# RAF Shepherds Grove - Suffolk - July 2012



## steve2109 (Jul 21, 2012)

I have been noticing a lot of airfields marked on OS maps on my memory maps software and after a little bit of research on the web and using google earth discovered that most of them date to WW2, Decided to investigate one and this is my first report:

First a brief history from wiki:

RAF Shepherds Grove is a former Royal Air Force base in Suffolk England 9 miles NE of Bury St Edmunds.

The base was built for the United States Army Air Force Eighth Air Force during World War II. However the facility was not used by the USAAF and was opened by 3 Group, RAF on 3 April 1944. The name came from a small copse nearby and the airfield is close to Walsham le Willows in Suffolk.

It was occupied by 196 squadron in January 1945 as a base for Operation Varsity, supporting the Rhine crossing.

During the cold war years it was occupied by various arms of the USAF and was also used as a storage facility for nuclear weapons in the 1950s and 1960s. 

On 22 July 1956, No. 82 Squadron RAF was activated at Shepherds Grove as a Thor missile unit. Thor launching sites were built on the main airfield and became operational in 1959.

The base was closed in 1966.

Part of the main airfield site is now an industrial estate. In 2007 the remaining runway was taken up and buildings demolished, the clearance was completed in 2008 when all remnants of the airfield were removed and crushed. The remaining site is now for sale for development as industrial land. It is proposed to site a waste incinerator on the site.

Despite their now being an industrial site there, some of the old building remain and are occupied. Was good to see them still standing and in use

The old entrance to the base, now used by a huge DHL warehouse






All thats left of the perimeter road to the north end of the runway























































This was used for parachute training according to a guy i was speaking to there















This building was empty and the only one that was accessable, it had been used as offices recently, apparently it was the old guardhouse/jailhouse in WW2 according to the same guy i spoke to, not sure if that true or not


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## sennelager66 (Jul 21, 2012)

Superb amount of detail there. *must visit*. Thanks for posting this up.


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## Bones out (Jul 21, 2012)

Cool pictures fella, and its spelt right 

Don't think I have ever seen this one reported before?


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## prettyvacant71 (Jul 22, 2012)

looks an interesting little explore mate....thanks for showing!


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## urban phantom (Jul 22, 2012)

Nice work steve loved your report i hate to see these sites been demo'd soon there will be nothing thanks for sharing


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## flyboys90 (Jul 22, 2012)

Great report,your spoilt for choice in that neck of the woods,so many airfields.thanks for sharing.


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## P Bellamy (Jul 26, 2012)

Great pics Steve.



steve2109 said:


> This was used for parachute training according to a guy I was speaking to there



He wasn't far out, it's a parachute _drying_ tower attached to the end of the WWII chute store.



steve2109 said:


> This building was empty and the only one that was accessable, it had been used as offices recently, apparently it was the old guardhouse/jailhouse in WW2 according to the same guy I spoke to, not sure if that true or not



That's an AML (Air Ministry Laboratories) Bombing Trainer building, the pitched roof tends to indicate it is to AM Drawing 6301/42.
The wartime guardroom was a 84'x24' Nissen hut at the southern end of the technical site, and was still standing last time I was there. It was beside the road next to this building which was the wartime Fire Tender House:






In case it's of interest to anyone, here's my work-in-progress best-guess layout drawing for the Thor site at Shepherds Grove, compiled from OS maps, air photos and a short snippet of helicopter footage during construction:






All the best,
PB


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## night crawler (Jul 26, 2012)

Good report though I think it is sad hwo they are demolished like that.


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## TeeJF (Jul 26, 2012)

Nissan Hut porno!


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## steve2109 (Jul 26, 2012)

Thanks for all the additional information. The history of these places fascinates me and its good that bits still remain (but for how long !), got another site to check out soon, hopefully in the next few weeks,


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## JayGeeBSE (Dec 27, 2020)

I don't have any pictures to add but my friend Paul was a local schoolboy in the war and tells tales of hiding in a ditch at the end of the runway and watching Stirlings and their towed invasion gliders passing only feet overhead. 

One item that has not been flagged previously is the big earth mound with nearby concrete pad - he told me that was used to park aircraft and fire into the mound to test the gun aim. A visit with a metal detector might be interesting.

We used to fly model planes in a field that was formerly the southern end of the main runway (you can easily see the line on an aerial view) until we were chased off by a gamekeeper who said we might disturb his birds. The Thor missile launch ramps were still quite evident.


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## Walrus75 (Dec 30, 2020)

The Thor sites are still quite obvious when seen on Google Maps








Walsham-le-Willows · United Kingdom


United Kingdom




goo.gl


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