munitions against a wide range of targets, including armoured vehicles, bunkers and airfields.
After the end of the Cold War, the USAF began phasing out the F-111. The 495th Tactical Fighter Squadron was deactivated in December 1991, and the remaining aircraft were withdrawn during 1992 as RAF Lakenheath transitioned to the McDonnell Douglas F-15E Strike Eagle.
F-15 operations, 1992–present
Lakenheath received its first McDonnell Douglas F-15E Strike Eagles in 1992, marking the beginning of continuous F-15 operations at the base. On 16 December 1992, the last F-111 departed the base. Along with its departure, the 493d FS was inactivated, before being reactivated as an F-15C/D unit. The squadron received its first aircraft in November 1993 in preparation for its reactivation on 1 January 1994, achieving full operational capability in July 1994.The History, Heritage and Heraldry of the 48th Fighter Wing, p. 9
On 22 March 2011, F-15E 91-0304 crash-landed and was destroyed in eastern Libya after reportedly suffering from a mechanical failure. Both crewmen ejected and were safely recovered.
On 8 October 2014, F-15D 86-0182 belonging to the 493d Fighter Squadron crashed during a training flight in a field outside Spalding, Lincolnshire. The pilot successfully ejected and was shortly recovered to RAF Lakenheath on board a Sikorsky HH-60 Pave Hawk.
In addition to supporting three combat-ready squadrons of fighter aircraft, the Liberty Wing also housed the 56th Rescue Squadron's HH-60G combat search and rescue helicopters until its re-location to Aviano Air Base in 2018.
On 15 June 2020, an F-15C belonging to the 493d Fighter Squadron crashed during a training flight in the North Sea, approximately 74 nautical miles east of Scarborough. The pilot 1st Lt. Kenneth "Kage" Allen, was killed; his body was later recovered.
The planned withdrawal of the F-15C/D fleet from RAF Lakenheath began in September 2021. The process was temporarily delayed due to heightened tensions in Eastern Europe following the Russian military build-up near Ukraine. On 27 April 2022, the final four F-15C aircraft of the 493d Fighter Squadron departed RAF Lakenheath for the United States marking the end of 45 years of continuous USAF F-15 Eagle air superiority operations in Europe.
In March 2026, at least one F-15E Strike Eagle from RAF Lakenheath was reportedly involved in a friendly fire incident over Kuwait during Operation Epic Fury, the United States-led air campaign against Iran. According to BBC Verify analysis of footage and aircraft markings, one of the aircraft shot down by Kuwaiti air defences was identified as F-15E serial 91-0327 of the 492d Fighter Squadron. All aircrew involved ejected safely and were recovered.
On 3 April 2026, an F-15E Strike Eagle of the 494th Fighter Squadron was lost during combat operations over Iran. The aircraft was subsequently identified from markings on the recovered wreckage as serial 00-3000 and as belonging to the squadron. Both crew members ejected and survived, with their recovery requiring a multi-day combat search-and-rescue operation.
F-35A Lightning II, 2021-present In January 2015, the US Department of Defense announced that RAF Lakenheath would become home to 54 Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II multi-role fighters from 2020. The aircraft were to be split between two squadrons, with an increase of 1,200 military personnel and 60-100 civilian workers. The F-35 would operate alongside the two existing F-15E Strike Eagle squadrons.
Squadrons The 495th Fighter Squadron was reactivated on 1 October 2021 to be the first Lightning II squadron at RAF Lakenheath, with the first aircraft arriving on 15 December 2021.