Unit History: RAF Coltishall
The former Royal Air Force Station Coltishall, more commonly known as RAF Coltishall (IATA: CLF, ICAO: EGYC), was a Royal Air Force station, a military airbase, 10 miles North-North-East of Norwich, in the English county of Norfolk, East Anglia, from 1938 to 2006.
It was a fighter base in the Second World War and afterwards a base 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 Typhoon, a rolling replacement aircraft, displacing the ageing Jaguars, would not be based 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.
The station motto was Aggressive in Defence. The station crest is a stone tower surmounted by a mailed fist grasping three bind bolts (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.
It was a fighter base in the Second World War and afterwards a base 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 Typhoon, a rolling replacement aircraft, displacing the ageing Jaguars, would not be based 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.
The station motto was Aggressive in Defence. The station crest is a stone tower surmounted by a mailed fist grasping three bind bolts (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.
