RAF Coltishall

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RAF Coltishall
Coltishall, Norfolk in England
Image of the various badges painted on the central aircraft hangar. These depict the final full capacity status of RAF Coltishall. From left to right: No.6 Sqn, RAF Coltishall station badge, No.16 Sqn – No.41 Sqn, No.1 Group Headquarters RAF, No.54 Sqn.
Aggressive in Defence
RAF Coltishall Location within Norfolk Show map of Norfolk RAF Coltishall RAF Coltishall (the United Kingdom) Show map of the United Kingdom
Coordinates	52°45′17″N 001°21′26″E / 52.75472°N 1.35722°E / 52.75472; 1.35722
Grid reference	TG270225[1]
Type	Royal Air Force station
Code	CS[2]
Site information
Owner	Ministry of Defence
Operator	Royal Air Force
Controlled by	RAF Fighter Command 1940- * No. 12 Group RAF RAF Strike Command
Condition	closed
Site history
Built	February 1939 (1939)–1940
In use	29 May 1940 – 30 November 2006 (2006)
Fate	Site sold for civilian uses including HM Prison Bure, a solar farm and Scottow Enterprise Park
Battles/wars	European theatre of World War II Cold War
Airfield information
Identifiers	IATA: CLF, ICAO: EGYC, WMO: 03495
Elevation	17 metres (56 ft)[2] AMSL
Runways Direction Length and surface 04/22 2,286 metres (7,500 ft) grooved asphalt
Data relevant to operational period
UK Conservation Area
Official name	RAF Coltishall
Designated	September 2010
Scheduled monument
Official name	World War II fighter pen, Cold War blast walls and associated remains
Designated	7 March 2008
Reference no.	1021425
Listed Building – Grade II
Official name	Officer's Mess, Former RAF Coltishall, Norfolk
Designated	16 October 2017
Reference no.	1424475

Royal Air Force Coltishall more commonly known as RAF Coltishall (IATA: CLF, ICAO: EGYC) is a former Royal Air Force station located 10 miles (16 kilometres) north-north-east of Norwich, in the English county of Norfolk, East Anglia, which operated from 1939 to 2006.^[3]

It was a fighter airfield in the Second World War and afterwards, a station for night fighters, then ground attack aircraft until closure.

After longstanding speculation, the future of the station was sealed once the Ministry of Defence announced that the Eurofighter Typhoon, a rolling replacement aircraft, displacing the ageing SEPECAT Jaguar, would not be located there. The last of the Jaguar squadrons left on 1 April 2006, and the station finally closed, one month early and £10 million under budget, on 30 November 2006; 17 years ago (2006-11-30).

The station motto was Aggressive in Defence.^[4] The station badge was a stone tower surmounted by a mailed fist grasping three bind-bolts (blunt arrows), which symbolised a position of strength in defence of the homeland, indicative of the aggressive spirit which Coltishall fighter aircraft were prepared to shoot down the enemy.