RAF Rackheath
Encyclopedia
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...
airfield in England . The field is located 5 miles (8 km) NE of Norwich
Norwich
Norwich is a city in England. It is the regional administrative centre and county town of Norfolk. During the 11th century, Norwich was the largest city in England after London, and one of the most important places in the kingdom...
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...
between Rackheath
Rackheath
Rackheath is a civil parish in the English county of Norfolk, and is roughly outside of Norwich City Centre.It covers an area of and had a population of 1,551 in 625 households as of the 2001 census....
and Salhouse
Salhouse
Salhouse is a village and civil parish within The Broads National Park in the English county of Norfolk. It lies south of the River Bure and Salhouse Broad, about north-east of Norwich....
.
USAAF use
The airfield was laid out on agricultural land between the two settlements of Rackheath Parva and Rackheath Magna.Airfield constructed began in 1943 for the United States Army Air Force Eighth Air Force
Eighth 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....
and followed the lines of other heavy bomber bases with a main runway of 2000 yards (1,828.8 m) and two auxiliary runways of 1400 yards (1,280.2 m) each. The perimeter track was 2.7 miles (4.3 km) in length and this and the runways had a concrete screed finish. Mark 11 airfield lighting was installed, two T-2 hangars were erected for major aircraft maintenance, and dispersed temporary building accommodation provided for some 2.400 men in the wooded countryside of the estate to the south-west of the airfield. During construction, 556000 cubic yards (425,092.5 m³) of soil were excavated, 14000 yards (12,801.6 m) of soakaway drains installed and 504000 yards (460,857.6 m) super of concrete laid. A major overhead power line had to be put underground to clear the flying approaches.
The airfield was given USAAF designation Station 145.
The airfield was opened on 11 March 1944 and was used by the 467th Bombardment Group (Heavy), arriving from Wendover AAF
Wendover Air Force Base
Wendover Air Force Base is a former United States Air Force base in Utah now known as Wendover Airport. During World War II it was a training base for B-17 and B-24 bomber crews. It was the training site of the 509th Composite Group, the B-29 unit which dropped the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombs...
Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
. The 467th was assigned to the 96th Combat Bombardment Wing, and the group tail code was a "Circle-P". Its operational squadrons were:
- 788th Bombardment Squadron788th Bombardment SquadronThe 788th Bombardment Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the 467th Bombardment Group, stationed at Clovis Army Airfield, New Mexico. It was inactivated on 4 August 1946.-History:...
(X7) - 789th Bombardment Squadron789th Bombardment SquadronThe 789th Bombardment Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the 467th Bombardment Group, stationed at Clovis Army Airfield, New Mexico. It was inactivated on 4 August 1946.-History:...
(6A) - 790th Bombardment Squadron790th Bombardment SquadronThe 790th Bombardment Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the 467th Bombardment Group, stationed at Clovis Army Airfield, New Mexico. It was inactivated on 4 August 1946.-History:...
(Q2) - 791st Bombardment Squadron791st Bombardment SquadronThe 791st Bombardment Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the 468th Bombardment Group, stationed at Roswell Army Airfield, New Mexico. It was inactivated on 31 March 1946.-History:...
(4Z)
The group flew the Consolidated B-24 Liberator as part of the Eighth Air Force's strategic bombing campaign.
The 467th began operations on 10 April 1944 with an attack by thirty aircraft on an airfield at Bourges
Bourges
Bourges is a city in central France on the Yèvre river. It is the capital of the department of Cher and also was the capital of the former province of Berry.-History:...
in central France.
In combat, the unit served chiefly as a strategic bombardment organization, attacking the harbor at Kiel
Kiel
Kiel is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 238,049 .Kiel is approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the north of Germany, the southeast of the Jutland peninsula, and the southwestern shore of the...
, chemical plants at Bonn
Bonn
Bonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located in the Cologne/Bonn Region, about 25 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990 to 1999....
, textile factories at Stuttgart
Stuttgart
Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
, power plants at Hamm
Hamm
Hamm is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia , Germany. It is located in the northeastern part of the Ruhr area. As of December 2003 its population was 180,849. The city is situated between the A1 motorway and A2 motorway...
, steel works at Osnabrück
Osnabrück
Osnabrück is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany, some 80 km NNE of Dortmund, 45 km NE of Münster, and some 100 km due west of Hanover. It lies in a valley penned between the Wiehen Hills and the northern tip of the Teutoburg Forest...
, the aircraft industry at 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....
, and other objectives.
In addition to strategic operations, it was engaged occasionally in support and interdiction missions. It bombed shore installations and bridges near Cherbourg 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...
, 6 June 1944. It struck enemy troop and supply concentrations near Montreuil on 25 July 1944 to assist the Allied drive across France
Operation Overlord
Operation Overlord was the code name for the Battle of Normandy, the operation that launched the invasion of German-occupied western Europe during World War II by Allied forces. The operation commenced on 6 June 1944 with the Normandy landings...
.
In September, over two weeks the bombers flew gasoline
Gasoline
Gasoline , or petrol , is a toxic, translucent, petroleum-derived liquid that is primarily used as a fuel in internal combustion engines. It consists mostly of organic compounds obtained by the fractional distillation of petroleum, enhanced with a variety of additives. Some gasolines also contain...
from Rackheath to a forward base at Clastres
Clastres
Clastres is a commune in the Aisne department in Picardy in northern France....
in France for use by the US mechanized forces. Attacked German communications and fortifications 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. To assist the Allied 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 it attacked enemy transportation.
The group flew its last combat mission on 25 April and returned to the US 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...
during June and July 1945. Subsequently the 467th was redesignated as the 467th Bombardment Group (Very Heavy) with Boeing B-29 Superfortresses in preparation for the planned invasion of Japan
Operation Downfall
Operation Downfall was the Allied plan for the invasion of Japan near the end of World War II. The operation was cancelled when Japan surrendered after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Soviet Union's declaration of war against Japan. The operation had two parts: Operation...
. The 467th was deactivated on 4 August 1946.
Civil use
With the end of the war, the airfield was closed in 1945 and the airfield site returned to farming. Very little of the runways, perimeter track, or hardstands remain. Most of the concrete has been broken up for aggregate.The technical site has become the Rackheath Industrial Estate with several of the wartime buildings being modified or extended, and used for light industry. The major access road on the estate was named Wendover Road to commemorate the airbase in the US where the 467th Bomb Group was formed. Other roads carry related names including one after Albert Shower the base commander and "Witchcraft Way" after an aircraft of the group.
The control tower has been converted to use as an administrative building. The T-2 hangar nearby is virtually beyond recognition as compared to how it looked in 1943. Brickwork has been added to the front and the whole building has been repainted cream and green. Inside the building the roof girders appear to be original and identical to those seen on photographs taken in 1944. The other hangar on the eastern side of the airfield was dismantled many years ago.
A memorial to the 467th Bomb Group consisting of a plaque and a bench was dedicated in 1983, and is situated near the village sign (featuring a B-24) on the Salhouse
Salhouse
Salhouse is a village and civil parish within The Broads National Park in the English county of Norfolk. It lies south of the River Bure and Salhouse Broad, about north-east of Norwich....
Road, adjacent to the Holy Trinity Church.