RAF Great Ashfield
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RAF Great Ashfield is a former World War II airfield in England. The field is located 10 miles E of Bury St. Edmunds in Suffolk.
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[edit] USAAF Use
Great Ashfield was built for the USAAF in 1942 and assigned designation Station 138. The first aircraft to land on the station is believed to have been a battle-damaged B-26 Marauder returning from a raid over Holland on 17 May 1943.
[edit] 385th Bombardment Group (Heavy)
The airfield was opened on 19 June 1943 and was used by the United States Army Air Force Eighth Air Force 385th Bombardment Group (Heavy). The 385th arrived from Great Falls AAF Montana and was assigned to the 93d Combat Bombardment Wing. The group tail code was a "Square-G". It's operational squadrons were:
- 548th Bomb Squadron (GX)
- 549th Bomb Squadron (XA)
- 550th Bomb Squadron (SG)
- 551st Bomb Squadron (HR)
The group flew B-17 Flying Fortresses as part of the Eighth Air Force's strategic bombing campaign.
The 385th BG operated primarily as a strategic bombardment organization until the war ended, striking such targets as industrial areas, air bases, oil refineries, and communications centers in Germany, France, Poland, Belgium, Holland, and Norway. The group received a Distinguished Unit Citation for bombing an aircraft factory at Regensburg on 17 August 1943 after a long hazardous flight over enemy territory.
The group led the 4th Bomb Wing a great distance through heavy and damaging opposition for the successful bombardment of an aircraft repair plant at Zwickau on 12 May 1944, being awarded another DUC for this performance. Other strategic targets included aircraft factories in Oschersleben and Marienburg, battery works in Stuttgart, airfields in Beauvais and Chartres, oil refineries in Ludwigshafen and Merseburg, and marshalling yards in Munich and Oranienburg.
Sometimes supported ground forces and struck interdictory targets. Attacked coastline defenses in June 1944 in preparation for the Normandy invasion and hit marshalling yards and choke points during the landing on D-Day. Bombed enemy positions in support of ground forces at St Lo in July 1944. Attacked German communications and fortifications during the Battle of the Bulge, Dec 1944-Jan 1945. Bombed troop concentrations and communications centers in Germany and France, Mar-Apr 1945, to assist the final thrust into Germany.
On the 6 March 1944 raid to Berlin (the most costly mission the Eighth ever carried out) the 3rd Division commander, Brigadier General Russell Wilson, took off from Great Ashfield in a radar-equipped B-17 in a leading group of the 385th. All of the 385th aircraft returned safely ... all that is except the one carrying General Wilson which was seen to take several hits from flak setting one engine on fire. Although four of the crew managed to parachute to safety (including Medal of Honor hero First Lieutenant John C. Morgan), eight of the others were killed when the bomber exploded.
After V-E Day, the 385th Bomb Group hauled prisoners of war from Germany to Allied centers and flew food to Holland. The group returned to Sioux Falls AAF South Dakota on 28 August 1945 and was deactivated.
[edit] Postwar Use
After the war, the airfield reverted to RAF control and it came under Maintenance Command as a sub-site for bomb storage before being finally abandoned and sold in 1955. In private hands the airfield was returned to agriculture. Much of the concrete has been removed and sold as aggrigate, with a small section of the main runway being retained for use by light aircraft. Much of the perimeter track has been reduced to a single lane farm access road and a few wartime buildings remain in a deteriorated state.
A memorial to those of the 385th who lost their lives flying from Great Ashfield can be seen in the village church.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Freeman, Roger A., Airfields Of The Eighth, Then And Now, 1978
- Great Ashfield at mighty8thaf.preller.us
- Maurer Maurer, Air Force Combat Units Of World War II, Office of Air Force History, 1983
- USAAS-USAAC-USAAF-USAF Aircraft Serial Numbers--1908 to Present [1]
