RAF Felixstowe started as a Royal Naval Air Service station in 1913. During WW1, its seaplane aircraft patrolled the North Sea, mainly searching for German U-boats. The station became one of the Royal Air Forces first stations when the bew service was formed on 1 April 2021. By the end of the WW1 the base was one of the largest air stations in the world.

On 16 June 1924 the base became home for the Marine Aircraft Experimental Establishment (MAEE) which trialed more than 250 types of seaplane and flying boat - military and civilian - as well as designing some of its own. The base's personnel included included Flying Officer Frank Whittle, inventor of the jet engine, and Aircraftsman 1st Class TE Shaw, better known as Lawrence of Arabia. The station's special ‘High-Speed Flight’ won the world famous Schneider Trophy for Britain three times in a row; both the 1929 and 1931seaplanes were based at Felixstowe for a time. In 1936 the base came under the control of the RAF.s Coastal Command.

When WW2 started in 1939, the MAEE was moved to a safer location in Helensburgh, Scotland. The Royal Navy occupied the base from 1940 to 1945, naming it HMS Beehive and operating motor gun boats and motor torpedo boats in the North Sea.

After WW2 ended in 1945, the MAEE moved back to Felixstowe until 1953. The last aircraft at the base were Whirlwind air-sea rescue helicopters until they stopped flying from here in May 1961 and RAF Felixstowe finally closed in 1962.

Felixstowe Air Cadets' Squadron Headquarters is located on the site of RAF Felixstowe's No 2 Guardroom that house the station's detention cells for errant airmen! However, today we have a purpose-built replacement building.