NHER 13551 (Monument record) - Second World War Docking airfield

Site of Docking airfield, satellite of Bircham Newton, 1943 to 1945.

Little remains of airfield itself, only small parts of runways, but road along east side looks like a concrete airfield road.
However up to half a mile away small buildings occur in the fields.
E. Rose (NAU) 7 June 1979.

This was a grass runway airfield, so no concrete runways.
Several airfield concrete roads extant, and buildings at TF 7863 3934 (part of armoury) and TF 7867 3924.
Latter group includes control tower.
D. Gurney (NLA) 16 October 1990.

June 1946.
RAF air photograph shows further military activity to north, site now extended to include this. The major addition is within a near rectangular concentric road where 3 bunkers, probably housing gun emplacements or stores are about 20m square with concentric bases.
B. Cushion (NLA), 11 June 1998.

April 2002. Norfolk NMP.
(Site extended, see hard copy NHER map for original extent).
Extent of airfield and military activity as recorded from contemporary RAF vertical images (S1 and S2) appears to exceed considerably previous site boundary. The northern part of a grass runway can be seen as a parchmark in June 1945 (S1) running from TF 7900 3980 to TF 7888 4028. There are landing lights or flares down the sides of the runway. There is a substantial area to the west which is also parched from constant activity, surrounding two hangars (TF 7872 4005 and TF 7874 3983) each with a length of 25m and a width of 14m. Complexes of elongated rectangular structures and concrete roads and paths are visible at TF 7757 3400 and TF 7813 3990 (S2) which may represent barracks or operational buildings. The structures typically have a length of 14m and a width of 5.5m. There are two curved profile buildings at TF 7756 4027 which are also likely to have a military purpose, although they could be agricultural. To the east of the landing strip are a series of concrete roads and structures.

There is an anti aircraft battery at TF 7940 4034, with three embanked gun emplacements. Curved profile buildings at TF 7917 4034 and TF 7927 4037 are likely to be associated with the Anti Aircraft battery. To the south of the battery a concrete road leads west to a further three concrete building platforms at TF 7968 4009.

Docking was initially a decoy airfield and 'Q' site before becoming a satellite for Bircham Newton (S3). There were numerous bomber and fighter squadrons operating out of Docking between 1940 and 1945.
M. Brennand (NMP), 16 April 2002.

January 2007. Norfolk NMP.
Comparison with other sites suggests that the anti-aircraft battery described above is more likely to be a cluster of heavily protected stores, for ammunition or pyrotechnics, for example. Although the radial arrangement of the embankments is reminiscent of heavy anti-aircraft batteries, the absence of a fourth gun emplacement and its proximity to the airfield itself, suggests that alternative interpretations are more likely. The ‘emplacements’ are also larger than would typically be expected for light anti aircraft guns.

In addition, the identification of this airfield as a former decoy site is also open to question, as it is not listed as one of Bircham Newton’s ‘Q’ sites by Dobinson (S4). The fact that Docking airfield itself had two decoy sites, one of which (at Burnham Sutton) it shared with Bircham Newton (S4), could have led to this confusion.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 10 January 2007.

For further information on the operational history of the airfield and photographs of remaining buildings, see (S5).
A. Cattermole (NLA), 13 January 2010.

September 2025. Northwest Norfolk Aerial Investigation and Mapping (AI&M) Project.
The Second World War airfield described above is visible on aerial photographs as extant structures, earthworks and areas of activity (S6-S12). As described above, the northern part of the site was mapped as part of an earlier ‘NMP’ project covering the Norfolk coast; this updated description is based on mapping for the southern part of the site, which as been undertaken in much less detail. As seen on photographs taken on 16 June 1945 (S8-S9), visible elements include the grass runways (possibly with some sort of lighting system, and already possibly falling out of use), hangars, a dense cluster of structures, possible shelters, paths and ground disturbance centred around Sunderland Farm, and more dispersed huts and possible defences across the airfield and around its perimeter. A probable battle headquarters is visible at TF 7868 3923 (see also Historic England Research Record S13), adjacent to the airfield’s ‘DK’ pundit code. This is visible on aerial photography from 2023 (S12), and depicted by modern Ordnance Survey mapping (S14), so is presumed to still survive. Later aerial photographs (such as S11) show that some elements – including two pillboxes (NHER 30782 and 30783), the battle headquarters, and some huts and structures (around TF 7763 3932 and TF 7822 3873) – still survive but most traces of the airfield appear to have been removed or demolished, some of it by 1946 (such as S15).
The project has mapped only the runways (by extent), the hangars, the battle headquarters, the surviving pillboxes and lengths of barbed wire obstructions. Clusters of huts or distinct areas of activity have been mapped by extent. The latter includes a possible navigational aid or similar structure located at TF 7806 3887, and a curious group of earthwork ridges adjacent to the western perimeter of the airfield at TF 7783 3879. The function of the latter group of features is not known; it perhaps served as an ammunition or bomb store, perhaps a precursor to the one to the north-east (described above).
S. Tremlett (Norfolk Historic Environment Service), 25 September 2025.