Qualla: RAF Marham

RAF Marham: Introduction

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Adrian S Pye, CC BY-SA 2.0. On the morning of 30 January 1943, three Mosquitoes from Marham flew low and fast across the North Sea, timed their arrival on Berlin to the minute, and dropped their bombs precisely as Hermann Goring stepped to a microphone to make a speech marking ten years of Nazi rule. German listeners heard the rumble of engines, then anti-aircraft fire, then sudden classical music as the broadcast engineers cut their man off. All three Mosquitoes came home. The raid was as much theatre as bombing, and that is the Marham character: small forces, careful timing, exceptionally good aircraft. Today the airfield is home to the F-35B Lightning II, the most expensive theatre England has ever staged.

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Image: Adrian S Pye | CC BY-SA 2.0

RAF Marham: From Zeppelins to Stirlings

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Adrian S Pye, CC BY-SA 2.0. Marham's first dogfight ended badly. On the night of 27-28 November 1916, Lieutenant Gaymer of No. 51 Squadron took off from the Norfolk aerodrome to intercept Zeppelin L21, crashed his Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.2b without making contact, and was killed. L21 was shot down later ...

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Image: Adrian S Pye | CC BY-SA 2.0

RAF Marham: Cold War Steel

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit TSRL, CC BY-SA 3.0. In the spring of 1946, Marham hosted Project Ruby: seven B-17 Flying Fortresses and three modified B-29 Superfortresses of the USAAF spent six months attacking the Nordsee III U-boat pen at Heligoland and the Valentin assembly plant at Farge to see whether Grand Slam and Disney p...

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Image: TSRL | CC BY-SA 3.0

RAF Marham: The Tornado Years

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Davidsmith2014, CC BY-SA 4.0. On 24 April 1982 the first Panavia Tornado GR1 to be delivered to Marham, ZA601, flew in from BAe Warton. On 1 January 1983 No. 617 (Dambusters) Squadron reformed at Marham to fly it. The Tornados stayed for thirty-seven years. They flew from Marham to Iraq in the first Gulf War,...

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Image: Davidsmith2014 | CC BY-SA 4.0

RAF Marham: Project Anvil and the F-35

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Evelyn Simak, CC BY-SA 2.0. Marham did not get to retire. The British government had committed to the F-35B Lightning II, the carrier variant designed to take off short and land vertically from the Royal Navy's new Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers, and Marham was chosen as its home base. Project Anvi...

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Image: Evelyn Simak | CC BY-SA 2.0

RAF Marham: The Royal Connection

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Adrian S Pye, CC BY-SA 2.0. Sandringham House, the Norwegian estate of the late Queen Elizabeth II, sits roughly twenty miles north of Marham. The Queen was the station's Honorary Air Commodore and visited many times; her last official engagement of 2020 was at Marham on 3 February to inspect the F-35Bs. Fr...

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Image: Adrian S Pye | CC BY-SA 2.0