RAF Stradishall was commissioned with twenty other stations as part of a expansion initiated in 1935 by the Royal Air Force. The expansion program was in response to the military activity taking place in Germany at the time.

Work at Stradishall started that same year and lasted until Stradishall was officially opened on the 3rd February 1938 when it's first station commander Group Capt. J.H Herring DSO MC arrived at the base.

The first official flight was by Capt. J.H Herring DSO AFC in a Miles Magister on the 4th March but it wasn't until the 11 Heyfords and 10 Wellesleys arrived on the 9th March that Stradishall truly became a Bomber station in 3 Group Bomber command.