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RAF Marham's new gate guardian

A team of Royal Engineers prepared the ground ready to accept the aircraft, including the removal of the concrete pads that the previous gate guardian, the Victor, was positioned on. They set new concrete pads, suitably spaced to fit the undercarriage of the Tornado. There were additional challenges during this period due to the global pandemic as extra measures were put in place to  maintain safe systems of working. The Royal Engineers then built a Heritage Wall which commemorates the aircraft that have flown from RAF Marham during its 105 year existence and is dedicated to all personnel who have served and supported operations at RAF Marham. Laid into the wall are number of bricks that have been recycled from Number 1 Hangar that had been demolished at the beginning of this year in preparation for future works.

ZA614 was previously located adjacent to Air Traffic Control where it was utilised by the RAF Marham Fire Section to conduct pilot extraction training. The Tornado GR4 received a new coat of paint which includes a unique design on the tail and spine to commemorate the RAF Marham Squadron’s that had flown the iconic jet between 1982 - 2019. The names of the crew who flew the final flight on 14 March 2019 are painted under the cockpit. The artwork for the tail and spine was designed by the surface finishers from the SERCO Surface Finishing Facility at RAF Marham who then painted the Tornado ready for it to be moved to its new location.

The move to Station Headquarters took a lot of careful planning as it was towed from the SERCO Surface Finishing Facility around part of the perimeter road and into the car park in front of Station Headquarters. Local firm Quinto Crane and Plant Ltd then lifted the aircraft into place under the supervision of the Joint Aircraft Recovery and Transportation Squadron team from MOD Boscombe Down. The team of volunteers that had worked extremely hard on this project for a number of months loaded the final parts onto the aircraft so it was finally ready to take its place as the new RAF Marham Gate Guardian.

 

RAF Marham Station Commander, Group Captain Phil Marr said,

“Having spent a large amount of my career on Tornado it was great to see the aircraft as the Station’s new gate guardian when I returned to RAF Marham in the summer. The team have put a lot of time and effort into relocating the new gate guardian into its new position and preparing the surrounding area into an area of commemoration and reflection.”

 

 

The other area to receive a make-over was the Station flagpole. A new flagpole was custom made and positioned in place by A1 Facilities and Johnson’s Iron Works. The top of the pole features an F-35 Lightning weather vane, while the bottom features various aircraft from RAF Marham’s history. A small team of volunteers from Station held a ‘Groundforce’ evening, tidying up the area surrounding the flagpole and the heritage wall, and planting new flowers and shrubs.

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