Bottisham

Airfield
Aerial photograph of Bottisham airfield, looking east, the PSP runway runs vertically up the image, 13 April 1942. Photograph taken by No. 1 Photographic Reconnaissance Unit, sortie number RAF/HLA/482. English Heritage (RAF Photography). eh-29.jpg RAF_HLA_482_FP_1055 Aerial photograph of Bottisham airfield, looking east, the PSP runway runs vertically up the image, 13 April 1942. Photograph taken by No. 1 Photographic Reconnaissance Unit, sortie number RAF/HLA/482. English Heritage (RAF Photography). Historic England

IWM, English Heritage Collection

Object Number - RAF_HLA_482_FP_1055 - Aerial photograph of Bottisham airfield, looking east, the PSP runway runs vertically up the image, 13 April 1942. Photograph taken by No. 1...

The P-47 Thunderbolts of the 361st Fighter Group damaged the surfaces of the airfield so much in the first months of flying from Bottisham that American engineers were called in to lay a new runway. In January 1944 they constructed a 1,470-yard-long runway with pierced-steel planking in just three days. Accommodation on base was always tight and many of the temporary buildings put up to house the crews were in and around the village of Bottisham. As in many other cases, when the Americans came they seemed to take over the village as well as the airfield.

Connections

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People

Captain Eugene Cole of the 361st Fighter Group in the cockpit of his P-47 Thunderbolt (E2-G_, serial number 42-75560) nicknamed "Baby Margene" at Bottisham. Handwritten caption on reverse: '1st Lt. Eugene Cole, 375th FS'

Eugene Cole

  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 361st Fighter Group 375th Fighter Squadron Headquarters (361st Fighter Group)
  • Service Numbers: 15125258 / O-676750
  • Highest Rank: Captain
  • Role/Job: Fighter pilot

Frank Harry Colet

  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 361st Fighter Group 374th Fighter Squadron
  • Service Numbers: 16135716 / O-827579
  • Highest Rank: Lieutenant Colonel
  • Role/Job: Fighter pilot

Alfred Bela Cook

  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 361st Fighter Group 374th Fighter Squadron
  • Service Numbers: 18138519 / O-763502
  • Highest Rank: Second Lieutenant
  • Role/Job: Fighter pilot

Charles R Cummins

  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 355th Fighter Group 361st Fighter Group 375th Fighter Squadron
  • Service Numbers: O-432694
  • Highest Rank: Captain
  • Role/Job: Fighter pilot

Eugene L Czapla

  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 361st Fighter Group 376th Fighter Squadron
  • Service Numbers: 16057830 / O-816257
  • Highest Rank: Second Lieutenant
  • Role/Job: Fighter pilot

Aircraft

42-8604

  • Aircraft Type: P-47 Thunderbolt
  • Unit: 361st Fighter Group 374th Fighter Squadron

43-24761

  • Aircraft Type: P-51 Mustang
  • Nicknames: Jacqueline
  • Unit: 361st Fighter Group 375th Fighter Squadron

43-6439

  • Aircraft Type: P-51 Mustang
  • Nicknames: Helen of Troy 2nd
  • Unit: 339th Fighter Group 352nd Fighter Group 361st Fighter Group 376th Fighter Squadron 487th Fighter Squadron 505th Fighter Squadron

43-6570

  • Aircraft Type: P-51 Mustang
  • Unit: 361st Fighter Group 496th Fighter Training Group 4th Fighter Group 335th Fighter Squadron 375th Fighter Squadron 555th Fighter Training Squadron
A P-51 Mustang (L2-S, serial number 44-37040, "War Weary") of the 479th Fighter Group.

43-7040

  • Aircraft Type: P-51 Mustang
  • Unit: 361st Fighter Group 479th Fighter Group 376th Fighter Squadron 434th Fighter Squadron

Revisions

Date
ContributorAAM
Changes
Sources

Barry Anderson, Army Air Forces Stations (Alabama, 1985) / Roger Freeman, Airfields of the Eighth Then And Now (London, 1978)

Bottisham: Gallery (60 items)

Object number: UPL 22713 - Nice in-flight shot of P-51B 42-106945 E9-V of...

Object number: UPL 22985 - George L Merritt served as a fighter pilot with...

Object number: UPL 24133 - P-47D 42-22784 E9-C 376FS, 361FG, 8AF Bottisham Lt...

Object number: UPL 24206 - All three fighter types used by the U.S. Army 8th...

Object number: UPL 24749 - Lt John B Bricker 376th Fighter Squadron. P-51B 42...

Object number: UPL 24752 - Lt. Jimmy C Wright, 376th Fighter Squadron, P-51D...

Object number: UPL 30973 - "As the wheels of the last flight of P-51 Mustang...

Object number: UPL 31027 - 2nd Lt Lewis P Chadwick [Bangor, ME] inspecting a...

Object number: UPL 7074 - Dale Eugene Dunn in front of the p51d-10 "Red Rose...