RAF Bodney
Encyclopedia
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
RAF Station
RAF station
A Royal Air Force station is a permanent Royal Air Force operations location. Many RAF stations are aerodromes, or airbases, being the home to one or more flying squadrons. Other RAF stations are training units, administrative units, headquarters , or carry out ground-based operational tasks...
and USAAF airfield in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. The field is located 4½ miles west of Watton
Watton, Norfolk
Watton is a market town in the district of Breckland within the English county of Norfolk. It is situated on the crossroads of the A1075 Dereham-Thetford road and the B1108 Brandon-Norwich Road, about west of Norwich....
in Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
.
RAF Bomber Command use
Bodney was established in 1940 as a satellite field for RAF WattonRAF Watton
Royal Air Force Station Watton is a former military airfield in Norfolk, England. The airfield is located approximately south-southwest of East Dereham....
. The airfield was grass-surfaced and located on slightly rolling land with a hard surface perimeter track.
Initially it was used by aircraft of No. 21 Squadron RAF
No. 21 Squadron RAF
No. 21 Squadron of the Royal Air Force was formed in 1915 and was disbanded for the last time in 1979.The squadron is famous for Operation Jericho: on 18 February 1944, the crews of de Havilland Mosquitoes breached the walls of a Gestapo prison at Amiens, France, allowing members of the French...
and No. 82 Squadron RAF
No. 82 Squadron RAF
No. 82 Squadron RAF was a Royal Air Force squadron that was first formed in 1917 and last disbanded in 1963. It served at times as a bomber unit, a reconnaissance unit and lastly as a Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile unit...
(No. 2 Group RAF Bomber Command
RAF Bomber Command
RAF Bomber Command controlled the RAF's bomber forces from 1936 to 1968. During World War II the command destroyed a significant proportion of Nazi Germany's industries and many German cities, and in the 1960s stood at the peak of its postwar military power with the V bombers and a supplemental...
. They carried operations over France and later Holland and even Norway. Their Bristol Blenheim
Bristol Blenheim
The Bristol Blenheim was a British light bomber aircraft designed and built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company that was used extensively in the early days of the Second World War. It was adapted as an interim long-range and night fighter, pending the availability of the Beaufighter...
IVs were joined on occasions by, in May 1941, No. 90 Squadron RAF evaulating its new B-17 Flying Fortress Mk1s some Hampdens for mining operations. 90 squadron suffered heavy casualties and the use of the Fortress I discontinued. Towards October 1942, the Blenheims were changed to Lockheed Ventura
Lockheed Ventura
The Lockheed Ventura was a bomber and patrol aircraft of World War II, used by United States and British Commonwealth forces in several guises...
s but the squadron moved on to RAF Methwold
RAF Methwold
RAF Methwold was a Royal Air Force airfield in the west of the county of Norfolk in the United Kingdom which operated during and after World War II.-History:...
before the Venturas were operational.
USAAF use
In the summer of 1943 Bodney was turned over to the USAAF and was assigned designation Station 141. The field was then prepared for the use of the Eighth Air ForceEighth Air Force
The Eighth Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Global Strike Command . It is headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana....
. Improvements to the field included the addition of steel mat and pierced-steel planking hardstands for use by the American fighters and extra taxiways and roads laid down in macadam and concrete.
352nd Fighter Group
The airfield was opened in May 1943 and was used by the United States Army Air Force Eighth Air Force 352d Fighter Group352d Fighter Group
The 352d Fighter Group was one of the most highly decorated USAAF Fighter Groups in World War II, producing many leading aces of the war. The 352d was composed of three squadrons: . Once deployed to the European Theater of Operations , the group was eventually headquartered in Bodney, England...
. The group was under the command of the 67th Fighter Wing of the VIII Fighter Command
VIII Fighter Command
The VIII Fighter Command is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with the United States Air Forces in Europe, being stationed at RAF Honington, England. It was inactivated on 20 March 1946....
.
The group consisted of three squadrons: 328th Fighter Squadron (PE), 486th Fighter Squadron
486th Fighter Squadron
The 486th Fighter Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last was assigned to the 352d Fighter Group, IX Fighter Command, stationed at Camp Kilmer, New Jerey. It was inactivated on 9 November 1945.-History:...
(PZ) and the 487th Fighter Squadron
487th Fighter Squadron
The 487th Fighter Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with 352d Fighter Group stationed at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey.-History:...
(HO).
The 352d arrived at Bodney during June 1943 from Republic AAF New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and began combat operations in July but the group was not wholly operational until September. Initially using P-47 Thunderbolt
P-47 Thunderbolt
Republic Aviation's P-47 Thunderbolt, also known as the "Jug", was the largest, heaviest, and most expensive fighter aircraft in history to be powered by a single reciprocating engine. It was heavily armed with eight .50-caliber machine guns, four per wing. When fully loaded, the P-47 weighed up to...
s, until they received drop tanks, the missions were largely limited to the Dutch coast. The group flew numerous escort missions to cover the operations of bombers that attacked factories, V-weapon sites, submarine pens, and other targets on the Continent.
The 352d participated in missions that bombers struck German aircraft factories during Big Week
Big Week
Between February 20–25, 1944, as part of the European strategic bombing campaign, the United States Strategic Air Forces launched Operation Argument, a series of missions against the Third Reich that became known as Big Week. The planners intended to lure the Luftwaffe into a decisive battle by...
, 20–25 February 1944, and after conversion to P-51s, received a Distinguished Unit Citation for performance in Germany on 8 May 1944 while escorting bombers to targets in Brunswick
Braunschweig
Braunschweig , is a city of 247,400 people, located in the federal-state of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located north of the Harz mountains at the farthest navigable point of the Oker river, which connects to the North Sea via the rivers Aller and Weser....
, the group routed an attack by a numerically superior force of German interceptors and then continued the battle against the enemy planes until lack of ammunition and shortage of fuel forced the group to withdraw and return to its base.
Re-equipped with the P-51 Mustang
P-51 Mustang
The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang was an American long-range, single-seat fighter and fighter-bomber used during World War II, the Korean War and in several other conflicts...
on April 8, the group flew counter-air patrol
Counter-air patrol
Counter-air patrol is a type of flying mission for fighter aircraft against other fighters, common in World War II and sometimes combined with fighter sweeps against targets of opportunity...
s, and on many occasions strafed and dive-bombed airfields, locomotives, vehicles, troops, gun positions, and various other targets. P-51s of the 352d were identified by solid blue cowlings and rudders, for which the group was nicknamed "The Blue Nosed Bastards of Bodney".
The Group supported the invasion of Normandy
D-Day
D-Day is a term often used in military parlance to denote the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. "D-Day" often represents a variable, designating the day upon which some significant event will occur or has occurred; see Military designation of days and hours for similar...
in June 1944 by strafing and dive-bombing enemy communications, assisted the Allies in breaking through the German line at Saint-Lô
Saint-Lô
Saint-Lô is a commune in north-western France, the capital of the Manche department in Normandy.-History:Originally called Briovère , the town is built on and around ramparts. Originally it was a Gaul fortified settlement...
in July, and participated in the airborne attack on Holland in September.
After the Germans launched a counteroffensive in the Ardennes
Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge was a major German offensive , launched toward the end of World War II through the densely forested Ardennes mountain region of Wallonia in Belgium, hence its French name , and France and...
in December 1944, the group's planes and pilots were sent to Chievres
Chièvres
Chièvres is a Walloon municipality located in the Belgian province of Hainaut. On January 1, 2006 Chièvres had a total population of 6,198. The total area is 46.91 km² which gives a population density of 132 inhabitants per km²....
Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
and placed under the control of Ninth Air Force
Ninth Air Force
The Ninth Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force's Air Combat Command . It is headquartered at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina....
for operations in the Battle of the Bulge (December 1944-January 1945).
During that battle, on 1 January 1945, action by the detachment earned for the group the French Croix de Guerre with Palm
Croix de guerre
The Croix de guerre is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was awarded during World War I, again in World War II, and in other conflicts...
: just as 12 of the detachment's planes were taking off for an area patrol, the airdrome was attacked by about 50 German fighters; in the aerial battle that followed, the 352d shot down almost half the enemy planes without losing any of its own.
In February 1945 the remainder of the group joined the detachment at Chiveres Belgium for operations under the control of Eighth AF. While based on the Continent, the group participated in the airborne assault across the Rhine
Operation Varsity
Operation Varsity was a successful joint American–British airborne operation that took place toward the end of World War II...
in March 1945.
The 352d Returned to Bodney in April and continued operations until a few days before V-E Day. The group returned to Camp Kilmer
Camp Kilmer
Camp Kilmer, New Jersey is a former United States Army camp that was activated in June 1942 as a staging area and part of an installation of the New York Port of Embarkation. The camp was organized as part of the Army Service Forces Transportation Corps. Troops were quartered at Camp Kilmer in...
New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
and was deactivated on 10 November. The group flew 420 missions, 59,387 operational combat hours, destroyed 776 enemy aircraft and had 29 aerial aces.