The Royal Air Force Rattlesden or more simply RAF Rattlesden 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 south east of

Bury St Edmunds Bury St Edmunds (), commonly referred to locally as ''Bury,'' is a cathedral as well as market town and civil parish in the West Suffolk District, West Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St. Edmunds an ...

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

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History

USAAF use

The Rattlesden airfield was built in 1942 as a Class A bomber airfield. The airfield had three intersecting concrete runways, perimeter track and, for USAAF use, hardstands for fifty aircraft and two dispersed, black-painted T-2 hangars. Living and messing sites were on the east side of the field. It is situated four miles south of the A14 highway between

Stowmarket Stowmarket ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Mid Suffolk district of Suffolk, England,OS Explorer map 211: Bury St.Edmunds and Stowmarket Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton A2 edition. Publishing Date:2008. o ...

and Bury St. Edmunds The airfield was opened in 1942 and was used by the United States Army Air Forces

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 ...

. Rattlesden was given USAAF designation Station 126 (RS).

322d Bombardment Group (Medium)

Rattlesden was originally designated as a satellite for RAF Bury St. Edmunds with both airfields being assigned to the 3rd Bomb Wing which controlled most of the USAAF assigned airfields in Suffolk. The mission of the 3d Bomb Wing was medium bombardment and Rattlesden was destined to receive

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 ...

s when, in December 1942, the ground personnel of two squadrons of the 322d Bombardment Group (Medium) arrived from Drew AAF,

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

in April 1943. The squadrons were moved to RAF Bury St. Edmunds after a decision to establish one group per airfield.

447th Bombardment Group (Heavy)

In June 1943, it was decided that the B-26 groups would be better placed to conduct operations from airfields further south and an exchange of bases with the B-17-equipped 4th Bombardment Wing in

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

was arranged. Rattlesden, however, remained without a combat unit until the 447th Bombardment Group (Heavy) arrived from Harvard AAF

Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...

on 29 November 1943. The 447th was assigned a group tail code "Square-K". Its operational squadrons were: *

708th Bombardment Squadron The 708th Bombardment Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the 447th Bombardment Group at Castle Air Force Base, California, where it was inactivated on 16 June 1951. The squadron was established as a ...

(CQ) *

709th Bombardment Squadron 7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. It is the only prime number preceding a cube. As an early prime number in the series of positive integers, the number seven has symbolic associations in religion, mythology, supers ...

(IE) * 710th Bombardment Squadron (IJ) * 711th Bombardment Squadron (IR) The group flew the

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 ...

as part of the Eighth Air Force's strategic bombing campaign and served chiefly as a strategic bombardment organization. The 447th's first mission from Rattlesden was despatched on the Christmas Eve and, during the course of hostilities, another 256 missions were flown from the base. The group helped prepare for the invasion of the Continent by attacking submarine pens, naval installations and cities in Germany; ports and missile sites in France, and airfields and marshalling yards in France, Belgium and Germany. During

Big Week Operation Argument, after the war dubbed Big Week, was a sequence of raids by the United States Army Air Forces and RAF Bomber Command from 20 to 25 February 1944, as part of the Combined Bomber Offensive against Nazi Germany. The objective o ...

, 20–25 February 1944, the 447th took part in the intensive campaign of heavy bombers against the German aircraft industry. It supported 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 ...

in June 1944 by bombing airfields and other targets near the beachhead. Aided 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 September. Pounded enemy positions to assist the airborne invasion of the Netherlands in September. Also dropped supplies to

Free French Forces __NOTOC__ The French Liberation Army ( ; AFL) was the reunified French Army that arose from the merging of the Armée d'Afrique with the prior Free French Forces (; FFL) during World War II. The military force of Free France, it participated ...

during the summer of 1944. The 447th turned to strategic targets in Germany in October 1944, placing emphasis on sources of oil production until mid-December. 2nd Lt

Robert Edward Femoyer Robert Edward Femoyer (October 31, 1921 – November 2, 1944) is one of only eleven known Eagle Scouts to receive the Medal of Honor; the others are Aquilla J. Dyess, Eugene B. Fluckey, Thomas R. Norris, Arlo L. Olson, Mitchell Paige, Ben L. Salomo ...

, navigator, won 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 ...

for action on 2 November 1944. While on a mission over Germany, his B-17 was damaged by flak and Femoyer was severely wounded by shell fragments. Determined to navigate the plane out of danger and save the crew, he refused a sedative and, for more than two hours, directed the navigation of the bomber so effectively that it returned to base without further damage. Femoyer died shortly after being removed from the plane. 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, the group assaulted marshalling yards, railroad bridges, and communications centers in the combat zone. Then resumed operations against targets in Germany, attacking oil, transportation, communications, and other objectives until the war ended. During this period, also supported the airborne assault across the Rhine in March. The group returned to Drew AAF

in August 1945, its personnel relieved from active duty and aircraft sent to storage. At Drew AAF the 447th was redesignated as the "447th Bombardment Group (Very Heavy)" and allocated to

Strategic Air Command Strategic Air Command (SAC) was a United States Department of Defense Specified Command and a United States Air Force (USAF) Major Command responsible for command and control of the strategic bomber and intercontinental ballistic missile compon ...

w/o/p/e as a reserve unit.

Postwar Governmental use

After the war, the field was transferred to the RAF on 10 October 1945. For a short while it was used by the RAF for basic training and then as a

Ministry of Food Ministry may refer to: Government * Ministry (collective executive), the complete body of government ministers under the leadership of a prime minister * Ministry (government department), a department of a government Religion * Christian mi ...

buffer depot but was finally inactivated on 15 August 1946. In the 1960s part of the site was used for RAF

Bristol Bloodhound The Bristol Bloodhound is a British ramjet powered surface-to-air missile developed during the 1950s. It served as the UK's main air defence weapon into the 1990s and was in large-scale service with the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the forces of f ...

surface to air missiles but when this was abandoned the whole airfield was sold during 1967/68.

Current use

With the end of military control the land was returned to agricultural use. Today there is not much left of the living and mess sites of the airfield, only part of the main runway and the south & eastern part of the perimeter track still exist plus a few of the hardstands. The most complete area of the airfield today is the Technical No. 1, east of the airfield which still has around 20 buildings left including the large T-2 hangar. The Rattlesden Gliding Group uses the southwest end of the former main runway, with one lane of the former southwest perimeter track being used as a taxiway. The control tower is their club house.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * Ravenstein, Charles A. (1984). ''Air Force Combat Wings Lineage and Honors Histories 1947-1977''. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. .
www.controltowers.co.uk Rattlesden

mighty8thaf.preller.us Rattlesden

External links

Rattlesden Airfield photo album

Rattlesden Gliding Club
(Current airfield users)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rattlesden Airfields of the VIII Bomber Command in Suffolk Gliderports in the United Kingdom Royal Air Force stations in Suffolk