About
The Norfolk and Suffolk Aviation Museum at Flixton near Bungay in Suffolk is the largest aviation museum in East Anglia, housing a collection of over 70 aircraft and extensive displays in several large hangars on the former site of RAF Bungay — also known as USAAF Station 125, from which American bombers flew missions over occupied Europe during the Second World War.
The museum's location is integral to its significance. East Anglia was the most densely aerodromed region in Britain during the Second World War — dozens of airfields were constructed across Norfolk and Suffolk, many of them built or occupied by the United States Army Air Forces Eighth Air Force, the great strategic bombing force that flew from English bases to strike targets across Germany and occupied Europe. The sound of thousands of aircraft engines was the constant background to daily life in wartime East Anglia, and the communities around every airfield developed deep connections with the young American airmen stationed there. The Norfolk and Suffolk Aviation Museum commemorates this history at one of the original sites.
Flixton itself served as home to USAAF Station 125, from which Boeing B-24 Liberators of the 446th Bombardment Group flew combat missions between 1943 and 1945. The museum occupies part of the original airfield, and this direct historical connection gives the collections an authenticity and resonance that a purpose-built site could not match. The wartime landscape — the concrete perimeter tracks, the dispersal areas, and the flat Suffolk fields stretching to the horizon — survives in part around the museum site.
The aircraft collection ranges from Second World War types through the full span of Cold War British and American military aviation to more recent aircraft. East Anglian RAF bases — including Wattisham, Coltishall, Lakenheath, and Mildenhall — were among the most important in Britain during the Cold War, hosting both RAF and USAF aircraft throughout the period, and the museum's Cold War collections reflect this strategic importance. RAF aircraft from the late 1940s through the 1980s are represented in particular depth.
Beyond the aircraft, the museum holds extensive collections relating to the human story of aviation in East Anglia: USAAF Eighth Air Force memorabilia and records, RAF Bomber Command materials, Royal Observer Corps collections documenting the network of observation posts that tracked aircraft across Britain, and personal collections donated by veterans and their families. The museum is entirely volunteer-run and free to enter, funded by admission donations, the café, and the shop.
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Highlights
USAAF Eighth Air Force Memorial Display
The 446th Bombardment Group flew B-24 Liberators from this very airfield (USAAF Station 125) between November 1943 and June 1945, completing 273 combat missions over Germany and occupied Europe. The museum holds one of the most personal and historically significant collections of Eighth Air Force memorabilia in Britain — material donated by veterans of the 446th and their families over more than fifty years, including photographs, flying equipment, personal correspondence, mission records, and objects that bring the human reality of the strategic bombing campaign vividly to life.
RAF Bomber Command Collections
East Anglia was home to many RAF Bomber Command bases during the Second World War, and the museum holds significant collections relating to this aspect of the air war. Photographs, documents, flying equipment, and personal memorabilia from RAF crews who flew bombing operations over Germany are displayed alongside aircraft of the period.
The moral and strategic complexities of the strategic bombing campaign are addressed with honesty and historical sensitivity, alongside recognition of the extraordinary courage of the aircrews who flew these missions — Bomber Command aircrew suffered the highest casualty rate of any service in the Second World War.
Cold War RAF Aircraft
East Anglia's RAF bases were among the most strategically important in Britain throughout the Cold War — home to NATO nuclear strike aircraft, air defence fighters, and the constant presence of USAF tactical nuclear forces at Lakenheath and Mildenhall. The museum's Cold War aircraft collection reflects this directly, with examples of the aircraft types that served at East Anglian bases: Hawker Hunter, de Havilland Venom, English Electric Canberra, Hawker Siddeley Buccaneer, and others.
These aircraft represent the front line of British and NATO air defence during the most dangerous decades of the twentieth century.
The Royal Observer Corps Museum
The Norfolk and Suffolk Aviation Museum is the sole location of the Royal Observer Corps Museum — a unique and nationally significant collection dedicated to the organisation that monitored and reported aircraft movements across Britain from 1925 until its disbandment in 1995. The ROC's network of observation posts covered the entire country, and the museum holds uniforms, equipment, documents, and personal objects from observers who served in the organisation across seven decades.
The underground monitoring posts of the Cold War — from which observers would have reported nuclear detonations and fallout — are a particularly striking aspect of the collections.
Collections
Main Aircraft Collection
Over 70 aircraft and associated exhibits spanning Second World War through Cold War, displayed across hangars and outdoor areas.
Royal Observer Corps Museum
The national collection of the Royal Observer Corps — the only ROC museum in the UK.
USAAF 446th Bombardment Group
Memorial collection dedicated to the American airmen who flew from this site between 1943 and 1945.
Current Exhibitions
No current exhibitions. Please check the museum website for updates.