Beccles Airfield

Always known locally as Ellough Airfield, Beccles airfield was built under the direction of London construction company Holland, Hannen & Cubitts for the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) and completed in August 1942. It used the three concrete runway layout typical of many bomber airfields in East Anglia, known as Class A layout, and was built for the 8th Air Force and allocated airfield number 132. The field was used as an air-sea rescue post until closure in 1945, and saw operation by various RAF and FAA squadrons operating such diverse types as Vickers Warwick, Fairey Barracuda, Supermarine Walrus, Fairey Swordfish, Supermarine Sea Otter and Fairey Albacore on air-sea rescue and anti-shipping duties. The Fleet Air Arm used temporary lodging facilities at RAF Beccles under the stone frigate name HMS Hornbill II. The wartime control tower was demolished in 2009. The airfield was the most easterly wartime airfield in England. Units The site was used by different units: ==Post-war use==

N at the BEA Helicopters base, Ellough, 1966 After the war the airfield remained dormant until 1965 when BEA Helicopters moved in to the hangars at the eastern end, serving North Sea oil and gas rigs with Sikorsky S-61 helicopters. UK Parachuting carry out free-fall parachute training from the airfield, Virage Helicopter Academy conduct Helicopter training and Mid Anglia Microlights carry out Microlight flying training in both 3-axis (fixed wing) and weightshift machines. Since early 2016 Skylark Radio Control Flyers have been authorised to fly their models at the airfield operating from the concrete runway 09/27 in close cooperation with Rain Air operations. ==Other uses==

Most of the runways have been broken up and much of the area of the airfield is now used for a variety of industrial uses. Plastics company Promens operates a warehouse on the park which has the UK's largest solar roof installation with a generating capacity of 1.65MW. Large solar farms are located at the west and south points of the airfield. Other areas of the site are used for agricultural use and as a site for a farmers market. A kart circuit, Ellough Park Raceway, also occupies part of the airfield site. ==References==