RAF Sculthorpe is a military training facility for the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence

Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)

The Ministry of Defence is the United Kingdom government department responsible for implementation of government defence policy and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces....

, situated about 3 mi (4.8 km) west of Fakenham

Fakenham

Fakenham is a town and civil parish in Norfolk, England. It is situated on the River Wensum, some north east of King's Lynn, south west of Cromer, and north west of Norwich....

 in Norfolk

Norfolk

Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. The base has been home to many visiting airmen and support crews of the RAF and United States Air Force

United States Air Force

The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...

.
RAF Sculthorpe was built as the second satellite airfield of RAF West Raynham

RAF West Raynham

RAF West Raynham was a Royal Air Force station located west of the village of West Raynham in Norfolk, England. It opened in the 1930s and closed in 1994. During the Second World War, RAF Bomber Command operations from RAF West Raynham claimed 86 aircraft. The site was sold by the Ministry of...

 a few miles to the south, the first being RAF Great Massingham

RAF Great Massingham

RAF Great Massingham was a World War II era RAF Heavy Bomber airfield located just to the east of the Norfolk village of Great Massingham. The airfield was built as a satellite airfield of RAF West Raynham in 1940. The airfield closed in 1945, although remained in use for storage until the 1950s....

. Work was begun in the spring of 1942 and the airfield was laid out as a standard RAF heavy bomber airfield with concrete runways, dispersals site, mess facilities and accommodation.