RAF V-Force Gin - Special Commemorative Limited Edition, 50cl

Early in April 1982 RAF Marham was directed to prepare aircrews and aircraft for tasks in the South Atlantic.

RAF Marham reports "We entered, almost overnight, into a period of intensive activity developing techniques new to our aircrew, and modifying our aircraft with improved long range navigational aids, and cameras for air-to-ground photographic work. All available aircrew were trained to full day and night standards of air-to-air refuelling, and taught the basic procedures of maritime radar reconnaissance.

There was also the formidable task of training aircrews from the Vulcan, Nimrod and Hercules forces in air-to-air refuelling techniques. These were exciting times and marked the beginning of a period of nearly three months throughout which Marham maintained 24 hour operations."

Of the Falklands operations, the best-known were the Black Buck missions with Victors supporting Vulcan operations. The first bombing raid on Port Stanley code named ‘Black Buck 1’ took place on 1st May 1982. The aim of the mission was to deny the use of the runway at Port Stanley to the Argentinians for the use of their fast jet aircraft, i.e., Super Etendards and Mirages, and to prove to the enemy that the mainland of Argentina was within range of British bombers.

Eleven Victors and two Vulcans got airborne in two waves on the night of 30th April.

The mission was successful when the Vulcan created history by dropping its first bombs in anger at 0446 local time. One bomb cratered the runway, others damaged hangarage and the Argentinians knew we meant business. Port Stanley was never used by Argentinian jet fighters and two squadrons of Air Defence fighters were held on alert on the mainland in Northern Argentina.

The Aviation Heritage Centre at RAF Marham was born out of the old Station History Room, which was set up in the 1980’s as a facility to display various historical artefacts and memorabilia. This facility was within the bounds of the station so was rarely open to the public.

In 2013 a building became available which was outside of the station boundary, it was the old St George’s Roman Catholic church. Led by Steve Roberts the curator, the team put together a convincing case and was granted use of the building. It was then a question of putting the building to good use! and that has certainly been done by the team.

The displayed collection and the historic archive currently holds over 12,000 items pertaining to either the history of RAF Marham, the Royal Air Force in East Anglia and also the history of the RAF in general. The collection continues to grow as more artefacts and memorabilia are donated or loaned to us, veterans also share their memories of Marham with us and we have started an audio archive of some of those memories. Every day we are open brings more insights and information!

Location: Close to the main gate of RAF Marham.

For parking please use the car park at the back of the RAF Marham Families shopping complex.

Opening Times: Normal opening times are every Tuesday and Wednesday 0900 to 1500; last Saturday of every month 0900 to 1500.

Cost: Entry to the Centre is FREE