{{short description|Museum in Framlingham, Suffolk, England}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}} {{Use British English|date=December 2016}} '''Parham Airfield Museum''' comprises both the '''390th Bombardment Group Memorial Air Museum''' together with the '''Museum of the British Resistance Organisation''', and occupies the Control tower and adjacent buildings on the former RAF Framlingham airfield near the village of Parham, Suffolk, in England.
thumb|RAF Framlingham Control Tower, the location of Parham Airfield Museum
==390th Bombardment Group Memorial Air Museum== '''RAF Framlingham''' was occupied by the USAAF 390th Bombardment Group from 1943 to 1945, and was also identified as USAAF Station AAF-153.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Maurer |first1=Maurer |title=Air Force Combat Units of World War II (pages 277-278) |url=https://media.defense.gov/2010/Sep/21/2001330256/-1/-1/0/AFD-100921-044.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220180735/http://media.defense.gov/2010/Sep/21/2001330256/-1/-1/0/AFD-100921-044.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=20 December 2016 |website=United States Department of Defense |access-date=6 September 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Anderson |first1=Captain Barry J. |title=Army Air Forces Stations |url=https://www.dafhistory.af.mil/Portals/16/documents/Timelines/World%20War%20II/usaaf_bases_in_united_kingdom.pdf?ver=2016-08-30-150752-303 |publisher=United States Air Force |access-date=5 September 2024}}</ref> After World War II in Europe ended, the runways at RAF Framlingham were broken up and buildings were allowed to deteriorate. In 1976 a five-year restoration programme began to restore the control tower, shot up and abandoned after the Americans held a riotous farewell party there in August 1945. The restored tower was finally dedicated as the '''390th Bombardment Group Memorial Air Museum''' on 13 May 1981. Exhibits focus on the history of the U.S 8th Air Force, the Royal Air Force and the German Luftwaffe in the Second World War. Displays include recovered Second World War aircraft engines, parts of Allied and German aircraft, uniforms, photographs, documents, combat records, paintings and memorabilia.<ref>[http://www.parhamairfieldmuseum.co.uk/390home.html 390th Bombardment Group Memorial Air Museum] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100330173841/http://www.parhamairfieldmuseum.co.uk/390home.html |date=30 March 2010 }}, UK.</ref>
[[File:Parham airfield, Museum of the British Resistance Organisation - Auxiliary unit operational base.jpg|thumb|right|Reconstruction of an Auxiliary Unit '''Operational Base''' at the museum.]]
==Museum of the British Resistance Organisation== The Museum of the British Resistance Organisation was created in 1997, with the opening ceremony being carried out by Lieutenant Colonel J.W. Stuart Edmundsun, TD, RE, one of the founders of the nondescript 'Most Secret' GHQ.<ref>{{cite web |title=War Memorials Register / Auxiliary Units of World War II |url=https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/57384 |website=Imperial War Museum iwm.org.uk |access-date=5 September 2024}}</ref> The museum is located in a Quonset hut adjacent to the control tower, and is dedicated to the Auxiliary Units, one of Britain's nine secret services of World War II, alongside better known clandestine organisations such as the Security Service (MI5), the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), and the Special Operations Executive. In case the Germans succeeded in invading Britain, the men and women of the Auxiliary Units were trained to operate as the British underground resistance. They were to remain undetected in carefully constructed bunkers (Operating Bases – OBs) as the invading German Army made its way through Britain.
The museum includes a replica underground Operational Base, as well as photographs, special weapons such as time pencil fuses and other explosives, dead letter boxes, agent instruction papers, and information about the special radio communications network installed by the Royal Corps of Signals.
==References== {{reflist}}
==Sources== * [http://www.bottesfordhistory.org.uk/page_id__146_path__0p3p67p.aspx Parham] – Bottesford DC
==External links== {{Commons category|Parham Airfield Museum}}
* [http://www.parhamairfieldmuseum.co.uk/ Parham Airfield Museum website]
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Category:Museums established in 1981 Category:Museums in Suffolk Category:Military aviation museums in England Category:World War II museums in the United Kingdom Category:1981 establishments in England