RAF Lakenheath
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492d Fighter Squadron F-100D SuperSabre from Lakenheath in flight |
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493d Fighter Squadron F-111F equipped with Pave Tack |
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492d Fighter Squadron F-15E Eagle from Lakenheath lifts off from the airfield's runway |
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F-15D Eagle of the 48th FW over England with a P-51 Mustang in 357th FG markings |
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F-16C Eagle taxis for takeoff |
RAF Lakenheath is a
United States Air Forces in Europe base located at , near
Lakenheath,
Suffolk in
Great Britain.
It is home to the
48th Fighter Wing, flying the
F-15E Strike Eagle and
F-15C Eagle. Aircraft based at Lakenheath wear "LN" codes on their tails. 5,000 U.S. military personnel and 2,000 U.S. and British civilian personnel are assigned to the base.
RAF Lakenheath and its sister base
RAF Mildenhall are known as the largest
United States Air Force bases in the
United Kingdom.
Lakenheath began its service to the
Royal Air Force during the
Second World War as a decoy airfield. False lights, runways and aircraft diverted attacks from the nearby
RAF Mildenhall. The RAF began construction of the airfield in 1940 and the base became operational in 1941.
In mid-1944 the base was closed for reconstruction and was redesignated as a "very heavy bomber station." The main part of this reconstruction was the laying of 9 million
square feet (836,000
m²) of hardstanding as well as new runways and perimeters. Lakenheath remained inactive until 1948 when the tension caused by the
Berlin blockade caused the USAF to deploy
B-29 Superfortresses followed by transport aircraft.
By 1950 Lakenheath was one of three main operating bases for the U.S.
Strategic Air Command, the others were
RAF Marham and
RAF Sculthorpe. The increasing tension of the
Cold War lead to a re-evalutation of these deployments and by 1953 SAC bombers began to move further west, behind RAF fighter forces, to
RAF Brize Norton,
RAF Greenham Common,
RAF Upper Heyford and
RAF Fairford. Meanwhile in 1956 Lakenheath hosted the first UK deployment of the
Lockheed U-2.
A near
nuclear accident occurred on
July 27,
1956, when a
B-47 crashed into a storage igloo containing three
Mark 6 nuclear bombs, exploding and spreading burning fuel over the bombs. A bomb disposal expert stated it was a miracle exposed detonators on one bomb did not fire, which would have released nuclear material into the environment
.
Following President
Charles de Gaulle's insistence in 1959 that all nuclear forces should be withdrawn from his country, the USAF began a redeployment of its forces. The 48th TFW left its base at
Chaumont AB, France in January 1960, its
F-100s arriving at Lakenheath on
January 15.
The 48th TFW was stood down in 1972 to begin its transition to the
F-4D Phantom, the last F-100 departed the base in April 1972. The F-4's service with the 48th TFW was short as the wing's first
F-111F arrived in March 1977. In the same year construction of the airfield's
Hardened Aircraft Shelters (acronym: HAS, but commonly referred to as a TAB-VEE) began as part of a wider
NATO effort. F-111Fs flying from the base took part in
Operation El Dorado Canyon and
Operation Desert Storm.
In the 1980s a peace camp was located outside Lakenheath.
Lakenheath began to receive its first F-15Es in 1992 followed by the F-15C, the 48th Fighter Wing's second air-superiority aircraft. The wing, as one of the USAF's premier units, operates the most advanced of the USAF's F-15s. The 48th FW received the first of 10 new F-15Es in 2003, the aircraft are part of the final batch of F-15s expected to be ordered by the USAF.
Part of the 48th FW mission is the deployment of about 110 tactical
B61 nuclear bombs using F-15E aircraft. The B61 nuclear bombs are stored in vaults inside the base's Hardened Aircraft Shelters using the WS3 Weapon Storage and Security System
.
Lakenheath was used by the makers of the
James Bond film,
Tomorrow Never Dies, as a U.S. Air Base in the
South China Sea. Clues to its true identity are the standard NATO Hardened Aircraft Shelters, the "LN" markings on the F-15s and the credits of the film;
"the Producers gratefully acknowledge the cooperation of the U.S. Air Forces in Europe and the 48th Fighter Wing, RAF Lakenheath." Actors present at the filming included
Pierce Brosnan, and
Joe Don Baker.
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List of RAF stations*
United States Air Forces in Europe*
United States Air Force in the United Kingdom*
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