Royal Air Force Thorpe Abbotts or more simply RAF Thorpe Abbotts 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 east of Diss,

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 ...

, in eastern

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 ...

. The station was built for the RAF use but handed over 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 1943 and upgraded for heavy bomber squadrons.

Second World War

RAF Thorpe Abbotts was built during 1942 and early 1943 for the

(RAF) as a satellite airfield for

RAF Horham Horham (pronounced 'Horrum') is a village in the county of Suffolk, in the East Anglia region of eastern England, United Kingdom. Horham is located approximately halfway between Norwich and Ipswich, and also approximately halfway between Eye an ...

but the rapid buildup of 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 Forces S ...

resulted in both airfields being handed over to the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF). The thirty-six hardstandings originally planned were increased to fifty. Two T-2 hangars were erected, one on the east side of the flying field and one on the south side adjacent to the technical site. This and several of the domestic sites were in woodland stretching south and bordering the A143 Diss to Harleston road.

United States Army Air Forces use

Thorpe Abbotts was given USAAF designation Station 139, (TA).

100th Bombardment Group (Heavy)

The 100th Bombardment Group (Heavy) arrived at Thorpe Abbotts on 9 June 1943, from Kearney 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 ...

. The 100th was assigned to the 13th Combat Bombardment Wing, and the group tail code was a "Square-D". Its operational squadrons were: * 349th Bombardment Squadron (XR) *

350th Bombardment Squadron 35 or XXXV may refer to: * 35 (number) * 35 BC * AD 35 * 1935 * 2035 Science * Bromine, a halogen in the periodic table * 35 Leukothea, an asteroid in the asteroid belt Music * ''XXXV'' (album), a 2002 album by Fairport Convention * ''35xxxv'', ...

(LN) * 351st Bombardment Squadron (EP) * 418th Bombardment Squadron (LD) 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. In combat, the 100th operated chiefly as a strategic bombardment organization until the war ended. The group gained the nickname "The Bloody Hundredth" due to its heavy losses during eight missions to Germany when the group experienced several instances where it lost a dozen or more aircraft on a single mission, whereas most units suffered losses in consistent small amounts. From June 1943 to January 1944, as part of the

Combined Bomber Offensive The Combined Bomber Offensive (CBO) was an Allied offensive of strategic bombing during World War II in Europe. The primary portion of the CBO was directed against Luftwaffe targets which were the highest priority from June 1943 to 1 April 1944. ...

the 100th Bomb Group concentrated its efforts against

airfield An aerodrome, airfield, or airstrip is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for public or private use. Aerodromes in ...

s in France and naval facilities and industries in France and Germany. The 100th BG 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 seriously disrupting German fighter plane production with an attack on an aircraft factory 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 ...

as part of the

Schweinfurt–Regensburg mission The Schweinfurt–Regensburg mission was a Strategic bombing during World War II, strategic bombing mission during World War II carried out by Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bombers of the US Army Air Forces on August 17, 1943. The mission w ...

on 17 August 1943. On 10 October 1943, the bomb raid that the 100th BG made on

Münster Münster (; ) is an independent city#Germany, independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a ...

, ended up with the only surviving 100th BG B-17 that went out on the raid, the ''Royal Flush'' (s/n ''42-6087'') commanded that day by Robert Rosenthal and flown by his regular crew, returning safely on just two working engines and both waist gunners seriously wounded, to Thorpe Abbotts. Masters of the Air is a 2024 American war drama miniseries created by John Shiban and John Orloff for Apple TV+. It is based on the 2007 book of the same name by Donald L. Miller and follows the actions of the 100th Bomb Group, a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber unit in the Eighth Air Force in eastern England during World War II. ''Masters of the Air'' recounts the story of the 100th Bomb Group during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and follows bomber crews on dangerous missions to destroy targets inside

German-occupied Europe German-occupied Europe, or Nazi-occupied Europe, refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly military occupation, militarily occupied and civil-occupied, including puppet states, by the (armed forces) and the governmen ...

, especially the doomed october 10th 1943 mission to Münster Germany, when only one B17 flown by lt Robert Rosenthal came back. The Bloody 100th bombed airfields, industries, marshalling yards, and missile sites in western Europe, January – May 1944. Operations in this period included participation in the Allied campaign against enemy aircraft factories 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 group completed a series of attacks against Berlin in March 1944 and received a second Distinguished Unit Citation for the missions. Beginning in the summer of 1944, oil installations became major targets. In addition to strategic operations, the group engaged in support and interdictory missions, hitting bridges and gun positions in the

transportation plan The Transportation Plan was a plan for strategic bombing during World War II against bridges, rail centres, including marshalling yards and repair shops in France with the goal of limiting the German military response to the invasion of Franc ...

preparations 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 ...

in June 1944. The unit bombed enemy positions 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 Other missions were striking transportation and ground defences in the drive against the

Siegfried Line The Siegfried Line, known in German as the ''Westwall (= western bulwark)'', was a German defensive line built during the late 1930s. Started in 1936, opposite the French Maginot Line, it stretched more than from Kleve on the border with the ...

, October – December 1944; attacking marshalling yards, defended villages, and communications in the

Ardennes The Ardennes ( ; ; ; ; ), also known as the Ardennes Forest or Forest of Ardennes, is a region of extensive forests, rough terrain, rolling hills and ridges primarily in Belgium and Luxembourg, extending into Germany and France. Geological ...

sector 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 covering the airborne assault across the Rhine in March 1945. The 100th Bomb Group received the French

Croix de Guerre The (, ''Cross of War'') is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was first awarded during World ...

with Palm for attacking heavily defended installations in Germany and for dropping supplies to

French Forces of the Interior The French Forces of the Interior (FFI; ) were French resistance fighters in the later stages of World War II. Charles de Gaulle used it as a formal name for the resistance fighters. The change in designation of these groups to FFI occurred as F ...

, June – December 1944. The 100 BG flew its last combat mission of World War II on 10 April 1945 which was number 306. In December 1945, the group returned to

Camp Kilmer Camp Kilmer is a former United States Army camp in Central New Jersey 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 Forces Tra ...

, New Jersey. Group personnel were demobilized and the aircraft sent to storage. The unit was inactivated on 21 December 1945 and redesignated as the 100th Bombardment Group (Very Heavy).

Postwar use

After the war, the airfield was transferred to the RAF on 27 June 1946. After many years of inactivity, Thorpe Abbotts was closed in 1956. With the end of military control, the airfield was largely returned to agricultural use with most of the perimeter track, runways and hardstands removed. A small airstrip was built on a part of the former perimeter track which is used for light aircraft. The control tower was restored in 1977 and was turned into the 100th Bomb Group Memorial Museum. Several World War II era buildings remain in various states of decay.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* *

External links

100th Bomb Group Memorial Museum

100th Bomb Group website

Thorpe Abbots photo gallery

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thorpe Abbotts Airfields of the VIII Bomber Command in Norfolk Royal Air Force stations in Norfolk 1943 establishments in England 1956 disestablishments in England