Fighter Bases of WW II US 8th Army Air Force Fighter Command USAAF, 1943–45

P-38 Lightning, P-47 Thunderbolt and P-51 Mustang Squadrons in East Anglia, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire

Martin W. Bowman

• Publisher: Pen & Sword Aviation
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9781844159055
• eBook ISBN: 9781783409167
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Military & Maritime History
• Index: History

This book covers the bases used during the Second World War by the American fighter units that flew in support of the 8th Air Forces heavy bomber forces.The long-range Lightnings, Thunderbolts and Mustangs escorted the Mighty Eighths Flying Fortresses and Liberators on their deep penetration raids into occupied Europe and Germany. Fighter cover was vital, since the USAAF flew daylight raids and in the early months the number of US aircraft lost to the defending Luftwuffe fighters was unacceptably high.The airfields included are Bodney, Bottisham, Boxted, Debden, Duxford, East Wretham, Fowlmere, Halesworth, Honington, Horsham St. Faith, Kings Cliffe, Leiston, Martlesham Heath, Raydon, Steeple Morden, Wattisham and Wormingford.This book looks at the history and personalities associated with each base, what remains today and explores the favorite local wartime haunts where aircrew and ground crew would have sought well-deserved entertainment and relaxation. Other museums and places that are relevant will also be described and general directions on how to get them included.

APPENDIX 1

Summary of Airfields and Other Locations

Ashby, Suffolk

Description: Memorials to USAAF fliers.

Location: Off unclassified road 1 mile North of Somerleyton.

Directions: Head for the church of Ashby St. Mary near Herringfleet Hall.

Comments: A stone in the churchyard is dedicated to the American airmen of the 100th Bomb Group killed ‘near this place on 7 May 1944 and also on 8 April 1945 Lieutenant Russell P. Judd and Flight Officer Louis S. Davis, all of the U.S.A. 8th Army Air Force [sic] gave their lives in defence of this country. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.’ First Lieutenant Ralph W. Wright and four of his crew in the 349th Bomb Squadron who died on 7 May 1944 are commemorated on the same memorial stone near the gate of the 13th Century church of Ashby St. Mary, as Judd and Davis of the 5th Emergency Rescue Squadron at Halesworth. During a mock combat their P-47Ds collided and crashed in Fritton Lake. Judd was flying P-47D-6-RE 42-74705 and Davis P-47D-15-RE 42-76175. An outer wing section was one of many relics recovered from the lake in 1971 and is now on display in the USAF Museum at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio. (The story of these two incidents can be found in Final Flights by Ian McLachlan (PSL 1989))

Atcham (Station 342)

Description: American fighter base.

Location: In parkland north of the A5 and River Severn and 3 miles south-east of Shrewsbury.

Directions: Follow signs for Atcham Industrial Estate. Comments: Though the runways have been broken up and removed and the control tower demolished, the three T2 hangars remain. As does the administration buildings, which form the Atcham Industrial Estate.

Berinsfield, Oxfordshire

Description: Memorial to USAAF fliers.

Location: Off A423.

Directions: Leave junction 7 on M40 motorway and head SW on the A329 to Stadhampton. Turn right on to B480 to Chislehampton, then left on to B4015 and go to A423. Turn left and go about a mile to the Berinsfield roundabout. Turn left into minor road and left again. Memorial and church are on the right.

Comments: A Spitfire propeller with spinner painted PR blue is fixed to a plinth in the village. The plaque beneath depicts the 8th Air Force and RAF badges and a Spitfire and Lightning, both of which flew from the nearby Mount Farm airfield. The inscription reads: ‘In memory of those who served 7th Photo Group, the eyes of 8th USAAF, Mount Farm. 5,693 missions 1943–1945. Dedicated 25th May 1985.’ The memorial was made in Florida and transported across the Atlantic to be erected in Oxfordshire. A Scroll of Honour can be found in Berinsfield church. Fields within the old aerodrome site are named after local wartime personalities. Weitner Field, appropriately incorporating much of the reclaimed main runway, commemorates Major Walter L. Weitner who, on 6 March 1944, flew the first Spitfire photo mission to Berlin.

Bodney (Station 141)

Description: RAF satellite airfield for RAF Watton in the early war years and later, a USAAF airfield.

Location: A Breckland site on the B1108 east of the A1065 Swaffham to Brandon road.

Directions: turn onto B1108 Watton road. Immediately after Bodney is the airfield, now a British Army camp.

Comments: Inside the main gate of the army camp, which now occupies the site of the wartime aerodrome, is a memorial, dedicated on 9 July 1983, to all who served with the 352nd Fighter Group. A Thunderbolt and a Mustang are shown on the memorial, together with the words: ‘From these fields, American airmen joined their British allies in the cause of freedom.’

Bottisham (Station 374)

Description: American fighter base.

Location: In open farmland adjacent to the A45 Cambridge to Newmarket bypass.

Directions: For the lychgate, go down Tunbridge Lane.

Comments: In the Church of the Holy Trinity is a plaque, dedicated on 17 June 1984, bearing the words: ‘In memory of the Airmen of the 361st Fighter Group US 8th Air Force who gave their lives in the defence of freedom 1943–1945.’ An identical plaque was put into the refurbished control tower at Little Walden, 10 miles south, on the same day. In Bottisham village in October 1986, a road in a new housing area being built was named in honour of Colonel Thomas J. Christian Jnr, who was KIA on 12 August 1944. The idea originated from a member of the 361st Preservation Group living near Bottisham and so ‘Thomas Christian Way’ was inaugurated. The colonel’s daughter, Ms Lou Christian Wilson Fleming (44), whom he never saw, was flown from Texas by the building firm and took part in a naming ceremony at Bottisham on 16 October 1988. A jazz band played as a P-51 Mustang gave a display and there was a colour guard from the US Air Force. A lychgate at the entrance to the new housing area, where Thomas Christian Way begins, covers a plaque which was unveiled by Lou Christian. It reads: ‘This Street is situated on what was part of Bottisham air base and is named in honour of Colonel Thomas J. Christian, Jnr, commander of the 361st Fighter Group, US Eighth Air Force, who, with members of his command, flew from here and gave his life in the defence of freedom during World War II. Unveiled by Colonel Christian’s daughter, Ms Lou Christian Wilson Fleming, on 16 October 1988. Lest we forget.’ The housing estate stands on the former communal site. American murals in war-time brick huts, showing the 8th Air Force insignia, the Statue of Liberty and other items, were removed and distributed between the IWM, Duxford, a US Air Force base and an aviation museum in the USA.

Statue of Liberty mural on a wall at Bottisham airfield in May 1981. (Author)

B-17 with a yellow-nosed 361st Fighter group Mustang and the words, ‘Here’s a toast to those who love the vastness of the sky’ on a wall at Bottisham airfield in May 1981. (Author)

‘Off we Go into the Wild Blue Yonder’ on a wall at Bottisham airfield in May 1981. This brick mural is one of several that have been carefully and expertly removed over the past few years. It is now faithfully displayed at Thorpe Abbotts. Unfortunately, after removal, some brick murals (like the ones at Podington and Mendlesham) were inexplicably repainted (badly) and thereby rendered no longer authentic or historic. Unless the wrongly applied paint can be removed they are now really only fit for the skip. (Author)

Two crew huts in a corner near the A1303 road are the only remaining buildings. The A45 Newmarket bypass was built across the site of the airfield. During the war the Officers’ Mess was at Bottisham Hall, home of the Jennings family. Hutted accommodation was built nearby. Visitors should not enter the area with the huts, which is privately owned. Anyone wishing t...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• The Airfields
• APPENDIX 1 - Summary of Airfields and Other Locations
• APPENDIX 2 - 8th Air Force Fighter Command Order of Battle
• APPENDIX 3 - Leading Aces
• Bibliography