RAF Thorpe Abbotts
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RAF Thorpe Abbotts is a former World War II airfield in England. The field is located 4 miles E of Diss in Norfolk.
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[edit] USAAF use
Thorpe Abbotts airfield was was built during 1942 and early 1943 for the RAF as a satellite airfield for RAF Horham but the rapid buildup of the 8th Air Force resulted in both airfields being handed over to the Americans. The thirty-six hardstandings originally planned were increased to fifty. Two T-2 hangars were erected, one on the east side of the flying field and one on the south side adjacent to the technical site. This and several of the domestic sites were in woodland stretching south and bordering the A143 Diss to Harleston road.
Thorpe Abbotts was given USAAF designation Station 139 (TA).
[edit] 100th Bombardment Group (Heavy)
The 100th Bombardment Group (Heavy) arrived at Thorpe Abbotts on 9 June 1943, from Kearney AAF Nebraska although construction work was barely finished. The 100th was assigned to the 13th Combat Bombardment Wing, and the group tail code was a "Square-D". Its operational squadrons were:
- 349th Bomb Squadron (XR)
- 350th Bomb Squadron (LN)
- 351st Bomb Squadron (EP)
- 418th Bomb Squadron (LD)
The group flew the B-17 Flying Fortress as part of the Eighth Air Force's strategic bombing campaign. In combat, the 100th operated chiefly as a strategic bombardment organization until the war ended. The group earned the nickname "The Bloody Hundredth" due to its heavy losses during eight missions to Germany when the group experienced several instances where it lost a dozen or more aircraft on a single mission, whereas most units suffered losses in consistent small amounts.
From June 1943 to January 1944, the 100th Bomb Group concentrated its efforts against airfields in France and naval facilities and industries in France and Germany. The 100th BG received a Distinguished Unit Citation for seriously disrupting German fighter plane production with an attack on an aircraft factory at Regensburg on 17 August 1943.
The unit bombed airfields, industries, marshalling yards, and missile sites in western Europe, Jan-May 1944. Operations in this period included participation in the Allied campaign against enemy aircraft factories during Big Week, 20-25 Feb 1944. The group completed a series of attacks against Berlin in March 1944 and received a 2d Distinguished Unit Citation for the missions.
Beginning in the summer of 1944, oil installations became major targets. In addition to strategic operations, the group engaged in support and interdictory missions, hitting bridges and gun positions in support of the Normandy invasion in June 1944. The unit bombed enemy positions at St Lo in July and at Brest in August and September Other missions were striking transportation and ground defenses in the drive against the Siegfried Line, Oct-Dec 1944; attacking marshalling yards, defended villages, and communications in the Ardennes sector during the Battle of the Bulge, Dec 1944-Jan 1945; and covering the airborne assault across the Rhine in March 1945.
The 100th Bomb Group received the French Croix de Guerre with Palm for attacking heavily defended installations in Germany and for dropping supplies to French Forces of the Interior, Jun-Dec 1944.
The 100 BG flew its last combat mission of World War II on 20 April 1945. The following month the unit’s aircrews dropped food to the people in the west of the Netherlands, and in June transported French Allied former prisoners of war from Austria to France. The group flew 306 combat missions.
In December 1945, the group returned to Camp Kilmer, New Jersey, and was deactivated on 21 December 1945.
Today, the 100th Air Refueling Wing at RAF Mildenhall carries the honors and history of the 100th Bombardment Group. It is the only modern operational aircraft wing in the United States Air Force allowed to bear the World War II group tail code (Square-D) on the tails of its aircraft.
[edit] Postwar use
After the war, the field was tranferred to the RAF on 27 June 1946. After many yars of inactivity, Thorpe Abbots was closed in 1956. Today, the airfield has largely been returned to agricultural use with most of the perimeter track, runways and hardstands long since removed, however a small airstrip is used for light aircraft. The control tower was restored in 1977 and was turned into a museum. Several World War II era buildings remain in various states of decay.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Freeman, Roger A., Airfields Of The Eighth, Then And Now, 1978
- www.controltowers.co.uk Thorpe Abbotts
- Thorpe Abbotts at http://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
