RAF Lakenheath, UK Installation Guide

The information contained in this SITES Package will be helpful to military members, their families, DOD civilians, their families and others who are being assigned to RAF Lakenheath, England.

This category contains information on organizational units and activities on RAF Lakenheath. It includes organizational telephone contacts, basic safety and vehicle information, and items that are especially important or unique to this installation.

Location........................ : RAF Lakenheath, United Kingdom

The closest town is Lakenheath Village, located 2 miles from the base.

Major Command (USAFE) .......... : U S Air Forces in Europe

U.S. Air Forces in Europe is a component command of USEUCOM and a major command of the U.S. Air Force. In addition, the commander in chief of USAFE functions in a NATO role as commander Allied Air Forces Central Europe. With headquarters at Ramstein AFB, Germany, USAFE is organized in three numbered air forces, the 3rd, 16th, and 17th.

Primary Weapon Systems....... : F-15E and F-15C

The primary mission of these supersonic fighters is low level penetration of enemy defenses, day or night, to bomb strategic targets. The Strike Eagle is a dual role fighter capable of fighting its way to a target over long ranges, destroying enemy ground positions, and fighting its way back out. Advanced avionics give the Strike Eagle the ability to fight at low altitude, day or night and in bad weather.

MISSION:

The 48th Fighter Wing's leadership is responsible for training, supporting, and employing a combat fighter wing that includes one F-15C and two F-15E squadrons. Wing personnel execute war plans of United States Air Forces in Europe, United States European Command, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The Wing is capable of mobilizing for all US and NATO objectives. The 48th Medical Group, USAFE's largest is a regional medical center for all active duty and retired US military members and their families living in the United Kingdom. The 5th Space Surveillance Squadron is located at RAF Feltwell, UK, approximately 10 miles from Lakenheath. The squadron is assigned to the 73rD Space Group and 14th Air Force, Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, and operates a $100 million Deep Space Tracking System site.

INSTALLATION E-Mail Address: glenda.alexander@lakenheath.af.mil

Telephone Access................ : DSN 314-226-1110 COMM - 011-44-163852-3000

USING THE NUMBERS IN THIS GUIDE - If you are calling from outside the UK, the United Kingdom commercial prefix codes are 011-44- then the commercial number listed. (Example - Family Support Center - call from the US would be 011-44-1638-523847)

If you are calling from inside the UK, don't use the 011-44- prefix, instead, the numbers are preceded by a 0, i.e., 01638 instead of 1638 (Example- Family Support Center- Call from outside the UK would be 011-44-1638-523847, call from inside the UK would be 01638-523847)

When dialing an extension from on base for either RAF Lakenheath or RAF Feltwell, that number is preceeded by "7". Example calling the Family Support Center from on base, dial 73847).

HISTORY

In May 1940, the US Army Air Corps formulated plans to meet President Franklin Roosevelt's call for increased aircraft production. As part of the War department's 84 Group Plan, the Air Corps activated the 48th Bombardment Group (Light) on 15 January 1941. Primarily a replacement training unit, the 48th participated in experimental joint Army-Air Corps maneuvers to evaluate close air support and air-to-ground tactics.

The 48th was ordered by the War Department to England as part of the buildup for the eventual invasion of fortress Europe. The group's greatest World War II legacy lies not with its fighter kills, but its close air support mission. Operating from former Luftwaffe airfields in France, the Group supported the allied breakthrough at St Lo in July 1944. The Group was inactivated at Seymour Johnson Field in North Carolina on 7 November 1945.

Due to the mounting concern of communist aggression in Korea and Europe in the early 1950s, the Air Force restructured its combat units into Wings. As such, the 48th Fighter-Bomber Wing was born on 10 July 1952. The 48th was then moved to Chaumont Air Base in France. On July 4, 1954, the Wing received its designation as the "Statue of Liberty" Wing, making it the only Air Force unit to have both a numerical and descriptive designation. On January 1960, the Wing's three fighter squadrons moved to Lakenheath.

During Operations Desert Storm and Desert Shield, the 48th supplied 66 F-111Fs and 1400 personnel, which were in place by December 1990. Throughout the offensive, wing aircrews participated in a number of campaigns including bridge busting, airfield destruction and tank killing. A number of unique missions were flown, including "Save the Ducks" which entailed using GBU-15 infrared television munitions to destroy the burning Kuwait oilfield pumping mechanism and contain the ecological disaster which was taking place and on 26 February when two F-111Fs dropped two strange looking GBU-28 4500 pound bombs on the Taji command and control bunker outside of Baghdad, severely disrupting Iraq's military machine. Overall, the Liberty Wing flew a total of 1919 combat sorties, totaling 2203 target hits.

Since 13 September 1991, the Liberty Wing has been called on to augment the Operation Provide Comfort air component at Incirlik, Turkey. This ongoing mission is to enforce a UN no-fly zone in Northern Iraq, protecting Iraq's Kurdish population.

The Liberty Wing has been active in support of Operations Provide Promise and Deny Flight in war torn Bosnia-Hercegovina and Croatia, providing not only active air support, but mobilization of medical personnel and facilities to take care of UN personnel and civilian war injured. Both of these missions are continuous. Personnel of various specialties have deployed in support roles including chaplains, fire fighters, administrative and personnel technicians, fuels, transportation, supply, intelligence, graphic arts, photographic, and a host of others. Depending on mission needs, these personnel have found themselves deployed upwards to six months, often under stressful combat conditions.