Rackheath
AirfieldIWM, English Heritage Collection
First allocated to the Eighth Air Force as a bomber base in August 1942, Rackheath was then earmarked as a fighter base but, because of delay in construction, was never used as such. Built during 1943, the station had three concrete runways, 50 loop hardstandings and two dispersed T2 hangars. The 467th Bomb Group, equipped with B-24s, occupied Rackheath from March 1944 to July 1945. During that period it flew 212 combat missions and, during the last few months of the war, led the Eighth Air Force in bombing accuracy. Witchcraft , a B-24H of the Group, held the record of 130 combat missions, the most for this type of bomber in the Eighth Air Force. Returned to the RAF and closed in 1945, the airfield quickly reverted to agriculture, with most of the concrete surfaces broken up for aggregate. However, the technical site became the Rackheath Industrial Estate, with several of the wartime buildings modified or extended. The Control Tower has been preserved and renovated as offices.
Connections
See how this entry relates to other items in the archive by exploring the connections below.
People
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 467th Bomb Group 791st Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 32236493
- Highest Rank: Staff Sergeant
- Role/Job: Radio Operator
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 467th Bomb Group
- Role/Job: Aircraft mechanic
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 467th Bomb Group 790th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 16118911
- Highest Rank: Staff Sergeant
- Role/Job: Top Turret Gunner
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 467th Bomb Group 492nd Bomb Group 788th Bomb Squadron 859th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: O-701913
- Highest Rank: Captain
- Role/Job: Pilot
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 467th Bomb Group 790th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 37586060
- Highest Rank: Sergeant
- Role/Job: Waist Gunner
Aircraft
- Aircraft Type: B-24 Liberator
- Nicknames: Slick Chick
- Unit: 467th Bomb Group 788th Bomb Squadron
- Aircraft Type: B-24 Liberator
- Nicknames: Belle of the East
- Unit: 467th Bomb Group 791st Bomb Squadron
- Aircraft Type: B-24 Liberator
- Nicknames: Tangerine
- Unit: 467th Bomb Group 788th Bomb Squadron
- Aircraft Type: B-24 Liberator
- Nicknames: Belle of the East
- Unit: 467th Bomb Group 789th Bomb Squadron
- Aircraft Type: B-24 Liberator
- Nicknames: Heaven Can Wait Pete the Pom Inspector
- Unit: 44th Bomb Group 467th Bomb Group 506th Bomb Squadron 789th Bomb Squadron 790th Bomb Squadron
Revisions
Rob Edwards: Use start and finish dates from the memorial on Rackheath Industrial estate. Construction year from the text contant of this record.
Barry Anderson, Army Air Forces Stations (Alabama, 1985) / Roger Freeman, Airfields of the Eighth Then And Now (London, 1978)
Roger Freeman, Mighty Eighth War Manual (2nd edn, London, 2001)
Michael Bowyer, Action Stations 1: Wartime Military Airfields of East Anglia 1939-1945 (Cambridge, 1979)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Rackheath
http://www.yell.com/ucs/UcsSearchAction.do?view=map&location=rackheath+…
http://www.freeindex.co.uk/east_anglia/norfolk/rackheath_industrial_est…