Forces Wattisham Community Information Portal

Wattisham Flying Station (formerly RAF Wattisham)

Wattisham Airfield is home to 3 Regiment Army Air Corps and 4 Regiment Army Air Corps. They are part of 16 Air Assault Brigade, whose headquarters is at Colchester. They fly one of the most advanced military helicopters in the world, the Westland WAH-64 Apache as well as the Westland Lynx.

Also based at Wattisham is 7 Air Assault Battalion REME, 132 Aviation Supply Unit and the Royal Logistics Corps. The RAF maintains a presence at the base with B Flight 22 Squadron, flying the Sea King, with a search and rescue responsibility for the whole of the eastern coast, and Brigade Parachute Squadron RAF.

Wattisham Airfield opened in April 1939 as an RAF base before being lent to the United States Army Air Forces in 1942. The British Army Air Corps took over the base in 1992.

Wattisham lies in a very beautiful part of rural Suffolk and the attractions of the countryside are on one’s doorstep. It is approximately 5 miles from the Town of Needham Market and approximately 8 miles from Stowmarket. There are also swimming pools, leisure centres, cinemas, theatres and many more amenities for both adults and children only a car journey away.


The A14, which is a dual carriageway, will take you to the M11, A1(M), M1 and M6 and all points north. For those wanting to travel to the South the A14 takes you to the A12 and then onto the M25 at Brentwood.

There is a wide variety of amenities at Wattisham Station they include a gymnasium with multi gym and cardio-vascular equipment, a swimming pool, squash courts, tennis courts, Library, education centre, golf club, gliding club, angling club, clay pigeon shooting club & sub aqua club.



The information on this site has been compiled from various sources accessible on the internet:  acknowledgements are due to The British Army Website, the HIVE website, and Wikipedia. 
The site is intended to be an impartial and useful source of information about the Forces Base and surrounding area for members of HM Armed Forces, their families and civilians working on the Base. There should be nothing of a sensitive nature as everything here is readily available on the internet.  If you spot anything that is out of date or just plain wrong, please contact us