RAF Oulton Air Base

The airfield was closed following the end of World War II. As a purpose-built wartime bomber and special operations base, it was surplus to the requirements of the peacetime Royal Air Force during the post-war military drawdown.

The site has been almost entirely returned to agricultural land and is now part of the National Trust's Blickling Estate. While the main runways have been removed, faint outlines and sections of the perimeter track are still visible from the air. The former technical site to the south has been redeveloped into the Oulton Airfield Industrial Estate. A memorial dedicated to the squadrons and personnel who served at RAF Oulton, particularly those lost on operations, is located on the B1149 road adjacent to the former airfield.

RAF Oulton was a significant World War II bomber and special operations airfield. Opened in 1940 as a satellite station for the nearby RAF Horsham St Faith, it initially hosted RAF Bomber Command squadrons, including Nos. 18 and 139, flying Bristol Blenheim and later De Havilland Mosquito bombers. The base was central to No. 2 Group's daring low-level daylight raids, most famously 'Operation Oyster'—the successful 1942 attack on the Philips radio valve factory in Eindhoven, Netherlands. From early 1944, its role shifted dramatically to clandestine operations. It became home to the USAAF 801st/492nd Bombardment Group (the 'Carpetbaggers') and elements of the RAF's No. 161 (Special Duties) Squadron. These elite units flew specially modified B-24 Liberators, Short Stirlings, and Lockheed Hudsons on nighttime missions to drop agents, weapons, and supplies for resistance movements in occupied Europe.

There are no known plans or prospects for reopening RAF Oulton as an airport. The site is now a mix of protected agricultural land under the National Trust, an active industrial estate, and has had its key aviation infrastructure removed for over 75 years, making its revival as a functional airfield highly improbable.