Royal Air Force Ridgewell or more simply RAF Ridgewell 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 at

Ridgewell Ridgewell is a village and civil parish in the Braintree district of Essex, England, about six miles from Haverhill on the main road between Haverhill and Braintree. Its population was 503 in 216 households in the 2001 census, with mean age ...

, north west of

Halstead Halstead is a town and civil parish in the Braintree District of Essex, England. Its population of 11,906 in 2011 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. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, the airfield was used by the

and 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 ...

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 ...

History

RAF Ridgewell was an early example of stations completed to Class A heavy bomber airfield design for the RAF, and had three intersecting runways of 6,500 ft each in length, thirty-six hardstands, two T-2 hangars and accommodation for 2,900 men in temporary buildings.

RAF Bomber Command use

The airfield was opened in December 1942 and was first used by No. 90 Squadron of

RAF Bomber Command RAF Bomber Command controlled the Royal Air Force's bomber forces from 1936 to 1968. Along with the United States Army Air Forces, it played the central role in the strategic bombing of Germany in World War II. From 1942 onward, the British bo ...

, equipped with Short Stirling Bombers until May 1943, the station being at that time a satellite of

RAF Stradishall Royal Air Force Stradishall or more simply RAF Stradishall is a former Royal Air Force station located north east of Haverhill, Suffolk and south west of Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England. Part of the site remains in use as Stradishall Traini ...

USAAF use

RAF Ridgewell was the only long-term heavy bomber airfield of the Eighth Air Force in

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 ...

. For

(USAAF) use, the number of hardstandings was increased to the fifty required by a US bomb group. The station was part of the 1st Combat Wing establishment of the 1st Division and was the furthest east of its thirteen heavy bomber stations. It was assigned USAAF designation Station 167, station code "RD".

381st Bombardment Group

From 30 June 1943 the airfield was used by the USAAF 381st Bombardment Group (Heavy), arriving from Pueblo AAB,

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the ...

. Its tail code was Triangle-L. The 381st Bomb Group consisted of the following operational squadrons and fuselage codes: * 532nd Bombardment Squadron (VE) * 533nd Bombardment Squadron (VP) * 534th Bombardment Squadron (GD) *

535th Bombardment Squadron The 535th Bombardment Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. During World War II, the squadron engaged in combat in the European Theater of Operations, earning two Distinguished Unit Citations. It returned to the United States an ...

(MS) After

V-E Day Victory in Europe Day is the day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces on Tuesday, 8 May 1945, marking the official end of World War II in Europe in the Easte ...

, the 381st Bomb Group returned to

Sioux Falls AAF Sioux Falls Regional Airport , also known as Joe Foss Field, is a public and military use airport three miles northwest of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, United States. It is named in honor of aviator and Sioux Falls native Joe Foss, who later served a ...

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who comprise a large po ...

in July 1945 and was inactivated on 28 August.

Air Ministry use

After the war, RAF Ridgewell was used for bomb storage from 15 July 1945 to 31 March 1957. It was then disposed of and sold. The

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Si ...

retained the old aircraft hangars which were used by units from nearby

RAF Wethersfield MDP Wethersfield is a Ministry of Defence facility in Essex, England, located north of the village of Wethersfield, about north-west of the town of Braintree. Originally an RAF station, the original accommodation areas have now been convert ...

and

RAF Alconbury Royal Air Force Alconbury or more simply RAF Alconbury is an active Royal Air Force station near Huntingdon, England. The airfield is in the civil parish of The Stukeleys, close to the villages of Great Stukeley, Little Stukeley, and Alconbur ...

for storage until both airfields were closed in the early 1990s.

Current use

With the end of military control, the majority of the airfield was returned to agriculture, with the buildings and control tower being torn down. The concrete runways and hardstands were removed for hardcore, although much of the perimeter track was reused for country roads, albeit at a reduced width. Recently part of the airfield has been purchased by th
Essex gliding club
and is their home location for gliding throughout the summer months.

Memorials

There are several memorials to the men of RAF Ridgewell. One is dedicated to the men of RAF 90 Squadron, while a second is dedicated to the USAAF 381st Bombardment Group. Both are located on the site of the USAAF airfield hospital, where a small museum is also located. A further memorial commemorates those who lost their lives in a bomb loading accident on 23 June 1943.http://www.381st.org/UnitHistory/Stories/BombTragedy.aspx Constructed in October 2014, the memorial is located close to the site of the explosion next to RAF Ridgewell's former perimeter track at Ovington.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* Comer, John. ''Combat Crew: The true story of one man's part in World War II's allied bomber offensive''. Time Warner Paperbacks, 2003. * * Freeman, Roger A. (1991) The Mighty Eighth The Colour Record. Cassell & Co. *
www.controltowers.co.uk Ridgewell

mighty8thaf.preller.us Ridgewell

External links

Ridgewell Airfield Commemorative Association

381st Bomb Group Website

RAF Ridgewell 70th Anniversary Twitter Timeline
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ridgewell Airfields of the VIII Bomber Command in the United Kingdom Military units and formations established in 1942 Royal Air Force stations in Essex Royal Air Force stations of World War II in the United Kingdom