The histories of RAF Newmarket and RAF Snailwell
The Suffolk horseracing town of Newmarket has been connected with
aviation since the days of the Royal Flying Corps during the First World
War. Just to the west of the town, and crossed by the border with
Cambridgeshire, lies the racecourse, sited in slightly undulating country
and long famous in racing circles. Here, in the winter of 1917, a
squadron of aircraft, primitive by today's standards, arrived to make its
home for the next eighteen months. Another squadron followed in the
spring of 1918, a few days before the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal
Naval Air Service were merged to form the Royal Air Force. Both
squadrons had gone by the summer of 1919, ending Newmarket's first
brief experience of military aviation.Between the Wars, the Heath was used from time to time by private aircraft in connection with the racing industry, and by 1934 was being operated by the Jockey Club as a private airfield. Then came the Second World War, and the immediate occupation of Newmarket Heath by the Royal Air Force. Over the next few years RAF Newmarket became an important Bomber Command airfield, boasting the longest runway in East Anglia, albeit unpaved, until longer ones were built later in the War. Today, little evidence remains to indicate that an airfield was here; just two hangars and a Nissen hut, now isolated by the A14 Newmarket bypass road which crosses the northern edge of the site. On the opposite side of the town was RAF Snailwell, a very different airfield but equally important in its own way. Here again, very little of a tangible nature remains. Part of the site has been developed as the Jockey Training School and the rest has reverted.to agriculture and to racehorse training, except where it is crossed by the same A14 road. Here is an attempt to put on record some of the events of years gone by before it is too late, mentioning in the process some of those who took part and some who did not return. 60 pages, Royal Quarto. ISBN 1-870384-47-4 Third Edition Published 1997 by the Author. Available from the author at £6.95 inc p&p (UK) E-Mail Queries to - john.hamlin@talk21.com 
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