Nostalgia - Mildenhall airbase sees parachute mock raid

In 1952, people from Holywell Row were spending a quiet afternoon enjoying the sun when four strange-looking aircraft circled over the village. Suddenly the air was thick with parachutists as they spilled over the fields.

The raid on the American airbase at Mildenhall had commenced.

It was the first among a series of raids which would be carried out by British soldiers on American air bases that summer.

The exercises would test both the tactics of the raiders and the aerodrome defences.

The troops were of the 16th Airborne Division, about half of them had war service and there were several National Servicemen amongst them.

On landing, the paratroopers discarded their parachutes, formed into three platoons and began a mock attack on the airbase.

The operation had the code name of 'Slipstream.'