Station 115 Shipdham
Station 115 Shipdham

Author: Peter Bodle

Publisher:

Published: 2016-02-19

Total Pages: 176

ISBN-13: 9781781554951

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Station 115-Shipdham is the unique story of 600 acres of Norfolk countryside in the center of the agricultural heartland of East Anglia. It was turned into a major Second World War airfield in ultra-quick order shortly after the start of hostilities in the early 1940s. Built on prime arable and dairy farmland, it is a mere 10 minutes flying time from the city of Norwich, between the Mid-Norfolk Market towns of Dereham and Watton. Station 115-Shipdham covers the gestation of the airfield from open arable farmland through the construction phase to its commissioning as a USAAF Heavy Bomber base in the front line of the greatest conflict that the world has ever seen. It then tracks the activities of the 44th Bomb Group (The Flying Eightballs) at the airfield during the latter stages of the War in some detail. It covers this period of the involvement of the USAAF 8the Air Force from a more personal and human view than many of the excellent books written on the more technical aspect of the war. It then moves on to describe the airfield s reversion to farmland in the 50s, 60 s and 70. Following this quieter period of its life it then traces the re-emergence of the airfield into an operating base for an air-taxi service and then to its activation as a crop spraying operation for the local intensive cereal growing industry. In the mid nineteen-eighties it became home to Arrow Air Centre, a very successful flight training school and a busy light aircraft maintenance base. Finally it evolved into a modern day General Aviation airfield providing a home for light aircraft used for recreation by keen amateur from the Norfolk area. It also became the center of attention for the visits from the Veterans of the 44th Bomb Group Veterans Association. It houses a sizable three room museum, memorial garden and engraved granite memorial that honors the men who served at the station during the war. Several chapters of the book contain the personal reminiscences of the people involved with the airfield during its various stages of evolution."

2nd Air Division Air Force USAAF 1942-45
2nd Air Division Air Force USAAF 1942-45

Author: Martin Bowman

Publisher: Pen and Sword

Published: 2007-04-19

Total Pages: 204

ISBN-13: 1844155471

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As part of the AHT series, the airfields and interest in this book are concentrated in a particular area - in this case Norfolk and Suffolk. The Second Air Division's first bombing mission was flown on November 7, 1942; the last on April 25, 1945. A total of 95, 948 sorties were flown in 493 operational missions by the division's B-24s, dropping 199,883 tons of bombs. Targets attacked ranged from Norway in the north, as far east as Poland and Romania, while several Mediterranean countries were reached from temporary bases in North Africa. Six 2nd Air Division groups received special presidential citations for outstanding actions and five airmen received the Medal of Honor (highest US award for bravery), four posthumously. In combat the 2nd Air Division gunners claimed 1,079 enemy fighters destroyed against losses of 1,458 B-24s missing in action and many others lost in accidents. This book looks at the history and personalities associated with each base, what remains today and explores the favourite local wartime haunts where aircrew and ground crew would go.

Flight of the Forgotten
Flight of the Forgotten

Author: Mark Vance

Publisher: Mark Vance via PublishDrive

Published: 2019-02-18

Total Pages: 587

ISBN-13:

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Flight of the Forgotten is the true story of one of the most closely-guarded American military secrets of all time. It is intriguing, controversial and thought-provoking. It traverses 50 years, two generations, and the realities of our physical world. Flight of the Forgotten represents a 50 year-old aviation mystery, officially "forgotten" by the United States Government.

2nd Air Division Air Force USAAF 1942-45
2nd Air Division Air Force USAAF 1942-45

Author: Martin W. Bowman

Publisher: Pen and Sword

Published: 2007-04-19

Total Pages: 254

ISBN-13: 1473812585

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As part of the AHT series, the airfields and interest in this book are concentrated in a particular area—in this case Norfolk and Suffolk. The Second Air Division's first bombing mission was flown on November 7, 1942; the last on April 25, 1945. A total of 95, 948 sorties were flown in 493 operational missions by the division's B-24s, dropping 199,883 tons of bombs. Targets attacked ranged from Norway in the north, as far east as Poland and Romania, while several Mediterranean countries were reached from temporary bases in North Africa. Six 2nd Air Division groups received special presidential citations for outstanding actions and five airmen received the Medal of Honor (highest US award for bravery), four posthumously. In combat the 2nd Air Division gunners claimed 1,079 enemy fighters destroyed against losses of 1,458 B-24s missing in action and many others lost in accidents. This book looks at the history and personalities associated with each base, what remains today and explores the favourite local wartime haunts where aircrew and ground crew would go.

Airfields Of 8th
Airfields Of 8th

Author: Roger Freeman

Publisher: After the Battle

Published: 1978-02-28

Total Pages: 242

ISBN-13: 1399076868

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A unique, nostalgic look at the airfields used by the Eighth in the United Kingdom during the Second World War. Conceived in war, the airfields experienced their moments of glory and, when the war ended, were left empty and derelict to die. The few which remain virtually intact have only survived because some private or public concern has formed a practical use for them, although not always as airfields. Some of the more remote airfields still dot the countryside the same as when the last plane left their runways and the last truck departed through the main gate. They are bleak, windswept and moldering but they retain the atmosphere of the fine, high endeavors of the people who inhabited them and the aura of ineffable sadness that hangs over memorials to fighting men. For such they are.

RAF and USAAF Airfields in the UK During the Second World War
RAF and USAAF Airfields in the UK During the Second World War

Author: Geoff Mills

Publisher: Fonthill Media

Published: 2022-03-31

Total Pages: 1069

ISBN-13:

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Shortly after the end of the Second World War, the United Kingdom was described as one vast aircraft carrier anchored off the coast of Europe. During a seven year period 500 airfields were constructed to serve the needs first of the RAF and later the USAAF as they carried the war to German-occupied Europe. The airfields that were constructed took many different forms from training airfields and Advanced Landing Grounds to grass fighter airstrips and vast complexes used to accommodate heavy bombers. This book charts the history of each Second World War airfield in and around the UK providing a unique insight in to the construction, operational life and post-war history of each airfield. Alongside detailing the history of each airfield, this work comprehensively records the details of each unit that operated from airfields around the UK. The information provided in this meticulously researched book is supported by a wealth of 690 photographs providing an illustration into the life of each wartime station.

To Soar with the Eagles
To Soar with the Eagles

Author: Sidney Bolick

Publisher: Trafford Publishing

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 248

ISBN-13: 1553692241

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To Soar With The Eagles is the sequel to the author's first book, Mama's Boarding House, picking up where Mama's Boarding House leaves off. His new book follows his training as a pilot in the Royal canadian Air Force in 1941, and his World war II service in Europe with both the Royal Air Force and the United States Army Eighth Air Force from 1942 through 1944. Returning to the United States in November of 1944, after having been shot down on a bombing mission over Germany, being interned in Switzerland and escaping from there, he ends the war in the Air Transport Command, flying four-engine transport planes on the run from California to Hawaii and the Central Pacific Islands. This book is not about heroes, although there are certainly some heroes in it. Rather, it is about ordinary young men like the author, who, when thrust into the maelstrom of war, somehow found the courage and fortitude to face and overcome the dangers and challengess that confronted them. Students of World war II, and those simply curious about it, will find that it was not all fighting and bloodshed. For every minute spent in actual combat, there were hours and days of training and preparation. Some of the most interesting parts of this book are the author's descriptions of his training, from learning to march in step, to preparing for his first solo flight in a little Tigermoth biplane. Reading almost like a diary, To Soar With The Eagles, follows the author's footsteps from the afteerneoon in June of 1941 when he steps down from the Greyhound Bus in Ottawa, Canada, until he is discharged from thre United States Air Force in nineteen forty-six - an old veteran at the age of twenty-two.

Aviation Landmarks - Norfolk and Suffolk
Aviation Landmarks - Norfolk and Suffolk

Author: Peter B. Gunn

Publisher: The History Press

Published: 2017-11-24

Total Pages: 285

ISBN-13: 0750986557

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Norfolk and Suffolk are bursting with aviation heritage, having played key roles in military aviation through the two world wars and beyond. This new edition of Aviation Landmarks– Norfolk and Suffolk presents an updated and revised account of aviation heritage and history through the two world wars right up to the present day. Nearly 70 airfields are covered, along with many lesser-known landmarks including decoy airfields, former radar stations, country houses, buildings, local heritage collections, pubs, village signs and much else. With illustrations, OS grid references and an index this reference guide to the two counties, both in the air and on the ground, will delight interested locals and aviation enthusiasts alike.

The 44th Bomb Group in World War II
The 44th Bomb Group in World War II

Author: Ron Mackay

Publisher: Schiffer Military History

Published: 2003

Total Pages: 280

ISBN-13:

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The 44th Bomb Group, which flew the B-24 Liberator, was the "pioneer" unit for what evolved from the "Mighty Eighth's" 2nd Bomb Wing into a full-scale Bomb (and later Air) Division. The Group amassed an impressive 343 missions and won two Distinguished Unit Citations between November 1942 and April 1945, dropping nearly 19,000 tons of ordnance in the process including the legendary August 1943 Ploesti mission. These statistics were achieved at a material cost of around 200 aircraft, and a human cost of some 2,000 airmen MIA, as the 8th USAAF focused its strategic bombing campaign in the face of determined Luftwaffe opposition.