Control Tower, To Former Raf Ludham, 330 Metres Sse Of Starkings Farm, And Former Watch Office 50 Metres To S

Control Tower and Watch Office, RAF Ludham

The control tower was built in 1941 to designs by the Air Ministry's Directorate of Works and Buildings, following the Office for All Commands design (Drawing No. 343/43). It stands approximately 330 metres south-southeast of Starkings Farm. A separate, earlier watch office of 1943 design stands 50 metres to the south. Both structures are listed together for their historical and architectural significance.

The control tower is constructed of rendered brick with an asphalt roof. Its plan reflects the functional demands of wartime air traffic control: the ground floor contains a watch office to the front, with a duty pilot's rest room, meteorological office, switch room and lavatories arranged to the rear. The first floor holds the control room at the front, with the controller's rest room and signals office behind, connected via a passage with access to stairs.

The exterior is characterised by large multi-paned steel casements positioned to the front and flank walls of both the watch office and control room, designed to provide clear views across the flying field. Access to the first floor is gained by steel stairs on the return elevation, leading to a concrete balcony with tubular steel railings and supporting iron columns. Smaller steel casements serve the rear portions of the side and rear elevations, with doors to the left-hand and rear elevations.

The interior features concrete stairs, painted brick walls and some panelled doors.

The watch office 50 metres to the south was built in 1940 according to the standard design for fighter satellite stations. It comprises a T-plan structure of reinforced concrete block. This represents an earlier and much simpler type: the most basic satellite airfield control facilities of 1940-41 consisted of small single-storey temporary buildings of brick with concrete roofs, containing just a watch office. Thirty-seven such examples were built; this is one of the few survivors.

RAF Ludham opened in 1941 as a forward operating base for Fighter Command, serving as a satellite airfield to Coltishall within 12 Group. It operated primarily with Coastal Command in convoy patrols and anti-e-boat operations.

The control tower represents a later and more sophisticated version of the standard Air Ministry Watch Office for All Commands design. Eighty-two examples of this design now survive across the country, but Ludham is among a very small number preserved in such good condition. Other well-preserved examples include Alconbury (which retains an attached operations room), Duxford, Dunkeswell, Rougham, Elvington, Little Walden, Matching Green and East Kirkby.

The control tower building type itself emerged as a recognisable design in 1934, becoming the dominant feature of military airfield architecture during the Second World War. From 1938 onwards, as RAF strategy increasingly emphasised dispersal and shelter of aircraft against enemy attack, alongside improved landing and take-off facilities and movement control, the control tower became a central element in airfield planning. These structures served not only practical functions but became focal points where base personnel gathered to await the return of aircraft from operations. Ludham's control tower represents one of very few surviving Second World War examples that combines either exceptional preservation or a distinguished operational history.