Royal Air Force Boxted or more simply RAF Boxted is a former

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

station located north-northeast of

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian. Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colch ...

Essex Essex () is a Ceremonial counties of England, county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the Riv ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. Opened in 1943, it was used by the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

(USAAF). RAF Boxted has the distinction of having been the airfield for the two most successful USAAF fighter groups in air-to-air combat. After the war it was used by the

for jet aircraft testing. It was closed in 1947. Today the remains of the airfield are located on private property being used as agricultural fields. It also has a small grass private airstrip and a museum which opened in 2011.

History

United States Army Air Forces use

The airfield was used by the

Eighth Air Force The Eighth Air Force (Air Forces Strategic) is a numbered air force (NAF) of the United States Air Force's Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC). It is headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. The command serves as Air Forc ...

and

Ninth Air Force The Ninth Air Force (Air Forces Central) is a Numbered Air Force of the United States Air Force headquartered at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina. It is the Air Force Service Component of United States Central Command (USCENTCOM), a joint De ...

s. It was known as USAAF Station AAF-150 for security reasons by the USAAF during the war, and by which it was referred to instead of location. Its USAAF Station Code was "BX". USAAF Station Units assigned to RAF Boxted were: * 33d Service Group (VIII Air Force Service Command) : 41st and 45th Service Squadron; HHS 33d Service Group * 15th Station Complement Squadron * 1030th Signal Company * 1126th Quartermaster Company * 1181st Military Police Company * 1631st Ordnance Supply & Maintenance Company * 2124th Engineer Fire Fighting Platoon * 589th Army Postal Unit

386th Bombardment Group (Medium)

Although Boxted was scheduled to receive the 96th Bombardment Group in June 1943, plans were changed and the

Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Relatively fast and high-flying for a bomber of its era, the B-17 was used primarily in the European Thea ...

group went instead to RAF Snetterton Heath in

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the Nor ...

. In its place, the

386th Bombardment Group 386th may refer to: *386th Air Expeditionary Wing, provisional United States Air Force unit assigned to United States Air Forces Central *386th Fighter Squadron or 174th Air Refueling Squadron, unit of the Iowa Air National Guard 185th Air Refuelin ...

(Medium) was moved from Snetterton on 12 June to consolidate the

Martin B-26 Marauder The Martin B-26 Marauder is an American twin-engined medium bomber that saw extensive service during World War II. The B-26 was built at two locations: Baltimore, Maryland, and Omaha, Nebraska, by the Glenn L. Martin Company. First used in t ...

groups in

for operations. The group was assigned to the

VIII Bomber Command 8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9. In mathematics 8 is: * a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2. * a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number of ...

3d Bomb Wing and flew both B-26B/C Marauder aircraft. Its operational squadrons were: *

552d Bombardment Squadron 55 may refer to: *55 (number) *55 BC *AD 55 *1955 *2055 Science *Caesium, by the element's atomic number Astronomy *Messier object M55, a magnitude 7.0 globular cluster in the constellation Sagittarius *The New General Catalogue object NGC 55, ...

(RG) * 553d Bombardment Squadron (AN) * 554th Bombardment Squadron (RU) * 555th Bombardment Squadron (YA) The group flew its first mission on 20 July, with operations concentrating on airfields but also attacked marshalling yards and gun positions along the channel coast. The group was transferred to RAF Great Dunmow on 24 September 1943.

354th Fighter Group

The

354th Fighter Group The 354th Fighter Group was an element of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) Ninth Air Force during World War II. The unit was known as the Pioneer Mustang Group and was the first to fly the P-51B Mustang in combat. The group served as bombe ...

, was under the operational control of the

VIII Fighter Command The VIII Fighter Command was a United States Army Air Forces unit of command above the wings and below the numbered air force. Its primary mission was command of fighter operations within the Eighth Air Force. In the World War II European The ...

during its stay at Boxted, arriving from RAF Greenham Common on 13 November 1943 Its combat squadrons were: * 353d Fighter Squadron (FT) *

355th Fighter Squadron The 355th Fighter Squadron, nicknamed the ''Fightin' Falcons'', is a United States Air Force unit stationed at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska. It is an active-duty unit assigned to the 354th Fighter Wing and operates the Lockheed Martin F-35 ...

(GQ) *

356th Fighter Squadron The 356th Fighter Squadron is an active United States Air Force fighter squadron. It is assigned to the 354th Fighter Wing, being stationed at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska. It was reactivated in 2019 to operate the Lockheed Martin F-35 Li ...

(AJ) The group provided long-range escort for US heavy bombers and received a

Distinguished Unit Citation The Presidential Unit Citation (PUC), originally called the Distinguished Unit Citation, is awarded to units of the uniformed services of the United States, and those of allied countries, for extraordinary heroism in action against an armed enem ...

for its activities up to mid-May 1944 during which the 354th was instrumental in the development of the P-51 for use in long-range missions to escort heavy bombers on raids deep into enemy territory. During that same period Colonel James H Howard won the

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of val ...

for his single-handed efforts to defend a bomber formation that was attacked by a large force of enemy planes while on a mission to

Oschersleben Oschersleben () is a town in the Börde district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. The population in 1905 was 13,271, in 2020 about 19,000. History On November 23, 994 Oschersleben was first mentioned in a document by the Emperor Otto III. In 1235 ...

, Germany on 11 January 1944. Colonel Howard attacked a formation of thirty German aircraft pressing home the attack for more than thirty minutes he destroyed three aircraft and, even when he was low on fuel and his ammunition was exhausted, he continued his aggressive tactics to protect the bombers. In mid-April 1944, the 354th flew south to RAF Lashenden in

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

prior to moving to the Continent after the

invasion of Normandy Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 (D-Day) with the Norm ...

56th Fighter Group

Heinkel He 111H captured at Boxted UK June 1945

With the departure of the 354th, its place was taken by the 56th Fighter Group which was transferred from

RAF Halesworth Royal Air Force Halesworth or more simply RAF Halesworth is a former Royal Air Force station located north east of the town of Halesworth, Suffolk, England and west of Southwold. United States Army Air Forces use Halesworth was built in 19 ...

on 19 April 1944 to enable that base to be converted to a heavy bomber installation. Its operational squadrons were: *

61st Fighter Squadron The 61st Fighter Squadron is an active United States Air Force unit, assigned to the 56th Operations Group, at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona. It operates the F-35 Lightning II aircraft, conducting Instructor Pilot training. The 61st, known as t ...

(HV) *

62d Fighter Squadron The 62d Fighter Squadron is part of the United States Air Force 56th Operations Group at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona. It operates the Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II aircraft conducting advanced fighter training. Mission The 62d Fighter ...

(LM) *

63d Fighter Squadron The 63d Fighter Squadron is an active United States Air Force unit, assigned to the 56th Operations Group, at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona. It operates the F-35A aircraft, and conducts advanced fighter training since its reactivation in 2016. ...

(UN) Flying the

Republic P-47 Thunderbolt The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt is a World War II-era fighter aircraft produced by the American company Republic Aviation from 1941 through 1945. It was a successful high-altitude fighter and it also served as the foremost American fighter-bomber ...

, the 56th Fighter Group was the most successful of the Eighth Air Force groups in air-to-air combat, and the second most successful in the USAAF with 665.5 (the 354th FG had 701 while the Pacific-based 49th FG had 664). It engaged in counter-air and interdictory missions during the

in June 1944. Supported Allied forces for the breakthrough at Saint-Lô in July and participated in the

Battle of the Bulge The Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Ardennes Offensive, was the last major German offensive campaign on the Western Front during World War II. The battle lasted from 16 December 1944 to 28 January 1945, towards the end of the war in ...

, December 1944-January 1945. Helped to defend the

Remagen bridgehead The Battle of Remagen was an 18-day battle during the Western Allied invasion of Germany, Allied invasion of Germany in World War II from 7 to 25 March 1945 when American forces unexpectedly captured the Ludendorff Bridge over the Rhine intact. ...

against air attacks in March 1945. While at Boxted, the group received a

for strikes against antiaircraft positions while supporting the airborne attack on the Netherlands on 18 September 1944, an operation in which 16 P-47s were shot down or crashlanded in Allied territory. The commander of the 61st FS,

Lieutenant Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colon ...

Francis Gabreski Francis Stanley "Gabby" Gabreski (born Franciszek Stanisław Gabryszewski; January 28, 1919 – January 31, 2002) was a Polish-American career pilot in the United States Air Force who retired as a colonel after 26 years of military service. He wa ...

, destroyed his 28th enemy aircraft in air combat, a record unequalled by any American fighter pilot in Europe. On 20 July 1944, Gabreski had to make a

belly landing A belly landing or gear-up landing occurs when an aircraft lands without its landing gear fully extended and uses its underside, or belly, as its primary landing device. Normally the term ''gear-up landing'' refers to incidents in which the pilot ...

in his P-47 Thunderbolt after his propeller clipped the ground while strafing an airfield near

Koblenz Koblenz (; Moselle Franconian: ''Kowelenz''), spelled Coblenz before 1926, is a German city on the banks of the Rhine and the Moselle, a multi-nation tributary. Koblenz was established as a Roman military post by Drusus around 8 B.C. Its nam ...

, Germany. Although he avoided capture for five days before being finally arrested and interrogated by the Germans, he was greeted with the words: 'Hello Gabby, we've been waiting for you for a long time!' The 56th remained at Boxted until October when it returned to

Camp Kilmer Located in Central New Jersey, Camp Kilmer 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 ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delawa ...

, being inactivated on 18 October 1945.

5th Emergency Rescue Squadron

Originally designated as Detachment B of the 65th Fighter Wing, the 5th Emergency Rescue Squadron was activated at Boxted in May 1944. The squadron's mission was to perform air/sea rescue missions with war weary

s transferred from other fighter groups. The squadron's fuselage code was "5F". The aircraft were modified to carry dinghies, marker buoys and flares on their bomb racks. The mission of the unit was to locate pilots who had bailed out over the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian ...

and would drop liferafts and inform sea-based rescue units who would then pick up the pilots. The unit moved to

in January 1945.

Royal Air Force use

After the war, Boxted was taken over by

RAF Fighter Command RAF Fighter Command was one of the commands of the Royal Air Force. It was formed in 1936 to allow more specialised control of fighter aircraft. It served throughout the Second World War. It earned near-immortal fame during the Battle of Brita ...

and used at first by

de Havilland Mosquito The de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito is a British twin-engined, shoulder-winged, multirole combat aircraft, introduced during the World War II, Second World War. Unusual in that its frame was constructed mostly of wood, it was nicknamed the "Wooden ...

night fighters and then, in 1946, by a

Gloster Meteor The Gloster Meteor was the first British jet fighter and the Allies of World War II, Allies' only jet aircraft to engage in combat operations during the Second World War. The Meteor's development was heavily reliant on its ground-breaking turb ...

jet squadron No. 234. By the end 1946, the flying units had moved on and work had begun on resurfacing the main runway. It was closed on 9 August 1947.

Current use

Only the outline of the airfield remains with single lane farm roads as the airfield has almost been completely returned to agriculture. The control tower has been demolished, but a cluster of Nissen Huts remain on the south side of the airfield close to Langham Lodge . Two further refurbished Nissen Huts are present on the west of original airbase and house the Boxted Airfield Museum. A portion of the original main runway remains in use as a grass airstrip (04/22). A memorial to the pilots and crews who flew from RAF Boxted is located on the northernmost end of the original runway where it meets Park Lane.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* Freeman, Roger A. (1978) ''Airfields of the Eighth: Then and Now''. After the Battle * Freeman, Roger A. (1991) ''The Mighty Eighth: The Colour Record''. Cassell * Maurer, Maurer (1983). ''Air Force Combat Units of World War II''. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. .
mighty8thaf.preller.us Boxted

56th Fighter Group on www.littlefriends.co.uk

External links

Photographs of RAF Boxted from the Geograph British Isles project

Boxted Airfield photo gallery

Boxted Airfield historical group

354th Fighter Group website

Heroes of the 354th Fighter Group (Video)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boxted Royal Air Force stations in Essex Airfields of the VIII Bomber Command in the United Kingdom Military units and formations established in 1943 Military units and formations disestablished in 1947 Langham, Essex Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in Essex