RAF Thurleigh

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Royal Air Force Station Thurleigh
USAAF Station 111

Located Near Bedford, Bedfordshire, United Kingdom

RAF Thurleigh January 1943
Type Military Airfield
Coordinates 52°13′50″N, 000°28′01″W
Location code TL
Built 1941
In use 1941-1946 (Conversion to RAE Bedford)
Controlled by Royal Air Force
United States Army Air Forces
Garrison Royal Air Force
Eighth Air Force
Occupants 306th Bombardment Group
Battles/wars European Theatre of World War II
Air Offensive, Europe July 1942 - May 1945
RAF Thurleigh (Bedfordshire)
RAF Thurleigh
Map showing the location of RAF Thurleigh within Bedfordshire.
Lockheed/Vega B-17F-10-VE Flying Fortress Serial 42-25744 "Dollie Madison" of the 369th Bomb Squadron. This aircraft returned to the United States on 2 November 1943
Lockheed/Vega B-17F-10-VE Flying Fortress Serial 42-25744 "Dollie Madison" of the 369th Bomb Squadron. This aircraft returned to the United States on 2 November 1943
Douglas/Long Beach B-17G-55-DL Fortress 44-46604 and Boeing B-17G-95-BO Flying Fortress 44-48676 of the 306th Bomb Group
Douglas/Long Beach B-17G-55-DL Fortress 44-46604 and Boeing B-17G-95-BO Flying Fortress 44-48676 of the 306th Bomb Group
For the post World War II use of this facility, see RAE Bedford

RAF Thurleigh was a Royal Air Force station located five miles north of Bedford, England. Thurleigh was transferred to the U.S. Eighth Air Force on December 9, 1942, designated Station 111[1], and used for heavy bomber operations against Nazi Germany.

Contents

[edit] Origins

Thurleigh (pronounced "THIR-lye") was built for RAF Bomber Command in 1941 by W & C French Ltd. one mile north of the village of Thurleigh on farmland between the farms of Buryfields, Bletsoe Park, Manor, and Whitwickgreen. It was eventually modified to Air Ministry Class A airfield specifications, with three converging runways, extended in 1942 to lengths of 6,000 feet (runway 06-24) and 4,200 feet (runways 36-18 and 12-30). Thurleigh was unique among bomber bases in having four T2 type metal hangars where most bases had only two.

[edit] RAF Bomber Command use

Its first use was by No.160 Squadron RAF, forming on 15 January 1942, equipped with U.S. manufactured B-24 "Liberator" bombers, known by the RAF as the "Liberator II". 160 Squadron trained and flew operational missions from Thurleigh until 5 July, then deployed to the China-Burma-India Theater at Ratmalana Air Base, Ceylon.

[edit] USAAF use

Thurleigh was one of 28 fields listed for use by the U.S. Eighth Air Force on June 4, 1942, tentatively designated station B-4, and was allocated on August 10, 1942. The RAF had found that the initial construction of Thurleigh was inadequate for the combat weight of B-24 bombers. After the departure of the RAF, Thurleigh's runways were lengthened, increased in thickness, and additional hardstands constructed to Class A standards so it could accommodate a USAAF heavy bomber group.

From 16 September 1943 though 25 June 1945, Thurleigh served as headquarters for the 40th Combat Bombardment Wing of the 1st Bomb Division.

[edit] 306th Bombardment Group (Heavy)

With the essential construction completed, the 306th Bombardment Group (Heavy) deployed to Thurleigh on 7 September 1942 from Wendover AAF Utah. The 306th was assigned to the 40th Combat Wing also at Thurleigh. The group tail code was a "Triangle H". Its operational squadrons were:

  • 367th Bomb Squadron (GY)
  • 368th Bomb Squadron (BO)
  • 369th Bomb Squadron (WW)
  • 423d Bomb Squadron (RD)

The group flew the B-17 Flying Fortress aircraft, and remained at Thurleigh until 1 December 1945. That was the longest tenure of any U.S. air group at a UK base.

At Thurleigh, the group operated primarily against strategic targets initially in occupied France and the Low Countries, then later in Germany. The group struck locomotive works at Lille, railway yards at Rouen, submarine pens at Bordeaux, shipbuilding yards at Vegesack, ball-bearing works at Schweinfurt, oil plants at Merseburg, marshalling yards at Stuttgart, a foundry at Hannover, a chemical plant at Ludwigshafen, aircraft factories at Leipzig, and numerous other targets on the Continent.

The 306th led the Eighth Air Force on its first mission to bomb a target in Germany on January 27, 1943, attacking U-boat yards at Wilhelmshaven, and suffered severe losses in attacks on Bremen on April 16, 1943, and Schweinfurt, August 17, 1943.

On January 11, 1944, without fighter escort and in the face of strong opposition, the 306th was part of a 1st Bomb Division mission against aircraft factories in central Germany in which all groups were awarded a Distinguished Unit Citation. The 306th Bomb Group received a second DUC during Big Week, the intensive campaign against the German aircraft industry, when it effectively bombed an aircraft assembly plant at Bernberg on February 22, 1944, after poor weather forced other groups to abandon the mission.

The 306th Bomb Group flew its 342nd and final mission on April 19, 1945, the most of any Eighth Air Force B-17 unit except the 303rd Bomb Group. It compiled 9,614 sorties; dropped 22,575 tons of bombs; and had 171 B-17's fail to return from missions.

[edit] Medal Of Honor

Sgt Maynard H. Smith received the Medal of Honor for his performance on May 1, 1943, when the aircraft on which he was a gunner was hit and caught fires in the radio compartment and waist sections. The sergeant threw exploding ammunition overboard, manned a gun until the German fighters were driven off, administered first aid to a wounded gunner, and extinguished the fire.

Legacy

During the Cold War the United States Air Force Strategic Air Command 306th Bombardment Wing flew the Boeing B-47 "Stratojet" at MacDill AFB, Florida beginning in 1950, and later the Boeing B-52 "Stratofortress" at McCoy AFB Florida starting in 1963. The wing was bestowed the honors and history of the World War II USAAF 306th Bombardment Group in 1952. With the closure of McCoy in 1974, the 306th BMW was deactivated.

The wing was reactivated in 1976 as the 306th Strategic Wing at Ramstein AB West Germany, as a KC-135 tanker wing. It was reassigned to RAF Mildenhall, England in 1978 to become the focal point for all SAC operations in Europe and became the host unit at RAF Mildenhall until being deactivated in 1992.

[edit] Twelve O'Clock High

Twelve O'Clock High was a 1949 film and book about bomber crews of the United States Army Air Forces who flew the initial daylight bombing missions against Germany during World War II. Twelve O'Clock High is frequently cited by surviving bomber crew members as the most accurate depiction by Hollywood of their life during the war.

The protagonist of the story, Brigadier General Frank Savage, group commander of the fictional 918th Bomb Group, was modelled on Colonel Frank A. Armstrong, a group Commander of the 306th BG. The fictional counterparts of Thurleigh and the 306th Bomb Group were "Archbury" and the "918th Bomb Group".

This film is used by the U.S. Navy as an example of leadership styles in its Leadership and Management Training School. The Air Force's College for Enlisted Professional Military Education also uses this film as an education aid in its Non-commissioned Officer Academies.

[edit] RAE Bedford

Starting in 1946, construction work began on the airfield to turn the site into what became know as the Royal Aeronautical Establishment, Bedford. The runway was extended in the post-war period to accommodate the Bristol Brabazon aircraft (which required a very long runway) that ultimately never went into production. One local road was dropped into a cutting so that it would not sit above the level of the runway.

The airfield was decommissioned in February 1994 after a lengthy study determined that flight operations should be centralised at Boscombe Down in Wiltshire. Due to the cost and impracticality of relocating the Advanced Flight Simulator system the site retains some of its development work (under the banner of QinetiQ from mid-2001 onwards). As of early 2007, QinetiQ have sold their remaining stake in the Bedford Airfield site (as well as the nearby 'Wind Tunnel' site) and are planning to relocate the remaining staff to Farnborough in early 2008, finally ending the site's long association with military aviation.

The airfield was closed in 1997 with the RAE having become the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA). DERA consolidated its experimental flying operations at Boscombe Down, moving aircraft from Farnborough as well as Bedford.

[edit] Civil Use

With the end of military control, the airfield has been divided into two parts. The southern part is now known as Thurleigh Business Park, and includes the runway, which is currently used for the mass storage of new cars, although it remains intact for possible future use. The northern part houses the Bedford Autodrome, as well as Thurleigh Museum which is dedicated primarily to the airfield and life in the area during World War 2.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Mighty 8th Cross-Reference. Fred Preller. Retrieved on 2008-02-14.

[edit] External links