Langham Dome
April/May
Friday, Saturday, Sunday. 10:00 -16:00
June/October
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. 10:00 -16:00
Admission fee
LANGHAM DOME SUMMARY
The Dome at the now disused airfield at RAF Langham in North Norfolk is one of the last few remaining structures, of which 43 were built in the UK during WW2, made to house the Dome Trainer – a war winning and essential invention used for anti-aircraft gunnery training. Only six remain but The Langham Dome is the only one which has been “saved” and converted into a visitor centre and museum – with a multitude of exhibits and films telling both the story of the technology and use of the then secret AA trainer and also the history of RAF Langham. This history covers RAF Langham’s use as a busy Coastal Command airfield in WW2 and its post war use during the early years of the Cold War.
Following closure in April 1946 the airfield was kept on care and maintenance and almost immediately the site was brought back into use as the aviation technical training centre for Dutch Air Force and Navy trainees – a role it filled until September 1947. UK and US servicemen continued using the Dome and the ranges at Stiffkey and Weybourne on the North Norfolk Coast and, from 1952 until late 1958, Langham re-opened as an operational airfield as the home of the No 2 Civilian Anti-Aircraft Cooperation Unit (CAACU) operated by Marshall of Cambridge.
RAF Langham Airfield and the Dome Trainer finally closed in 1958 – a Vampire aircraft making the last flight in October of that year. The airfield was sold, and apart from a small vintage aircraft operation still there today, quickly became disused and the home for a variety of other purposes including agriculture, turkey farming and the use of the broken up runways for road building. The Dome itself, although becoming a listed building, was abandoned and for 50 years fell into decay until in 2010 a local community group called the Friends of Langham Dome (FoLD), decided that it, and the stories it has to tell, had to be saved and be available for the wider public. By July 2014 the Dome had been not only fully restored, but had also become the home of an iconic museum, interpreting both Langham Airfield and the Dome’s wartime and Cold War use, open to the general public and to schools and other groups. The stories are told in an eclectic range of exhibits both in the Dome and in the outside picnic area and also in three films.
Photos Langham Dome
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