RAF Marham (RAF)

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SKB
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RAF Marham (RAF)

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^ RAF Marham

Introduction
Royal Air Force Marham (IATA: KNF, ICAO: EGYM) is a Royal Air Force station; a military airbase, near the village of Marham in the English county of Norfolk, East Anglia.

It is home to No. 138 Expeditionary Air Wing (138 EAW), and as such, is one of the RAFs "Main Operating Bases" (MOB). No. 138 EAW primarily consists of three squadrons of Panavia Tornado GR4/GR4A multi-role fast-jet ground-attack aircraft.

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The station crest depicts a glaring blue bull, symbolic of a deterrent and awarded in 1957 with the arrival of nuclear capability; the station motto is simply Deter. The crest also figures in the name of RAF Marham's local radio station - Blue Bull Radio 1278 AM.

In 2008, RAF Marham was officially granted the Freedom of the City of Norwich - and as such, is allowed to march through the streets of Norwich with 'bayonets fixed'; this is usually carried out on occasions such as the annual Battle of Britain parade held on 12 September every year. RAF Marham 'took over' the Freedom of the City of Norwich after the former holder, RAF Coltishall was officially closed in 2006.


History
Beginnings
Opened in August 1916 close to the former Royal Naval Air Station Narborough, later RAF Narborough, the Marham base was originally a military night landing ground on an 80-acre (320,000 m2) site within the boundary of the present day RAF Marham. In 1916, the aerodrome was handed over to the Royal Flying Corps (RFC). The aerodrome was closed in 1919 when the last units moved out.

Rearmament
In 1935, work started on a new airfield which became active on 1 April 1937, with a resident heavy bomber unit from within 3 Group, RAF Bomber Command. The first squadron, No 38, arrived in May 1937 with Fairey Hendon bombers. In June No. 115 Squadron RAF re-formed at Marham with the Handley Page Harrow. 38 Squadron received Wellington I bombers in December 1938, followed in 1939 by 115 Squadron. The Wellingtons moved out in 1941 and Mosquitos from No. 105 Squadron arrived. Marham became part of the Pathfinder force. They also tested and proved the Oboe precision bombing aid.

During March 1944, RAF Marham closed for the construction of new concrete runways, perimeter track, and dispersal areas, marking the end of its wartime operations.

Postwar
In the postwar period the airfield was home to RAF units operating the Boeing Washington aircraft, and later the V bomber force and tankers: Vickers Valiant and Handley Page Victor. The station is also one of the few large enough for the operation of United States Air Force Boeing B-52, and a number of these aircraft visited on exercises in the 1970s and 1980s.

During 1980-82, 24 Hardened Aircraft Shelters were constructed to house future strike aircraft, which would eventually see the arrival of the Panavia Tornado in 1982. These shelters were equipped with the US Weapon Storage Security System (WS3), each able to store 4 WE.177 nuclear bombs.

No. 138 Expeditionary Air Wing (138 EAW) was formed at RAF Marham on 1 April 2006; encompassing most of the non-formed unit personnel on the station. The EAW does not include the flying units at the station.

The current Station Commander is dual-hatted; as the commander of both the EAW and Station.

Queen Elizabeth II is the Honourary Air Commodore of Marham and has made a number of visits to the airfield, most recently on 1 February 2016.


Current Occupation
Wings
Six Wings are currently lodged at RAF Marham:

Operations Wing (Ops Wg)
Base Support Wing (BSW)
Depth Support Wing (DSW)
Forward Support Wing (FSW)
Tactical Imagery-Intelligence Wing (TIW)
3(RAF) Force Protection Wing (3 FPW)

Squadrons
No. 9 Squadron RAF - operating Tornado GR4/GR4A
No. 12 Squadron RAF - operating Tornado GR4/GR4A (reformed 2015)
No. 31 Squadron RAF - operating Tornado GR4/GR4A (The GR4A is the reconnaissance variant of the Panavia Tornado but the modern reconnaissance equipment used on the Tornado is interchangeable between the GR4 and GR4A variants, and as such each squadron uses a mix of the two variants (the reconnaissance equipment originally used in the GR4A variant is now obsolete).
No. 93 (Expeditionary Armament) Squadron (93 EAS) Formerly the Tactical Armament Squadron (TAS), its mission statement is "To deliver and develop specialist, expeditionary armament capability to support UK defence policy". It has approximately 130 staff and is a sub unit of No 42 (Expeditionary Support) Wing.
No. 2620 (County of Norfolk) Squadron Royal Auxiliary Air Force Regiment (2620 RAuxAF Regt)

Other units
Tornado Technical Services (a joint Royal Air Force and BAE Systems team).


Future
The UK fleet of F-35B Joint Strike Fighter aircraft will be based at RAF Marham from 2018. RAF Marham, will be provided with £300m by the MOD, for new and enhanced infrastructure. The aircraft will be operated by 617 Squadron of the Royal Air Force (the Dambusters) and 809 Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. Both squadrons will have a mix of RAF and Royal Navy personnel, and both squadrons will deploy detachments aboard the Royal Navy's new Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers. It will the be the only RAF station with a Royal Navy Met Office.

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Re: RAF Marham (RAF)

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Re: RAF Marham (RAF)

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F-35B hovers for the first time over RAF Marham
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Re: RAF Marham (RAF)

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Re: RAF Marham (RAF)

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have it on good authority that the assailants decided to take on a "Rockape" :lol:


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Re: RAF Marham (RAF)

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That sounds more like offices rather than Hanger (Pictured)

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Re: RAF Marham (RAF)

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Project ANVIL:

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Re: RAF Marham (RAF)

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Wow there is a lot going on at Marham then. Didn't realise that the runways were being refurbished.

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Re: RAF Marham (RAF)

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Golden Bolt ceremony back on 25 November when the steelwork for the National Operating Centre was completed. This is an hardened structure (not necessarily a bunker, think more cyber and espionage) because it will host the UK ALIS central hub.

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In the photo below, to the left: the National Operating Centre site, and towards the right, the bulldozed hangar No 3 that will be rebuilt as the Maintenance and Finish structure. Hangar No 1 will also go down at some point, it seems.

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I'm particularly interested in seeing what they do with the "STOVL strip" development.
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Re: RAF Marham (RAF)

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Looking at the size of those girders behind the workmen, especially the cross braces, that's going to be a strong building. If its going to be also cyber proof then It will need to be a Faraday Cage, so that no EM emissions can penetrate the walls and for that matter escape. Perhaps the room that contains the computer will be hardened. Behind the man in a blue helmet you can see what appears to be a concrete wall with reinforcing bars sticking out the top.

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Re: RAF Marham (RAF)

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will there be a QE deck going on to Marham. The FAA air handling school is getting one and F35 analogs (allegedly Jaguar airframes)

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Re: RAF Marham (RAF)

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Don't they still use Harrier's?

The handling school still have a bunch that are kept in a good condition, they still run the engines up to simulate the noise on deck.
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Re: RAF Marham (RAF)

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shark bait wrote:Don't they still use Harrier's?

The handling school still have a bunch that are kept in a good condition, they still run the engines up to simulate the noise on deck.
I think its to do with the size of the airframe for manouvering on limited deck space

F35b Sea harrier Jaguar

Length 15.67m 14.2m 16.83m
wingspan 10.7m 7.6m 8.68m

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Re: RAF Marham (RAF)

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Culdrose got 3 F-35 full-scale mock-ups, marked GTA (Ground Training Aid, i'm guessing) 1 to 3. Another two might or might not follow.

An earlier plan to also replace the Sea Harrier with some Jaguards with working engines does not appear to be progressing.
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Re: RAF Marham (RAF)

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(MoD) 6/6/2018
DIO is providing new and upgraded infrastructure at RAF Marham, which will be the Main Operating Base for the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force's F-35 aircraft. From there, they will deploy to the Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carriers and to Deployed Operating Bases.

(Leo Hillier Construction Photography) 24/1/2018
Short film covering the no-fly period at RAF Marham 2017, part of project Anvil. Works undertaken by GTLC, Edited by Leo Hillier Photography, drone footage by BlueSky UAV, Timelapse by LHCP.

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Re: RAF Marham (RAF)

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HRH The Prince of Wales has visited RAF Marham to meet 617 Squadron and their new F-35B's.
https://www.forces.net/news/prince-wale ... raf-marham

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Re: RAF Marham (RAF)

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(Dave Pilsworth Filmography) 4th August 2018
Footage from 2nd batch of (five) F-35B arrivals late evening, was getting close to switching over to night shot. A lovely evening and great to see so many people staying on for them.

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