RAF Debach
Encyclopedia
Woodbridge, Suffolk
Woodbridge is a town in Suffolk, East Anglia, England. It is in the East of England, not far from the coast. It lies along the River Deben, with a population of about 7,480. The town is served by Woodbridge railway station on the Ipswich-Lowestoft East Suffolk Line. Woodbridge is twinned with...
.
USAAF use
Debach was one of the last Eighth Air Force heavy bomber stations to be occupied. being built by the 820th Engineer Battalion (Aviation) of the US Army during 1943/1944. It was assigned USAAF designation Station 152 (DC).493rd Bombardment Group (Heavy)
The airfield was opened in April 1944 and was used by the United States Army Air Force 8th Air Force 493d Bombardment Group (Heavy), arriving from RAF Elveden Hall. The 493d was assigned to the 93d Combat Bombardment Wing, and the group tail code was a "Square-H". It's operational squadrons were:- 860th Bombardment Squadron860th Bombardment SquadronThe 860th Bombardment Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the 493d Bombardment Group. It was inactivated at Sioux Falls Army Air Field, South Dakota on 28 August 1945.-History:...
(NG) - 861st Bombardment Squadron (G6)
- 862d Bombardment Squadron (8M)
- 863d Bombardment Squadron863d Bombardment SquadronThe 863d Bombardment Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with the 493d Bombardment Group, based at Sioux Falls Army Air Field, South Dakota...
(Q4)
The group flew both the B-17 Flying Fortress and B-24 Liberator
B-24 Liberator
The Consolidated B-24 Liberator was an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and a small number of early models were sold under the name LB-30, for Land Bomber...
as part of the Eighth Air Force's strategic bombing campaign. Debach airfield was the last Eighth Air Force heavy bomber station to become operational, the group flying its first mission on D-Day
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...
. Unfortunately the American engineers had not made a very satisfactory job of constructing the runway and the concrete soon started to break up. By the end of 1944, the runway was so bad that the group had to move temporarily to RAF Little Walden
RAF Little Walden
RAF Station Little Walden is a former World War II airfield in Essex, England. The airfield is located approximately north-northeast of Saffron Walden; about north-northeast of London...
while runways were repaired and strengthened. The group returned to Debach in March 1945.
The 493d BG used B-24's until they were replaced with B-17's in September 1944. The group operated chiefly against industrial and military installations in Germany, attacking an ordnance depot at Magdeburg
Magdeburg
Magdeburg , is the largest city and the capital city of the Bundesland of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Magdeburg is situated on the Elbe River and was one of the most important medieval cities of Europe....
, marshalling yards at Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
, synthetic oil plants at Merseburg
Merseburg
Merseburg is a town in the south of the German state of Saxony-Anhalt on the river Saale, approx. 14 km south of Halle . It is the capital of the Saalekreis district. It had a diocese founded by Archbishop Adalbert of Magdeburg....
, a railroad tunnel at Ahrweiler
Ahrweiler
Ahrweiler is a district in the north of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by the districts Euskirchen, Rhein-Sieg and the city Bonn in the state North Rhine-Westphalia, and the districts of Neuwied, Mayen-Koblenz and Vulkaneifel.- History :The region was conquered by the Romans under...
, bridges at Irlich, factories at Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
, and other strategic objectives. On September 25, a bombardment of Strasbourg left a number of buildings destroyed in the historical city centre.
Additional operations included striking airfields, bridges, and gun batteries prior to and during 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; hitting enemy positions to assist ground forces south of Caen
Caen
Caen is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the Calvados department and the capital of the Basse-Normandie region. It is located inland from the English Channel....
and 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 1944; bombing German fortifications to cover the airborne attack on Holland in September 1944; attacking enemy communications during the Battle of the Bulge
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...
, December 1944-January 1945; and assisting 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 493d Bomb Group flew its last combat mission, an attack on marshalling yards at Nauen
Nauen
Nauen is a town in the Havelland district, in Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated 38 km west of Berlin and 26 km northwest of Potsdam.-History:...
, on 20 April 1945.
The unit returned to Sioux Falls AAF
Sioux Falls Regional Airport
Sioux Falls Regional Airport , also known as Joe Foss Field, is a joint civil and military use airport located three nautical miles northwest of the central business district of Sioux Falls, a city in Minnehaha County, South Dakota, United States...
South Dakota
South Dakota
South Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. Once a part of Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889. The state has an area of and an estimated population of just over...
and was deactivated on 28 August 1945.
Postwar use
After the war, Debach was used first as a camp for German POWs and later for displaced persons before being abandoned about 1948. It was sold in 1963-64, the main N-S runway becoming the boundary between two adjoining farms. The more interesting western side includes the control tower and several original buildings.The northern end of the main runway was sold in 1969 for the construction of a mushroom farm. Much of the concrete runways and taxiways were ground into aggregate for use during road building, and the land reclaimed to be used for agricultural crops. Many of the buildings on the former Technical site were torn down with one man being killed during the removal of the north-east T2 hangar. The other hangar is now a farm grain store. The old control tower still stands in a decayed state due to vandalism, and pylons carrying electricity now cross the southern edge of the former airfield.
There are plans to restore the control tower to be used as a museum to the 493rd Bomb Group.