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Royal Air Force Fersfield or more simply RAF Fersfield (originally known as RAF
Winfarthing Winfarthing is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. It is located north of the town of Diss, east of the town of Thetford, and south of the city of Norwich. The gold and garnet Anglo Saxon Winfarthing pendant was f ...
) 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 southwest of
Norwich, Norfolk Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norw ...
,
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 ...
.


History

Built in 1943/1944, the airfield was originally a satellite of
RAF Knettishall Royal Air Force Knettishall or more simply RAF Knettishall is a former Royal Air Force station in Suffolk, England, UK. During the Second World War, it was numbered as Station 136 by the United States Army Air Forces while home to the 388th Bom ...
. It was constructed to Class A bomber specifications, with a main runway (08/26), and two secondary runways (02/20, 14/32) of . Accommodation for about 2,000 personnel was in
Nissen hut A Nissen hut is a prefabricated steel structure originally for military use, especially as barracks, made from a 210° portion of a cylindrical skin of corrugated iron. It was designed during the First World War by the Canadian-American-British e ...
s, along with an operations block and two T-2 hangars. The facility was originally named Winfarthing when it was allocated to 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 ...
in 1942. Assigned to the
VIII Bomber Command 8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9. Etymology English ''eight'', from Old English '', æhta'', Proto-Germanic ''*ahto'' is a direct continuation of Proto-Indo-European '' *oḱtṓ(w)-'', and as such cognate wi ...
, it was renamed Fersfield when used by the Americans. Winfarthing was assigned USAAF station number 140; Fersfield was reassigned 554. Not used by the USAAF, it was transferred to the United States Navy for operational use.


Operation Aphrodite

The airfield is most notable as the base for
Operation Aphrodite Aphrodite was the World War II code name of a United States Army Air Forces operation to use worn out Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and Consolidated PB4Y bombers as radio controlled flying bombs against bunkers and other hardened or reinforced e ...
, a secret plan for remote-controlled
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 ...
bombers (redesignated as BQ-7s) to be used against German
V-1 flying bomb The V-1 flying bomb ( "Vengeance Weapon 1") was an early cruise missile. Its official Reich Aviation Ministry () name was Fieseler Fi 103 and its suggestive name was (hellhound). It was also known to the Allies as the buzz bomb or doodlebug a ...
sites,
submarine pen A submarine pen (''U-Boot-Bunker'' in German) is a type of submarine base that acts as a bunker to protect submarines from air attack. The term is generally applied to submarine bases constructed during World War II, particularly in Germany and ...
s, or deep fortifications that had resisted conventional bombing. From July 1944 to January 1945, approximately 25 high-time Fortresses (mainly B-17Fs) were assigned to the 562nd Bomb Squadron, 388th Bomb Group stationed at
RAF Knettishall Royal Air Force Knettishall or more simply RAF Knettishall is a former Royal Air Force station in Suffolk, England, UK. During the Second World War, it was numbered as Station 136 by the United States Army Air Forces while home to the 388th Bom ...
, along with two
Consolidated B-24 Liberator The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and some initial production aircraft were laid down as export models desi ...
s from the
United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...
(PB4Y-1), to be used in Aphrodite missions. Originally
RAF Woodbridge Royal Air Force Woodbridge, or more simply RAF Woodbridge, is a former Royal Air Force station located east of Woodbridge and around 7 miles north-east of Ipswich, in the county of Suffolk, England. Constructed in 1943 as a RAF military airfi ...
was going to be used, however Fersfield was chosen for to its relative remoteness. The plan was to use these stripped-down war-weary bombers as explosive packed, radio-controlled flying bombs. Pilots would take off manually and then parachute to safety, leaving the bomber under the control of another aircraft to be flown to its target in Europe. The first mission took place on 4 August 1944 against a V-1 site in
Pas-de-Calais The Pas-de-Calais (, ' strait of Calais'; ; ) is a department in northern France named after the French designation of the Strait of Dover, which it borders. It has the most communes of all the departments of France, with 890, and is the ...
. In the first phase of the mission, two motherships and two drones took off. One of the drones went out of control shortly after the first crewman had bailed out. It crashed near the coastal village of Orford, destroying of trees and leaving an enormous crater. The body of the other crewman was never found. The second drone was successfully dispatched toward the Pas-de-Calais. However, clouds obscured the television view from the nose just as the drone approached the target site, and the plane missed the target by . The second phase of the mission fared little better. One robot BQ-7 had a control malfunction before it could dive onto its target and was shot down by German
flak Anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) is the counter to aerial warfare and includes "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It encompasses surface-based, subsurface ( submarine-launched), and air-bas ...
; the other missed its target by . Several subsequent missions were attempted, one of them being a United States Navy PB4Y-1 which exploded over the village of Blythburgh, Suffolk, killing LT
Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Joseph Patrick Kennedy Jr. (July 25, 1915 – August 12, 1944) was an American naval aviator who was a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy. He was a member of the Kennedy family and the eldest of the nine children born to Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. and Ro ...
, who had presidential ambitions and was the brother of future President John F. Kennedy. The last Aphrodite mission was on 20 January 1945, against a power station at
Oldenburg Oldenburg may also refer to: Places * Mount Oldenburg, Ellsworth Land, Antarctica *Oldenburg (city), an independent city in Lower Saxony, Germany **Oldenburg (district), a district historically in Oldenburg Free State and now in Lower Saxony * Ol ...
: both drones missed their targets by several miles. After this last effort, the Aphrodite concept was abandoned as being unfeasible.


Royal Air Force use

One of the RAF's most secret operations,
Operation Carthage Operation Carthage, on 1945 in Denmark, 21 March 1945, was a British air raid on Copenhagen, Denmark in World War II, Denmark during the Second World War which caused significant collateral damage. The target of the raid was the ''Shellhus'', ...
, was launched from Fersfield on 21 March 1945. The target was the
Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...
HQ in
Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...
, and
de Havilland Mosquito The de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito is a British twin-engined, multirole combat aircraft, introduced during the World War II, Second World War. Unusual in that its airframe was constructed mostly of wood, it was nicknamed the "Wooden Wonder", or " ...
s from No 21 Sqn, No 464 Sqn RAAF and No 487 Sqn RNZAF made the trip across the
North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...
and back. The raid was led by Group Captain R.N. Bateson, and was ranked as a success in spite of many civilian casualties, mostly children.


Postwar use


Motorsport

The
Eastern Counties Motor Club Eastern or Easterns may refer to: Transportation Airlines *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai * Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways *Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 192 ...
(ECMC) was formed early in 1950 and was soon turning its attention to organising competitive motoring, the first being a speed trail at
RAF Bentwaters Royal Air Force Bentwaters or more simply RAF Bentwaters, now known as Bentwaters Parks, is a former Royal Air Force station about northeast of London and east-northeast of Ipswich, near Woodbridge, Suffolk in England. Its name was taken fr ...
on 23 April. One year later, on 22 April 1951, the club’s first race meeting took place at Fersfield, which is situated near Diss in Norfolk. That the first was a ‘closed-to-club’ affair, but just two months later an invitation meeting (to which seven clubs were invited) was organised for 17 June, at which nine races were run, with an estimated crowd of 8,000, was a great success. Cars taking part included pre-war racers such as
Bentley Bentley Motors Limited is a British designer, manufacturer and marketer of Luxury vehicle, luxury cars and Sport utility vehicle, SUVs. Headquartered in Crewe, England, the company was founded by W. O. Bentley (1888–1971) in 1919 in Crickle ...
s, Frazer-Nash, MG and
Bugatti Automobiles Ettore Bugatti was a German then French automotive industry, manufacturer of high performance vehicle, high-performance automobiles. The company was founded in 1909 in the then-German Empire, German city of Molsheim, Alsace, by the ...
s plus
Jaguars The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large cat species and the only living member of the genus ''Panthera'' that is native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the biggest cat species in the Americas an ...
,
Connaught Connacht or Connaught ( ; or ), is the smallest of the four provinces of Ireland, situated in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms ( Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine ...
s, Healeys and even a
Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello. Founded in 1939 by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988), the company built Auto Avio Costruzioni 815, its first car in 1940, adopted its current name in 1945, and be ...
. The
RAC RAC or Rac may refer to: Organizations * Radio Amateurs of Canada * RATCH-Australia Corporation, electricity generator * Refugee Action Collective (Victoria), Melbourne, Australia * Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, US * Rent-A-Cent ...
steward requested the fourth race be red-flagged (stopped) as spectators had encroached into a restricted area; but some drivers declined to obey the flag and were reprimanded for their colour blindness! Further race meetings were held in 1952 but at the end of the season, the RAC requested that certain improvements be carried out which would have cost £10,000. This being beyond the club’s resources, Fersfield was abandoned. However, the ECMC was not to be outdone and turned its attention to another Norfolk airfield, Snetterton Heath (which become
Snetterton Snetterton is a village and civil parish in Norfolk, England. The village is about east-northeast of Thetford and southwest of Norwich. The civil parish has an area of . The United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 Census recorded a parish population ...
) where it successfully ran the Eastern Counties 100 meeting for many years. According to folklore, the RAC steward once insisted that everyone present at Fersfield should sweep the track clean of rubbish before he would allow racing to continue. As with most circuits there was always a lighter side and Fersfield was no exception, for the story goes of the road sweeper which did two laps to clean the track without the brushes working.http://www.dissexpress.co.uk/news/latest-news/fersfield-was-site-of-first-motor-circuit-1-426450 Peter Swinger, "Motor Racing Circuits in England : Then & Now" (Ian Allan Publishing, , 2008)


Current use

Today, much of the concreted areas of the airfield have been removed for hardcore, with the airfield area being returned to agricultural uses. A surprising number of buildings exist, some on the former airfield, which are being used by agriculture, along with one of T-2 hangars. Others are in the wooded areas south of the former airfield in various states of decay. The perimeter track and runways still exist, although greatly reduced in width, being used as agricultural farm roads. Other roads in the area, identified by "Airfield Road" signs, are the last vestiges of the former airfield.


See also

*
List of former Royal Air Force stations This list of former RAF stations includes most of the stations, airfields and administrative headquarters previously used by the Royal Air Force. They are listed under any former county or country name which was appropriate for the duration of ...


References


Citations


Bibliography


Controltowers.co.uk RAF Fersfield




Air Of Authority


External links


Photographs of RAF Fersfield from the Geograph British Isles project

Photographs of RAF Fersfield from the Geograph British Isles project (Additional)

Photographs of RAF Fersfield from the Geograph British Isles project (Additional)

Photographs of RAF Fersfield from the Geograph British Isles project (Additional)

Photos of present-day RAF Fersfield
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fersfield Airfields of the VIII Bomber Command in the United Kingdom