Introduction
Following a failed explore during the first half of the morning, me and a friend decided to go into Suffolk to explore some remains of an old RAF Base. We have had it pinned for a couple of months now after seeing some photos online, so we thought we’d take a look for ourselves.
History
Following the opening of RAF Tuddenham in the second half of 1943, No. 90 Squadron flying Stirling bomber arrived at the site. The following year, in May, No. 90 Sqd were converted to Lancasters and remained at this base for the remainder of the war.
Later on, in October 1944, No. 186 Sqd reformed at Tuddenham until December that year, where they left for Stradishall, a short distance away from Tuddenham. At roughly the same interval, No. 138 Squadron moved here from Tempsford and converted to Lancasters, these remained until the tail-end of 1946.
During World War II, 17 Stirlings and 36 Lancasters were lost on operations based at Tuddenham.
The airfield closed in July 1963. Sadly, the control tower was demolished at some point in the 1970s, and few buildings remain today. Some more history can be found here.
Presently, buildings on the site are used for a number of purposes, many are currently used by an airsoft activity company, whilst some others are simply left to decay or are being used for farm storage.
The Explore
At first, we drove up a public bridleway but nearly got stuck in the mud and nearly ended up on some pig fields! We then found an alternative way which took us up a concrete track to the main section of the buildings.
We had no bother during the explore, but there was a man in a 4x4 on the site emptying some items in a skip, but he didn’t seem bothered when we drove past.
We didn’t expect too much from the site but we were pleasantly surprised with what we did find and managed to get some decent photographs in and around several of the buildings.
I would have liked to have captioned each photo explaining the types of buildings etc, but unfortunately, I’m not too clued up on RAF stuff. If anyone could help in the comments that would be appreciated. I would assume Officers Quarters for the first 7 photos or so, but unsure.
On to the photos…
Thanks for reading.
Following a failed explore during the first half of the morning, me and a friend decided to go into Suffolk to explore some remains of an old RAF Base. We have had it pinned for a couple of months now after seeing some photos online, so we thought we’d take a look for ourselves.
History
Following the opening of RAF Tuddenham in the second half of 1943, No. 90 Squadron flying Stirling bomber arrived at the site. The following year, in May, No. 90 Sqd were converted to Lancasters and remained at this base for the remainder of the war.
Later on, in October 1944, No. 186 Sqd reformed at Tuddenham until December that year, where they left for Stradishall, a short distance away from Tuddenham. At roughly the same interval, No. 138 Squadron moved here from Tempsford and converted to Lancasters, these remained until the tail-end of 1946.
During World War II, 17 Stirlings and 36 Lancasters were lost on operations based at Tuddenham.
The airfield closed in July 1963. Sadly, the control tower was demolished at some point in the 1970s, and few buildings remain today. Some more history can be found here.
Presently, buildings on the site are used for a number of purposes, many are currently used by an airsoft activity company, whilst some others are simply left to decay or are being used for farm storage.
The Explore
At first, we drove up a public bridleway but nearly got stuck in the mud and nearly ended up on some pig fields! We then found an alternative way which took us up a concrete track to the main section of the buildings.
We had no bother during the explore, but there was a man in a 4x4 on the site emptying some items in a skip, but he didn’t seem bothered when we drove past.
We didn’t expect too much from the site but we were pleasantly surprised with what we did find and managed to get some decent photographs in and around several of the buildings.
I would have liked to have captioned each photo explaining the types of buildings etc, but unfortunately, I’m not too clued up on RAF stuff. If anyone could help in the comments that would be appreciated. I would assume Officers Quarters for the first 7 photos or so, but unsure.
On to the photos…
Thanks for reading.