RAF Barnham

RAF Barnham is a Royal Air Force station located in Suffolk, England, approximately 2 miles south of Thetford. It operates as a satellite station of RAF Honington, primarily serving as a training area and domestic accommodation. The site has a history of military use dating back to the First World War, when tanks were tested and mustard gas was produced. During the Second World War, it functioned as Forward Filling Depot 1, filling bombs and shells with mustard gas.

From 1956 to 1963, a high-security facility at RAF Barnham was used for the storage and maintenance of free-fall nuclear bombs, such as Blue Danube. This nuclear storage area, constructed between 1953 and 1955, was controlled by the RAF's No. 94 Maintenance Unit and designed to supply bomber squadrons at various RAF stations. The facility was pentagonal in shape, featuring large non-nuclear component stores, smaller buildings (hutches) for fissile cores, a fire station, RAF Police flight, administration block, mess, mechanical transport section, kennels, and workshops. Security included double chain-link fencing, an inner concrete-panel wall, and watch towers built in 1959. This nuclear storage facility became obsolete by the early 1960s with the introduction of Blue Steel missiles, and the last nuclear weapons were removed by April 1963. The site was sold in 1966 and now forms the privately owned Gorse Industrial Estate. The former nuclear bomb storage facilities are designated as a scheduled monument by English Heritage, with several buildings having listed status.

Currently, RAF Barnham is operational and used by the RAF Regiment for training, including the Potential Gunners Acquaintance Course (PGAC). The adjacent Ministry of Defence Training Area is also utilized by the RAF Regiment, Air Training Corps, Combined Cadet Force, and Army Cadet Force. The Ministry of Defence has indicated plans to dispose of the site by 2027, with domestic accommodation relocating to RAF Honington, while maintaining access to the Barnham Training Area.