Geedee & Rocketeers USAAF B-24 Base Tour - UK

Good pics Tony!

Great stuff Tony, keep them coming.

Lovely shots guys!

Having finished both Dunkeswell and Upottery in one weekend, we had the following week to recover before starting the main marathon dash to visit the other Stations.

Up at pre-Sparrow F*rt, we had a nice long drive upto Cheddington from home, aiming to arrive just at day-break.

Cheddington was called various names... "Long Marston Airfield" and "Marsworth Airfield". It occupies an area between these two villages.It's official title from the war years (and the name that is used in official records) is Cheddington. This is because all new airfields at the time were named by the nearest railway station....bet ya didn't know that !. To the 8th, it was known as Station 113.

Cheddington is actually an old Airfield and was in fact used briefly during late WW1 and was closed after the armistice. Fast forward to WW2 and the airfield was re-awakened in March 1942 as an RAF Station with Wellington Bombers form 26 OTU. Then in Sept '42 it was transferred to the USAAF and the 44th Bombardment Group 8th AAF arrived initially with 3 Liberator Squadrons (66th, 67th, 68th) however their stay was fairly short lived as the 8th wanted all Liberator Groups to move over to Norfolk and so in October that year, the 44th moved to Shipdham...which we also visited !

Here's the link to the 44th. 44th Bomb Group - - World War II

The 50th Fighter Squadron (8th Reconnaissance Group) flying the P-378 Lightning was assigned to the station 15 March-12 April 1944, but was not made operational. Then Bombers returned including the B-17's.

These are the units :

• 850th Bombardment Squadron Liberator
• 858th Bombardment Squadron Liberator
• 406th Bombardment Squadron Liberator
• 36th Bombardment Squadron Liberator / Flying Fortress

Trawling the Net, I found this awesome Poem penned by an American Airman stationed at Cheddington airfield in 1943:

"What will become of this little section of England that has been our life for the past two years? Will the runways and hard-standings lay abandoned and untouched in mute tribute to the men who worked, lived and sweated out the planes during the years of war and restriction? What will become of the dogs once fed so well around the mess halls – the legion of station mascots? Will they walk through deserted kitchens wondering where the chow lines and their GI pals have gone? What impression have we Americans made in our frequent contacts with the English people who have been our neighbours and companions during these long monotonous war-weary years? Probably these questions which probe into the future will not be answered for many years".

Right, on with pics
There is a Memorial at the entrance to what was the Technical Site. Included in the Memorial area is an original Runway Light.and I apologize for the horrible pics as the light was very low at this time of the morning.There are lots of buildings still standing, indeed some of them are in use as Industrial units, but it was kinda spooky walking around the few derelict ones we visited. The runway has long since been removed as hard-core but a small grass-strip runs alongside which we didn't have time to view. Here's a few shots of some of the buildings:

Great stuff Gary, looking forward to more.
There's always an 'atmosphere' on old, disused airfields, quite often rather creepy too.

Very cool guys. I can't wait to see Eye

Very cool!

Gary has done a great job. Not much to add to Stop 3 Cheddington, other than a couple of photos. I took a real B-24 yoke, set of repro aircrew wings, original WW2 B-24 recognition model. These were photographed next to memorials and wherever possible, on an original runway or taxiway.

Very cool guys. I'd be interested in seeing maps or Google Earth images at each of your stops if that's not too much trouble.

Upottery, April 1944, and Cheddington, March 1944.

Good shots guys!

B24 Stop No.4. Harrington. USAAF Stn 179. It was opened in Sept 1943 and originally intended as a satellite station for RAF Desborough. Harrington is in Northamptonshire.
With thanx to Wiki:
The airfield was built by 826th and 852nd Engineer Battalions of the US Army intended for heavy bomber use and was completed in the spring of 1944.

Harrington was assigned USAAF designation Station 179.

USAAF Station Units assigned to RAF Harrington were:

• 328th Service Group

347th Service Squadron; HHS 328th Service Group

• 39th Service Group

352d and 364th Service Squadron; HHS 39th Service Group

• 18th Weather Squadron
• 35th Station Complement Squadron

Regular Army Station Units included:

• Headquarters (844th Engineer Aviation Battalion)
• 844th Engineer Aviation Battalion
• 1077th Signal Company
• 1139th Military Police Company
• 1220th Quartermaster Company
• 2132nd Engineer Fire Fighting Platoon

801st BG moved in from Alconbury in March 1944. 36th and 406th Bomber Squadrons had B24. Two others had B17s. The 801stBG was known as the carpet baggers, flying special operations resupplying agents in occupied Europe and resistance fighters.
The unit received at least one unit citation for their clandestine work.
After the war the base had nuclear missiles well into the cold war.
Not a huge amount is left. Unfortunately we could not gain access to the museum. The photos show the memorial, a couple of toilets and a piece of taxiway. You can just make out the museum in one photo.

Great !

Nice pictures, guys, Thanks!

Harrington is almost non-existent today as you'll see in the photo from googlemaps and then the one taken when it was active thanks to Wiki
We tried to make it around the old peri-track but the brush / trees and slippery conditions due to the fresh snow made it impossible this time so we where unable to get to where the main runways would have been (This is a summers day day walk from the Museum I reckon !).
We had a trek and a half in sub-zero temps and strong winds to just to find the toilet block !!!



The wartime photo has the following text from Wiki :-
Aerial photograph of Harrington airfield looking north, the main runway runs vertically, 22 April 1944. Note the many aircraft of the 801st Bombardment Group on the various hardstands, also one appearing to be taking off on the main runway. Photograph by 7th Photographic Reconnaissance Group, sortie number US/7PH/GP/LOC313. English Heritage (USAAF Photography).

The Museum itself has its own website and looks to contain a lot of info so we will be doing a return trip when its open next year !
The History Of Harrington Airfield | Harrington Aviation Museum

Unfortunately, we didn't realize there is a Memorial to the Site but you will see pictures of it in the Museum link

Great stuff Gary. There's always an element of sadness about an overgrown, former airfield, and the countless thousands of people who pass them each day, have no idea of what went on there, or when.

Certainly is Terry. 150 plus bombers were lost from one airfield in action. 1500 young men

Good stuff guys, and thanks for the aerials.

Lovely shots guys!

B-24 Stop No 5 North Pickenham

RAF North Pickenham was built in the later part of the Second World War (1943/44) and was officially handed over to the USAAF, 492nd Bomb Group (BG), on May 22nd 1944, by way of an an RAF Officer during a ceremonial hand-over parade, formally becoming Station 143. This handover was the last of the USAAF takeovers of British Airfields (66 sites) resulting in eighty-two major operational units occupying 77 sites.

The first group 492nd carried out sixty-six missions in 89 days becoming know as 'The Hard Luck Group" and were then disbanded....actually they were wiped-out !.

During these operations, they would lose fifty-seven aircraft (including six non-operationally) which was the highest loss of any B-24 unit of the entire Eighth Air Force. With loses continuing to climb and talk of a jinxed group spreading, an order came though on August 5th 1944 for the 492nd to withdraw from combat missions and take over 'Carpetbagger' operations previously being performed by the 801st at RAF Harrington.

492nd Bomb Group

It was then the turn of the 491st to take over Pickenham who became known as 'The Ringmasters'

Welcome

On one of their missions to bomb an oil refinery at Misburg on 26 November 1944, the group was attacked by large numbers of enemy fighters, losing over half its 'Planes, the remainder fought off the fighters, successfully bombed the target, and won for the group a Distinguished Unit Citation.

The USAAF finally left North Pickenham in August 1945 and the airfield became an RAF satellite for a Maintenance Unit at RAF Shipdham. North Pickenham was transferred to RAF Bomber Command in March 1948 and became inactive on 26 October. On 1 December 1958 the station was reopened as the home for the newly reformed 220 Sqn RAF equipped with the Thor nuclear missile and was deactivated in October 1963 and the missiles removed.

Now you all know about the Hawker Harrier, did you know that the prototype, the P1127 was tested here !

Now, the airfield is all but gone. The main runways are still there but you can't see much as they are almost entirely covered by huge building that make up a Turkey Farm for a certain food producer and there are a good few wind-turbines now on site. As a result access is a no-no but we did manage to park in a gateway and get a few pics looking down the one of the runways looking between the buildings.. Not far from the site is a beaut little Memorial.

Thanks to GoogleMaps and Wiki for the aerial photo's