Royal Air Force Sutton Bridge or more simply RAF Sutton Bridge is a former Royal Air Force station found next to the village of Sutton Bridge in the south-east of Lincolnshire. The airfield was to the south of the current A17, and east of the River Nene, next to Walpole in Norfolk.
History
On 1 September 1926 the Air Ministry established R.A.F. Practice Camp Sutton BridgeThe official naming used and found in official Air Ministry notices, the London Gazette and other publications is "R.A.F. Practice Camp Sutton Bridge". One example publication: FLIGHT, 24 May 1928, Air Ministry Announcements, Page 394: The Royal Air Force, Royal Air Force Intelligence, Appointments, I.W.C. Mackenzie to "R.A.F. Practice Camp, Sutton Bridge", 14.4.28 The National Archives, Kew, United Kingdom, Reference: AIR 28/788 on 289 acres of acquired agricultural land next to Sutton Bridge village from Guy's Hospital Agricultural Estates.Combat Ready!, Author: Alastair Goodrum, Publisher: GMS Enterprises, Peterborough, 1997, Airfield Focus 65: Sutton Bridge, Author: Alastair Goodrum, Publisher: GMS Enterprises, Peterborough, 1997, It was the responsibility of the first camp commandant, Flight Lieutenant A. Mackenzie, to establish the base camp and its flying ground, to set up, operate and maintain ground and towed targets for practice machine gun firing and bomb dropping by the Royal Air Force and Fleet Air Arm biplane squadrons. Its principal gunnery range was to be located along the coastal marshland on The Wash in close vicinity to the small village of Gedney Drove End (see Holbeach Marsh Range).GOV.UK Publications, Ministry of Defence: Holbeach Air Gunnery and Bombing Range Bylaws 1939. Although an RAF aircraft gunnery practice camp from 1926, from 1 January 1932 it was officially renamed to No. 3 Armament Training CampPublication: FLIGHT, 8 January 1932, Air Ministry Announcements, Page 43: The Royal Air Force, Royal Air Force Intelligence, Reorganisation of the Armament and Gunnery School, from 1 January 1932, R.A.F. practice camps will be known as armament training camps and numbered as follows...: No. 3 Armament Training Camp, Sutton Bridge Sutton Bridge, subsequently No. 3 Armament Training Station Sutton Bridge,Publication: FLIGHT, 26 May 1938, Page 516, "A pair of Gloster Gauntlet single-seaters over the ranges at No. 3 Armament Training Station, Sutton Bridge" and later simply RAF Sutton Bridge.
In October 1939 No. 266 Squadron RAF reformed at RAF Sutton Bridge as a fighter squadron and from January 1940 operated the Supermarine Spitfire, becoming the RAF's second Spitfire fighter Squadron after RAF Duxford’s No. 19 Squadron RAF.
In March 1940 No. 6 Operational Training Unit (OTU) was formed and arrived at RAF Sutton Bridge for training fighter pilots, commanded by Squadron Leader Philip Campbell Pinkham, with a complement of Hawker Hurricane, Miles Mentor and North American Harvard aircraft, including one Gloster Gladiator, its first pilot pool came from No. 11 Group RAF transferring to No. 12 Group RAF of RAF Fighter Command. No. 6 OTU RAF was re-numbered in November 1940 to No. 56 OTU RAF and remained at RAF Sutton Bridge until relocating in March 1942 to RAF Tealing.
The single most important function of RAF Sutton Bridge was as the home for the RAF's Central Gunnery School (CGS) from April 1942 to March 1944. Here for the first time, fighter pilots of RAF Fighter Command and air gunners of RAF Bomber Command were trained together so as to become Gunnery Instructors who would then be sent to airfields around the country to pass on newly acquired skills. In the words of Group Captain Allan Wright "the Central Gunnery School itself was the first of its kind in the world".
Runway 4,200 ft Grass runway, orientated North-East/South-West (NE/SW). 2,400 ft x 50 ft Sommerfeld Tracking runway, numbered 13/31. 3,450 ft x 150 ft PSP (Pierced steel planking) Marsden Matting runway, numbered 08/26.
Units present at Sutton Bridge
R.A.F. Practice Camp, 1 September 1926 ― 31 December 1931 Sutton Bridge Station Flight, April 1929 ― September 1941 No. 3 Armament Training Camp, 1 January 1932 ― 28 February 1936 No. 3 Armament Training Station, 1 March 1936 ― 3 September 1939 No. 3 Recruits Sub-Depot, 3 September 1939 ― (re-designated) No. 3 Recruits Training Pool, September 1939 ― 16 November 1939 (unit deactivated) No. 264 Squadron RAF, 1 November 1939 ― 25 November 1939 No. 266 Squadron RAF, 30 October 1939 ― 29 February 1940 Towed Target Flight, later Station Flight, Sutton Bridge, 1 January 1940 ― 30 November 1940The National Archives, Kew, United Kingdom, Reference: AIR 29/860/9 No. 254 Squadron RAF, 9 December 1936 ― 27 January 1940 No. 6 Operational Training Unit RAF (OTU), 10 March 1940 ― 31 October 1940 No. 56 Operational Training Unit RAF (formerly No. 6 OTU), 1 November 1940 ― 31 March 1942The National Archives, Kew, United Kingdom, Reference: AIR 29/683/1 No. 1489 Flight, later Target Towing Flight, Sutton Bridge, 1 October 1941 ― ca. April 1942The National Archives, Kew, United Kingdom, Reference: AIR 29/871/5 No. 2884 Squadron RAF Regiment (LAA Squadron), between 1 June 1943 ― 30 November 1943The National Archives, Kew, United Kingdom, Reference: AIR 29/125/3 RAF Central Gunnery School (CGS), 1 April 1942 ― 23 February 1944The National Archives, Kew, United Kingdom, Reference: AIR 29/605 No. 2750 Squadron RAF Regiment (Duxford), with detachment at RAF Wittering, 1 June 1943 ― 31 October 1943The National Archives, Kew, United Kingdom, Reference: AIR 29/85/2 No. 7 (Pilots) Advanced Flying Unit RAF, 1 March 1944 ― 1944 No. 16 (Pilots) Service Flying Training School (SFTS), 1944 ― August 1944 No. 7 (French Air Force) Service Flying Training School (SFTS), September 1944 ― November 1944 No. 1 Ground & Target Towing Flight (United States Army Air Forces USAAF), May 1944 ― November 1944 No. 7 (Pilots) Advanced Flying Unit RAF, 21 June 1944 ― November 1944 No. 7 Service Flying Training School RAF (SFTS), November 1944 ― April 1946 No. 58 Maintenance Unit RAF, 20 July 1954 ― 1 November 1957Air of Authority - A History of RAF Organisation: RAF Sutton Bridge#1 Account of RAF Aircraft Engineer Joe Bosher (serving from late 1956 with No. 58 Aircraft Maintenance Unit RAF) stationed at RAF Sutton Bridge#2 Account of RAF Aircraft Engineer Joe Bosher (serving from late 1956 with No. 58 Aircraft Maintenance Unit RAF) stationed at RAF Sutton Bridge
Airfield ground defences During the Second World War, airfield ground defence at RAF Sutton Bridge consisted an array of Anti-Aircraft (AA) weapons, such as Bofors 40 mm cannons and Lewis or Vickers machine guns, manned by some 66 officers and men of "D" Company 1st Battalion of the Cambridgeshire Regiment, from defences and pillboxes distributed around the airfield station perimeter. Two such pillboxes still stand and can be found along the former airfield perimeter (see Pillbox #1: , Pillbox #2: ). As most air raid warnings occurred during the hours of darkness, a searchlight battery operated by 10 men of the Royal Engineers was also present.
Decoy "Q" site Expecting attacks by the German Luftwaffe on RAF airfields, the Air Ministry implemented a plan for secret decoy airfields in 1939.Norfolk And Suffolk Aviation Museum - DECOY SITES, Wartime Deception in Norfolk and Suffolk, Huby Fairchild. Sites intended to attract night raids were designated "Q" sites, while decoys for day raids were known as "K" sites. RAF Sutton Bridge had a "Q" site, four miles north-east of the airfield (), on cultivated farmland in Norfolk, at Terrington Marsh, near the village of Terrington St Clement.BBC Archive of World War Two memories, Article ID: A6674394, Terrington Marsh "Q" Site, 1940. The "Q" site consisted of an elaborate lighting system, including adjustable-intensity electric lights, to simulate a runway flare path, and other runway lights. Obstruction lights were also installed, to prevent Allied aircraft from mistakenly landing on the decoy dummy airfield.
Air raid attacks
The German Luftwaffe took its first aerial bombing assault on RAF Sutton Bridge on the night of 30–31 August 1940, where the Terrington decoy "Q" site would prove its effectiveness. On that night, four High Explosive (HE) bombs were dropped North-West of the detected "Q" site flare-path, with a further fifteen explosions minutes later. Another air raid, on 22 September 1940, saw a single German bomber drop a further seven bombs on the "Q" site. The Luftwaffe returned in strength on 14 February 1941, twelve bombers unloaded 47 High Explosive bombs and approximately 1,000 incendiary bombs, once again the decoy "Q" site proved its effectiveness, on the next night the Luftwaffe returned.
On 16 February 1941, amidst low cloud and afternoon drizzle, and without warning, a single Heinkel He 111 bomber appeared out of the grey sky, circuited RAF Sutton Bridge airfield, dropped nine bombs and sprayed the area with machine gun fire, before disappearing back into the cloud as quickly as it had appeared. One further air raid followed on the "Q" site when two bombers dropped eight High Explosive bombs shortly after midnight on 17–18 February 1941. No further direct air raid attacks materialized during the Blitz until the early hours of 12 May 1941 when Sutton Bridge was re-visited by the Luftwaffe, as part of a series of countrywide air raids targeting infrastructures and RAF airfields. Between the hours of 1-2 am on 12 May 1941, in addition to attacking the neighbouring town of Spalding, three bombers conducted a separate aerial bombing assault on RAF Sutton Bridge airfield, sixteen bombs fell in total on parked Hawker Hurricanes, setting two on fire and causing severe damage to seven others.Spalding Guardian, 70th anniversary of bombing of Spalding, 12 May 2011. On 24 July 1942 during a raid four bombs were dropped, one landing on the armoury. The Fighter Wing office and lecture rooms were destroyed, two hangars, a decontamination centre and the orderly room were damaged. An airman was critically injured.
Central Gunnery School The Central Gunnery School (CGS) was formed on 6 November 1939 after the RAF recognised the need for both continuing and advanced instruction, initially for air gunners in Bomber Command. Its first base was RAF Warmwell and the CGS ran its first course in April 1940, where the main focus was on turret-gunnery. On 1 April 1942 the CGS moved from RAF Chelveston near Northampton to RAF Sutton Bridge.
During the Battle of Britain, it became apparent that while aircrew had acquired essential flying skills, they had received little or no training in aerial gunnery. This was a serious deficiency for inexperienced pilots, meaning such training and the teaching of deflection shooting had largely to be carried out or just picked up during operations, resulting in fewer combat successes. For this reason, and after repeated approaches to senior officers by Wing Commander Adolph Malan widely known as ‘Sailor’ Malan, he finally received authority to set up a Fighter Wing at the CGS. He was a respected leader and high-scoring fighter pilot, whose Ten Rules For Air Fighting were already on many fighter squadron notice boards.
There was mutual advantage for the Bomber and Fighter wings to be based at the same location so that relevant gunnery flying exercises could be carried out together. Thus, the Central Gunnery School transferred to Sutton Bridge on 1 April 1942, with its new wider remit, and remained until February 1944. It comprised the Gunnery Leader (Bomber) Wing and the Pilot Gunnery Instructors Training Wing. Each training course lasted a month and comprised 10 fighter pilots and 32 air gunners; with a 50% overlap of courses there were always twice that number of airmen at the School.