Part 9 Swaffham and her neighbours (part 2)

The second part of this trip, takes us closer to Swaffham and away from Thetford forest. Here we see more of the American 8th Airforce and it's influence. Our first stop is a little village called North Pickenham, a station with a terrible tale to tell.

RAF North Pickenham (Station 143)

Bunker of South Pickenham

If approaching from the south, you will pass through South Pickenham first. Follow the leafy road toward the village, but keep a sharp eye open for amongst the trees are a series of bunkers and other buildings laid down as South Pickenham Decoy Site. These bunkers are now well overgrown and visible only by their tell tale air vents and domed shape. This site was developed so well, it that had its own AA guns and attracted a lot of Luftwaffe attention during it's life; some 200+ bombs being dropped on it. Some of these bunkers are easily accessible being a few feet from the road side but as always, caution is the key word when visiting.

Operations block

Moving further on, take a left and you pass a small collection of buildings on the right hand side, These are probably the operations block and the store for the American  Norden M7 bomb sight. In a very poor state of repair, they once played a major role in the American offencive over Nazi Germany and there must be many stories held within their crumbling and decaying walls.

Continue past the buildings and you arrive at a T junction. Turning right will take you to the airfield now an industrial site and turkey farm. Access from here is limited and private. Instead turn left, follow the road along and then join the B1077. Turn right and drive for a mile or two, the airfield is on your right. A suitable parking space allows views across the field where is enormity can be truly understood. Now containing many turkey sheds along it's runways, little of the original site remains.Wind turbines have replaced the

Ordnance sheds marking the bomb dump.

propellers of the Liberators of the 856. 857, 858 and 859th, bomb squadrons of the 492nd bomb group; and latterly the  852, 853, 854 855th squadrons of the 491st bomb group, both of the 8th Airforce. One hanger remains and ordnance huts mark the location of the bomb dumb, these can still be seen in the foreground.The tower was demolished many years ago (http://www.controltowers.co.uk/N/North_Pickenham.htm) but stood opposite you and to the right.North Pickenham may truly fit the description of 'Ghost' airfield, as it's checkered history has one of the worst fatality records of the whole 8th Airforce. Handed over to the Americans in May 1944, it was the 77th and final one to be so. It saw many operations. On May 18th it saw 8 aircraft shot down or blow up in operations on Brunswick.

North Pickenham hanger

In June, the unit formed part of a 1400 bomber raid on Pollitz and Osterburg, and badly protected, they lost all but one aircraft, it only escaping through having engine trouble and returning to base before getting to the target. Finally, in July a further 12 aircraft were downed by enemy aircraft. Along with other missions in August, the group saw a loss of 57 aircraft in only 64 operations, this marking the end and disbandment of the 492nd. In it's place and new to North Pickenham, came the 491st. Quite the reverse, in terms of an operational record, it carried on with great successes to the end of the war. Only on one occasion, November 1944, were losses heavy, 15 out of 27 aircraft being lost to enemy action. The remaining crews

Memorial in the nearby village.

pressed on to the target, earning the Distinguished unit Citation. After the group left North Pickenham, no other flying squadrons were based here either American or RAF, but a brief residency of Thor missiles during the early part of the cold war saw it brought back to life momentarily. Finally a reprieve in 1965 saw testing of the Kestrel VTOL aircraft which of course became famous as the Harrier, used world wide. A memorial to the servicemen who flew from North Pickenham, lays silently in the village on the edge of a new housing development, wreaths from nearby RAF Lakenheath enforce the link between the American Airforce and Norfolk's flying history.

On leaving the desolate views of North Pickenham, we travel South East toward Watton.

RAF Watton (Station 376)

Part of the peri track.

RAF Watton sits on the edge of Watton town and was once a large bustling airfield with a quiet but distinguished history.

Built in the late 1930s, Watton originally housed Blenheims used for training bombers, coastal patrols and the ill fated day-light raids. 82 Squadron was one squadron that suffered greatly from this. On two operations, all but one aircraft were lost and this helped lead to Blenheims being withdrawn from front line service. Watton was then reduced to mainly training operations. Then, in the mid part of the war, the USAAF took over, renaming it Station 376. This required extensive redevelopment to be able to accommodate not only the large bombers required to reach Germany, but for the

The fence crosses a hard standing.

3rd Strategic Air Depot. They had the unenviable task of recovering both crashed aircraft and repairing those damaged in battle. Primarily B24s, the task was so great that the site became an airfield in its own right and was renamed by the Americans as Neaton (Station 505). Today, HMP Wayland sits on this site and there is no visible reminder of its activity.

Watton became synonymous with reconnaissance, surveillance and Electronic countermeasure (ECM) activities. A visit by the famous 'Carpetbaggers' the special operations group designed to support French resistance operations saw the black Liberator's fly regular missions from here. Later B26 Marauders operated from here dropping 'Chaff' and conducting other reconnaissance operations.

Housing is taking over.

This ECM activity continued post war too. For some 20 years, a variety of aircraft including: the B17, Mosquito, Wellington, Domine, Lincoln, Anson, Proctor, Canberra, Meteor, Sea Fury, Firefly, Venom and many others resided here in the development of ECM and radio research and training. Also, during a short period 1959 - 1963 Blood hound missiles were located here as part of 263 Squadron for airfield defence. Eventually, during the 1970s the airfield fell into decline with active units being pulled out and moved elsewhere. Eastern and latterly Border Radar became the only 'operational' activity on the site and even these were moved in the early 1990s signalling the demise of the airfield as an active base.

Part of the Eastern Radar complex

Today the perimeter tracks, runways and hard standings support nothing more than housing. Only a small amount of the track remains with a small wire fence being the only defence to the onslaught of development. The original 4 "C" type hangers have been demolished as were the two control towers, one of which was built to support the new jet era with the traditional glass top.  Some minor buildings remain surrounded by the housing, but these are few and far between, and even their future is uncertain.

Accommodation buildings

Driving round the site, you notice how every road is named after an aircraft, Liberator, Maurder etc synonymous of those operating from here. Various concrete remains poke through the undergrowth and make this part of the site rather untidy - how long before they too disappear.

The site is split by the main road with much of the admin buildings (NAFFI and accommodation blocks) remaining on one side and the airfield the other. Some of these buildings are in use by civilian operators and as such have been well preserved, others such as the technical site, have not been so lucky and have become very run down and in high states of disrepair. As for the airfield itself, two small memorials 'guard' the entrance to the development.

Blenheim memorial.

On the one side a bent propeller recovered from a crashed Blenheim (R3800) shot down over Aalborg on 13 August 1940, and the other commemorates the 25th Bomb group USAAF. On the housing site itself, a further memorial commemorates the 455th AAA 'The Rabbs' who were given the task of defending Britain's airfields against the Luftwaffe.

Memorial to the 25th Bomb group.

Owned by STANTA for a period of time and used for air mobile training, the odd Hercules or Army helicopter might have been seen here. However , the current status is unknown, but I'm sure it wont be long before any of these remaining remnants are lost beneath the developers digger.

Dilapidated buildings still stand.

NB: There is a museum commemorating the lives of the Watton personnel open on limited days only, details can be found at: http://www.rafwatton.info/SHQ/Whythis/tabid/57/Default.aspx Further technical information can also be found at: http://www.abct.org.uk/airfields/watton

Part 8 Swaffham and it's neighbours (Part 1)

One thing that has struck me since starting this project, is how quickly developments take over and any remnants of our heritage disappear. However, deep digging often finds small reminders of those dark days of World War II and the people who's lives were touched by them.The differences between predecessor's visits from only a few years ago and today, can be quite stark.

Whilst visiting the Swaffham (Norfolk) area, this was perhaps more prominent than in many of the other places I'd been. Like other sections, this area was predominately American in nature, forming the back bone of the USAAF, fighter and bomber squadrons of the 8th Airforce.Our first stop is RAF Methwold. 

RAF Methwold.

Located between Downham Market and Thetford, Methwold is a small rural setting on the edge of  Thetford Forest. It's village sign and memorial, remind the passer by of it's strong airforce links - a Lockheed Ventura taking off over the village church. Methwold was actually built as a satellite for RAF Feltwell and as such, had no initial squadrons of it's own. Being of grass construction, Wellingtons would be dispersed here, for safety, from nearby RAF Feltwell and were often seen as a result. Two squadrons of Venturas finally arrived in 1942, 464 and 487 sqns, comprising of New Zealand and Australian crews. The

One of the T2 hangars.

Venturas earned themselves some unsavoury names due to their poor performance, and losses were often high. On a diversionary raiding party, eleven out of twelve (one retuning due to engine trouble) were lost over enemy territory and one surviving pilot, Squadron Leader Leonard Trent, was taken to Stalag Luft III where he participated in the 'Great Escape'. On his return to England at the end of the war, he was awarded the Victoria Cross for his action. Later in the war, concrete runways were built upgrading Methwold to a heavy bomber station in preparation for the forthcoming Lancasters and Stirlings of 149, 218 and 207 squadrons. A quantity of Horsas were also stored in probably in preparation for D-day.

Perimeter track looking south

Main runway looking NW

Today, Methwold is agricultural, with some of the buildings being used for farming purposes or light industry, The airfield is split by the main road, B1112, with the industrial units (stores and huts) being on the northerly side.A large T2 hangar stores equipment and other farm related products and the main runway, built later in the war, is also used for storage. The perimeter track allows access to the runway past the hangar to an area of development further south to where the turret trainers and the Gymnasium once stood. Factories have replaced further T2 hangars but little else is left visible. Local information and further detail is available from the local Methwold history group. http://www.methwoldhistorygroup.org.uk/mhg_raf_methwold.html 

Desert Rats memorial.   On leaving Methwold, I travelled through part of Thetford Forest and came across a memorial that I didn't know existed. A (Churchill I believe) tank sits proudly at what was the entrance to the camp where the 'Rats' were stationed prior to the D-day landings.

Desert Rats memorial

This, according to the plaque, is the only time they were stationed in the UK before being amongst the first to land on Gold beach on that fateful day in June 1944. A map guides you round the camp on concrete pathways pointing out notable points of interest, buildings etc that still exist today. A poignant reminder and worthy of a short break on the journey today.

Desert Rats memorial

RAF Bodney (station 141)

Currently an Army training base, the site of RAF Bodney is in a corner of the STANTA grounds and therefore off limits to the public. Signs warning of MOD activity are everywhere but some evidence of the airfield can be seen from the adjacent B1108. The original water tower and pump still serve the camp, a few bunkers exist but there are no hard surfaces left. Another airfield that was designed as a satellite, it saw a range of RAF aircraft dispersed across it's grounds. Blenheims (from Watton) and Venturas (from Methwold) were often seen amongst the trees. It wasn't until 1943, when the USAAF took over bringing in P-47s of the 352nd fighter group for long range fighter escort, strafing runs and ground attack duties, that the field was heavily used.

Original water tower

In 1944 these aircraft were exchanged for the infamous P-51 Mustangs. The group had mixed fortunes during their time here. Whilst acting on escort duties for a raid over Brunswick, they shot down 27 enemy BF-109s and FW-190s with the loss of only one aircraft. This action earned them a Distinguished Unit Citation. At one point, the US 8th airforce highest scorer, Major George Preddy flew from here until he was shot down by friendly fire on Christmas day, 1944.

Bodney bunkers

A further tragedy was to bestow the unit on D-day when a P-51 piloted by Lieutenant Bob Frascotti struck the tower killing him in the process. A new tower was built in a different location which existed for some considerable time (and may even still be there today). The unit gained themselves the unsavoury name "The Blue nosed bastards of Bodney" because of the blue nosed Mustangs they flew with such determination and fever. Many of the buildings were pulled down in 2013 due to vandalism and increased use for Rave parties, little now stands visible telling the incredible stories of this forgotten airfield.  

N.B. A P-51C was assembled at Duxford in May 2013 for a tribute flypast to Frascotti, a video of the  memorial fly past is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AviMh1Vrvow There are also links to the the 352nd at http://www.352ndfightergroup.com/ with a link to the superb 'Bluenoser' magazine.