The local people know there is something going on when the internet and phone signal drops dead, they say. If the heavy bombers are flying low, the teachers will pause their school assembly until the thunderous din has passed. The parish council has been briefed on the intricacies of sonic booms. Car insurance is more expensive here as the Americans \u201ccan\u2019t drive\u201d and sometimes find themselves on the wrong side of the road. The base became less open to its neighbours after 9\/11. But everyone knows there are secrets held beyond the barbed wire, not least that this is where the nukes are stored.<\/p>\n
RAF Lakenheath is the largest US air force (USAF) base in Europe, part of what is known as the \u201ctri-base area\u201d of Suffolk<\/a>, a stretch of 20 sq miles (52 sq km) of land leased to the US government around which a peculiar ecosystem has developed over the eight decades of the American presence.<\/p>\n Less than a 10-minute drive south-west of Lakenheath is RAF Mildenhall, which supports aerial refuelling and special operations. On the other side of Lakenheath Fen, to the north, is RAF Feltwell, a home for some of the 7,000 active duty personnel and 11,000 family members working across the three bases, although many Americans call the surrounding villages home too.<\/p>\n One of the most popular places to stay is the village of Lakenheath, population 10,000, of which just under half are US citizens.<\/p>\n A local business ecosystem has developed over the eight decades of the American presence. Photograph: Joshua Bright\/The Guardian<\/p>\n The village is long and narrow, dominated by a busy main road, but it is not without its charms; tastefully designed new-builds complement the 19th-century cottages and a medieval church.<\/p>\n Its inner world could be lost on a driver whizzing by on the way to Newmarket were it not for the disproportionately large number of barbers, tattoo salons and car rental outlets. \u201cA car for every American,\u201d offers Fly Rentals at the southern edge of the village near the turn-off to the base.<\/p>\n Louise Marston, 41, owns CJ\u2019s Sandwich Bar and Cafe, on the high street. While having a cup of tea with her aunt, Sarah Marston, 58, she described a community largely at peace with itself but not without its quirks and mysteries. \u201cYou can be on the phone and the signal will just go,\u201d she said. \u201cOnly for a bit, but it comes and goes.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cEven our internet,\u201d said her aunt. \u201cFor all their technology [on the base] it does interfere with life, but it is one of those things.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou know if something is going on \u2013 when it all kicked off the signal was down,\u201d added Anouska Isaacson, 45, with reference to the fighter jets and bombers that flew from the base to attack Iran<\/a> in recent weeks.<\/p>\n Anouska Isaacson, who works at CJ\u2019s Sandwich Bar and Cafe, said she had grown used to the noise from the base. Photograph: Joshua Bright\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Isaacson, who makes the sandwiches at CJ\u2019s, has lived in Lakenheath all her life. She is bullish about the benefits the base brings. There were some concerns aired about where a new primary school had been built as the children bore the full brunt of the noise, but locals here were used to it, she said.<\/p>\n She said: \u201cPeople say: \u2018How do you put up with that racket?\u2019 You don\u2019t take no mind to it. We get a lot of plane spotters but they just need to learn how to park; they are a little irritating. But it brings in people here.\u201d<\/p>\n The boon to the local economy trumped the myriad of little inconveniences. \u201cCar insurance is more locally,\u201d Marston noted. \u201cEvery crash I have had has involved an American. They can\u2019t really drive, bless them. But then I couldn\u2019t drive when I went to their country.\u201d<\/p>\n Then there are the nuclear weapons. This area in East Anglia was first chosen as the site for heavy bombers during the second world war due to the relative ease with which they could reach Berlin. The US took operational command of the bases in 1948.<\/p>\n RAF Lakenheath is the largest US air force base in Europe. Photograph: Joshua Bright\/The Guardian<\/p>\n It was largely understood, but never confirmed, that nuclear warheads were on site for the duration of the cold war. In 2008, it was suggested that more than 100 of them had been removed<\/a> due to security deficiencies. The publication three years ago of plans to build a dome that could protect B61-12 thermonuclear gravity bombs at Lakenheath, followed by the discovery of various flights of planes specialising in nuclear transport last year, convinced many that the nukes had returned<\/a>, if they ever left.<\/p>\n \u201cThey have been there for donkey\u2019s years,\u201d said Isaacson. \u201cNot bothered.\u201d<\/p>\n Not everyone feels the same. Once a month, for the last three years, an organisation called Lakenheath Alliance for Peace has been protesting outside the base. The demonstrations are the result of two women involved in the 1980s Greenham Common peace camp<\/a> alerting Sue Wright, a retired headteacher and the chair of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament in nearby Norwich, to the developments at Lakenheath. The base today hosts the fifth-generation nuclear-capable F35A stealth jets.<\/p>\n Peace demonstrators have been gathering outside RAF Lakenheath once a month for the past three years. Photograph: Joshua Bright\/The Guardian<\/p>\n