Martlesham Heath Control Tower Museum

25/07/2026

Martlesham Heath Aviation Society and Control Tower museum presents the 2026 Showcase event.

Join us on the 13th September for an unforgettable event full of fun for the whole family.

Free to attend and parking available. 11:00am till 4:30pm. Find us at the Control Tower museum off Eagle way, Martlesham. IP5 3UZ.

23/07/2026

07/06/2026

It is with great sadness that we share this post to mark the passing of Lt Col Edward M Nebinger, the last known surviving veteran of the 356th Fighter Group. Ed’s grandson Eamonn contacted me last week to share the sad news that Ed (or ‘Fighter Pilot Ed’ as he insisted on being called by Eamonn) had passed on Memorial Day, 25 May 2026 at the amazing age of 102 and kindly shared the photos which accompany this post.

Edward Montgomery Nebinger was born on 5 January 1924, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, to Helen and Frank M. Nebinger. After graduating from high school, Ed joined the USAAF and on 5 December 1943 at Craig Field, Alabama earned his pilot’s wings and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant at just nineteen years old—an extraordinary achievement.

Ed shipped out to the UK in May 1944 and after a couple of weeks familiarisation at Atcham in Shropshire he along with 12 other pilots were assigned to the 356th Fighter Group at Martlesham Heath. Ed was assigned to the 360th Fighter Squadron and his first combat mission took place on D Day, 6 June 1944, supporting the Allied invasion of Normandy. Ed would fly a total of 75 missions with the 360FS, the majority of them in his assigned P-47D-21-RE Thunderbolt – PI-A ‘Miss Ginny’ named for Virginia Power, a friend of Ed’s back home. He had met her in Montgomery, AL when he was an aviation cadet at Maxwell AFB. Ed also briefly flew the P-51 Mustang (again coded PI-A) on a handful of missions before completing his tour on 23 December 1944.

After a brief return to civilian life, Ed was recalled to active duty in 1948 as global tensions rose again. He was sent directly to Clark Air Force Base in the Philippine Islands, where he transitioned into the earliest generation of jet aircraft. His exceptional skill earned him a place on the 13th Air Force Acro Team, a role reserved for only the most gifted aviators. From there, he advanced to flying a range of supersonic fighters as the Air Force entered a new era of aviation. When the Korean War erupted, his squadron was the first to be deployed—an acknowledgment of their readiness and his leadership as a combat proven pilot.

Upon returning to the United States, Ed was selected to attend the prestigious USAF Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base. For eight years, he flew a wide range of supersonic fighters, pushing the boundaries of what aircraft and pilots could achieve. His work contributed to the rapid evolution of military aviation during one of its most innovative periods.

Ed retired from the Air Force in 1966 as a Command Pilot, concluding a career that spanned three major eras of flight. Over two combat tours, he flew an extraordinary 172 missions. His decorations included eleven Air Medals, the Distinguished Flying Cross with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Air Force Commendation Medal, and numerous campaign and theatre medals.

Ed earned his Master of Business Administration from the University of Maryland after retiring from the military and in 1973, he founded Forecast Associates—later Forecast International, Inc where he served as CEO and guiding force of the company until its sale to GovExec in 2022.

Ed seems to have been a real character and shortly after WW2 he rode a motorcycle across the United States with a close friend—an adventure that captured his lifelong spirit of independence and discovery. He continued riding well into his nineties. He was also an avid sailor, navigating the waters of Long Island Sound and later Fort Pierce, Florida, where he competed in races for many years.
Ed also authored two books, one of which ‘Lady Doreen’ being his wartime memoir is essential reading for any student of the 8th AF and for those interested in the 356FG.

Ed was a great family man and is survived by his devoted wife, Margaret “Marge” Nebinger; his daughters Holly, Bonnie and Fawn; daughters-in-law Darlene and Diane; stepson William; stepdaughter Mary and stepdaughter-in-law Janine. He is also survived by ten grandchildren, two step-grandchildren, and sixteen great-grandchildren.

All of us here at the Museum and MHAS send our sincere condolences to Ed’s family but hope that they take comfort from a life lived to its fullest and their happy memories of a truly remarkable man.

06/06/2026

On the 82nd anniversary of D Day we thought we'd revisit how the official records of the 356th Fighter Group had recorded the events – as mentioned before each squadron had its own historian who was responsible for submitting a monthly history for inclusion in the group records.

Of the three squadrons making up the group the 359th Fighter Squadron historian was by far the most poetic. Below is how he recorded the events of 5 June 1944 in the squadron records:

The month of June has not been a period of innocuous desuetude for the helliferocious, hard hitting 359th. Things have happened. Big things; strange things; crazy things.
A fuse was ignited on D Day eve that brought the whole squadron to its feet. The order ran “…paint every plane alternate black and white. Job must be completed by 0100”. The order was issued at 1630. Short notice for such an undertaking. Not beyond the mettle of the boys from Westover, however.
Everyone scrambled for a paint brush. Even the Chair Corps, waitresses, hip clerks, from the First Sergeant to the Supply Sergeant’s Assistant’s Assistant, graciously, daintily offered their help. An effluvium of excitement rent the line. Gallons of paint covered hundreds of square feet of P-47’s. The dispersal took on the weird appearance of a Walt Disney cartoon in which the characters get blotched together and emerge clean, fresh, new.
When the tremendous assignment was complete our thirty blow fly planes looked like barber poles on a Saturday afternoon. We groped for the mess hall. Sweat and paint tasted pretty good with coffee that night. We were clearly convinced the hour was near….the greatest hour in the history of man.

Stirring stuff we're sure you’ll agree – this chaotic rush to paint invasion stripes on all of the group aircraft would have been repeated across all three squadrons and indeed across all 15 fighter groups of the 8th Air Force.

The results of the handiwork can be seen in the photos below……….

23/03/2026

Two for the price of one! Two short films bought to you from Martlesham Heath Aviation Society. Tickets will sell fast so use the QR code to secure your place asap.

09/03/2026

March Meeting Report – Friday 6 th March 2026. US Air Force Major (ret) Mr Donald Mobley.

Don formerly a F-111 pilot with the United States Air Force, came along and gave us a meeting of two halves,
The First, called “Reaching for the Stars – NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) Early Days”, which was created in 1958.
It came about as a result of the Sputnik Shock – when this Satellite was put into Orbit…. Stunning the US. This was followed by sending Dog Laika, a stray dog from Moscow, on Sputnik 2 on November 3 rd 1957, and Yuri Gagarin the first human to orbit the Earth on 12 April 1961.

America responded using (like the USSR) repurposed Ballistic Missile technology to launch satellites like Telstar and Alan Shepard the first American in space. (1961) and then John Glen ( the first American to orbit the Planet) in 1962, (and much later in 1998 to go into Space again) both in the 60’s in Mercury Program space capsules.

Remember, the 1960’s was a very Cold War period – when both Superpowers were trying to outdo each other in Space, claiming that their political systems (Communism V Capitalism) is the best.
The US was very open talking about their successes and failures like Gemini Capsule docking problems with another spacecraft – which nearly ended in disaster and the Apollo Spacecraft fire of Friday 27 th Jan 1967 when Gus Grissom, Ed. White and Roger Chafee, burned to death in less than a minute in their seats atop the launch rocket, as a spark ignited the oxygen rich atmosphere. This caused a major rebuild of the Apollo Command Module.

The much more secretive Russians tried to project their image of developing a faultless technology however they had their own share of disaster and near misses… and fairly recently they had serious damage to one of their launchpads.
As of January 2026, there have been five incidents in which a spacecraft in flight suffered crew fatalities, killing a total of 15 astronauts and 4 cosmonauts. Of these, two had reached the internationally recognized edge of space 266.000ft. when or before the incident occurred, and one was planned to do so. In each
of these two accidents, the entire crew was killed. As of December 2023, a total of 676 people have flown into space and 19 of them have died in related incidents. This sets the current statistical fatality rate at 2.8 percent.

The Americans were more focused on sending men to the Moon – with the Russians being somewhat outperformed with The Apollo Program successfully landing 12 astronauts on the moon in six missions between 1969 and 1972, the first one being Apollo 11. The Russians seemed to have concentrated more on Satellite and associated technologies. For the future of the American Space programme, there have often been questions in the US Congress etc over the Cost, and even necessity of going back to the Moon or even further to Mars predicted that the Commercialisation of Space Travel is now a reality… with people like Elon Musk using his SpaceX company and setting some amazing project targets with his
Falcon Rocket being the most powerful ever produced.

After a break Don described the History of Drones….. The first Drones go back to the first to Ancient China, in about the 5th Century when kites were used for leisure, military, military reconnaissance and even psychological warfare. Some were even used to carry incendiary devices over enemy positions. The
first properly recorded use occurred during the siege of Venice in 1849 when Austrian military launched approx. 200 paper hot air balloons carrying small explosive payloads with time delayed fuses.

In World War 1 the Royal Flying Corps developed an experimental radio controlled “Aerial Target” as a guided weapon against Zeppelins. Though there are no records of them actually being used. The Americans built “The Kettering Bug” in 1918 as a flying Bomb with a mechanical guidance system before cutting
power and dropping its payload. Sounds Familiar- then look at the German V-1 “Buzz Bomb” or “Doodle Bug”. Reconnaissance drones like the American Ryan Firebee were designed in the Cold War.
Both are basically what is in use by the military with hugely more
sophisticated systems. For instance the Lockheed D21 , was a high Speed drone to be launched from a modified SR21 “Blackbird” to spy over the Soviet Union…But fitted to the SR21 – there were serious aerodynamic issues so was abandoned.

Military Drone technology has redefined defence strategies. As Global threats evolve, continued development ensures tactical superiority, minimises human risk, and improves operational intelligence shaping the future of conflict and global security dynamics. Drones have many more tasks they can and will perform…. Using real time control and live data streaming, they laid the groundwork for the military systems like the Predator and the Global Hawk, with the Israelis and Ukrainian’s being recognised for speedy and effective innovations. These days they are used by a wide variety of Industries, like Agriculture (crop
and pesticide spraying), land and plant growth surveying, construction and infrastructure - site inspection and tracking progress. Energy companies inspect pipelines and powerlines and wind turbines (being cheaper than manned helicopters).
Search and rescue – locating missing persons in difficult terrain or over the sea. Perhaps one day they could even rescue someone!
Delivery services (Amazon? UPS? Ziplane?) offering rapid, contactless delivery and even medicine delivery during pandemics or disasters. Climate Change Research. Drones could become an aerial Taxi. Wisk Aero, a subsidiary of Boeing, is looking to market their autonomous Gen6 air taxi by the end of the 2020’s, which will
be a 4-passenger aircraft, with a range of 72 nautical miles, flying at 120 knots.
Perhaps UBER would get involved?

The development of Drones is outpacing current Privacy and Surveillance issues. They can capture high resolution images, audio and thermal data at a distance, often undetected.
This raises serious privacy and civil liberties concerns, that
can easily breach personal boundaries without consent.

Cheers Howard.