Royal Air Force Deopham Green or more simply RAF Deopham Green is a former

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

station Station may refer to: Agriculture * Station (Australian agriculture), a large Australian landholding used for livestock production * Station (New Zealand agriculture), a large New Zealand farm used for grazing by sheep and cattle ** Cattle statio ...

located near Deopham Green north of

Attleborough Attleborough is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish located on the A11 road (England), A11 between Norwich and Thetford in Norfolk, England. The parish is in the district of Breckland (district), Breckland and has an area ...

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

United States Army Air Forces use

RAF Deopham Green was built in 1942 and 1943 for the USAAF and assigned the designation Station 142. USAAF Station Units assigned to RAF Deopham Green were: * 466th Sub-Depot * 18th Weather Squadron * 87th Station Complement Squadron * 1230th Quartermaster Company * 1284th Military Police Company * 1797th Ordnance Supply & Maintenance Company * 872nd Chemical Company (Air Operations) * 2112th Engineer Fire Fighting Platoon

452nd Bombardment Group (Heavy)

RAF Deopham Green - 452d Bombardment Group - B-17G 42-39970 E-Rat-Icator

RAF Deopham Green - 452d Bombardment Group Bomber Crew

RAF Deopham Green - 452d Bombardment Group B-17G 44-8081

The airfield was opened on 3 January 1944 and 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 ...

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 Forces S ...

452d Bombardment Group (Heavy), which arrived at Deopham Green from

Walla Walla AAF Walla Walla Regional Airport is a public airport in Walla Walla County, Washington, in the western United States. It is northeast of central Walla Walla, and is owned by the Port of Walla Walla. History World War II The airport was the loc ...

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

. The 452nd was assigned to the 45th Combat Bombardment Wing, and the group tail code was a "Square-L". Its operational squadrons were: * 728th Bombardment Squadron (9Z) * 729th Bombardment Squadron (M3) * 730th Bombardment Squadron (6K) * 731st Bombardment Squadron (7D) The group flew

Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is an American four-engined heavy bomber aircraft developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). A fast and high-flying bomber, the B-17 dropped more bombs than any other aircraft during ...

es as part of the Eighth Air Force's strategic bombing campaign. The 452nd BG entered combat on 5 February 1944 with an attack against aircraft assembly plants at Brunswick. It was engaged primarily in bombardment of strategic targets, including the marshalling yards at

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

, aircraft assembly plants at

Regensburg Regensburg (historically known in English as Ratisbon) is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the rivers Danube, Naab and Regen (river), Regen, Danube's northernmost point. It is the capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the ...

, aircraft component works at

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in North Hesse, northern Hesse, in Central Germany (geography), central Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel (region), Kassel and the d ...

, the ball-bearing industry at

Schweinfurt Schweinfurt ( , ; ) is a town#Germany, city in the district of Lower Franconia in Bavaria, Germany. It is the administrative centre of the surrounding Schweinfurt (district), district (''Landkreis'') of Schweinfurt and a major industrial, cultur ...

, a synthetic rubber plant at

Hanover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...

, and oil installations at Bohlen.

First Lieutenant First lieutenant is a commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces; in some forces, it is an appointment. The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations, but in most forces it is sub-divided into a se ...

Donald Gott and Second Lieutenant William E Metzger Jr were each awarded the

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest Awards and decorations of the United States Armed Forces, military decoration and is awarded to recognize American United States Army, soldiers, United States Navy, sailors, Un ...

posthumously for remaining with their aircraft crippled during a mission over Germany on 9 November 1944. Lieutenant Gott was at the controls of a B-17 when it was hit by anti-aircraft fire, three engines being immobilised, a fire starting in the cockpit and with the radio operator and engineer being seriously wounded. Although faced with the imminent explosion of his bomb-laden aircraft, Lieutenant Gott, after conferring with his co-pilot, Lieutenant Metzger, decided to continue to the target. Then, after dropping their bombs, Lieutenant Gott made for the Allied lines to attempt to put the crippled Fortress down to save the life of the radio operator who had by now lost consciousness. Although ordered to bail out with the rest of the crew, the co-pilot chose to remain with Lieutenant Gott but, as he prepared to let down into a field the B-17 exploded killing all three crew members. In addition to strategic missions, the 452nd supported ground forces and carried out interdictory operations. They helped prepare for the

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

by hitting airfields,

V-weapon V-weapons, known in original German as (, German: "retaliatory weapons", "reprisal weapons"), were a particular set of long-range artillery weapons designed for strategic bombing during World War II, particularly strategic bombing and aerial ...

sites, bridges, and other objectives in France. The group struck coastal defenses on D-Day 6 June 1944, and bombed enemy positions in support of the breakthrough at

Saint-Lô Saint-Lô (, ; ) is a Communes of France, commune in northwest France, the capital of the Manche department in the region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy.Brest in August and September 1944. Later in September, it assisted the Operation Market-Garden (the airborne attack on the Netherlands), hit enemy communications in and near the combat zone during the

Battle of the Bulge The Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Ardennes Offensive or Unternehmen Die Wacht am Rhein, Wacht am Rhein, was the last major German Offensive (military), offensive Military campaign, campaign on the Western Front (World War II), Western ...

, December 1944 - January 1945, and bombed an airfield in support of the airborne assault across the Rhine in March 1945. The group 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 e ...

for action on 7 April 1945 when, despite vigorous fighter attacks and heavy flak, it accurately bombed a jet-fighter airfield at

Kaltenkirchen (nicknamed ''Kaki''; or ''Kolenkarken'') is a town located 35 km north of Hamburg in Germany. It is part of the Segeberg district, in Schleswig-Holstein. It has about 20,000 inhabitants. History First mentioned in the 14th century, it fl ...

. The 452nd Bomb Group flew its last combat mission of World War II

n Europe N, or n, is the fourteenth letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages, and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''. History ...

on 21 April 1945, striking marshalling yards at

Ingolstadt Ingolstadt (; Austro-Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian: ) is an Independent city#Germany, independent city on the Danube, in Upper Bavaria, with 142,308 inhabitants (as of 31 December 2023). Around half a million people live in the metropolitan ...

. The group flew a total of 250 missions from Deopham Green during the war, losing 110 of its bombers in the course of these operations. Indeed, the group suffered particularly heavy losses during the spring of 1944, at that time sustaining one of the highest rates of loss of any Fortress equipped unit in the Eighth Air Force. The 452nd returned to the United States, being inactivated at Sioux Falls AAF

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state, state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Dakota people, Dakota Sioux ...

on 28 August 1945.

Postwar use

After the war, the station was handed back to

RAF Maintenance Command RAF Maintenance Command was the Royal Air Force command which was responsible for controlling maintenance for all the United Kingdom-based units from formation on 1 April 1938 until being renamed RAF Support Command on 31 August 1973. Histor ...

on 9 October 1945. The unit was No. 258 Maintenance Unit RAF. Public roads, closed when construction started in 1942, were later re-opened, one of them using part of the old main runway, the airfield finally being closed on 1 January 1948. Unfortunately over the years most of the buildings have been torn down and the airfield has been returned to agricultural use. However many of the runways and taxiways of the old airfield remain, albeit at a reduced width. There is a memorial on the side of the road running through the site, another outside Hingham Church and another at

Attleborough railway station Attleborough railway station is on the Breckland line in the east of England, serving the market town of Attleborough, Norfolk. The line runs between in the west and in the east. Attleborough is situated between and , from London Liverpool ...

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 & Co. * Maurer, M. (1983). ''Air Force Combat Units of World War II''. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. .
www.controltowers.co.uk Deopham Green

External links

452d Bomb Group
{{DEFAULTSORT:Deopham Green Airfields of the VIII Bomber Command in the United Kingdom Royal Air Force stations in Norfolk Royal Air Force stations of World War II in the United Kingdom